Art D’Égypte, which specialises in organising art and cultural exhibitions, has organised a visit for students at government schools in Egypt to the Giza Pyramids.
The trip was organised in cooperation with the National Commission for UNESCO in Egypt, the UNESCO associated schools network (ASPNet), and Datifa Culture Tours.
The tour was part of the community engagement programme under the “Forever Is Now” exhibition, which is scheduled to open on 23 October 2021.
The programme, organised by Art D’Égypte, aims to involve the Giza communities that are located in the area around the Pyramids archaeological site in the organisation of the “Forever is Now” exhibition.
Through community engagement, Art D’Égypte seeks to raise the awareness among Egyptian youth of the value of the country’s cultural heritage and their role in protecting it. At the same time, the organisation aims to help them develop and cultivate new artistic skills.
Art D’Égypte founder Nadine Abdel Ghaffar said, “Art D’Égypte recently announced it will organise community engagement activities throughout the year until the launch of the “Forever Is Now” exhibition, to raise awareness of the importance of Egyptian heritage.”
“Indeed, we organised a visit for 80 children aged 10-12 years old from Egyptian public schools to the Pyramids,” she added, “During the trip, we showed them the area through a new lens to understand its importance.”
She also said that the organisation is organising age-appropriate activities, such as providing colouring books prepared by the artist Hala Saroufim. The Kan Yama Kan book is part of the Misr Helwa Wa Teama project, which features stories that teach children about the ancient Egyptian civilisation.
The latter also advises them on how to safeguard Egypt’s historic sites, and how to preserve the country’s valuable cultural heritage using fun cartoons and Egyptian characters.
Abdel Ghaffar added, “Art D’Égypte exhibitions link ancient and contemporary arts, and our fourth ‘Forever Is Now’ exhibition will commemorate the Egyptian sculptor Adam Henein, who passed away at 91.”
Henein is considered one of the most prominent contemporary sculptors in the Arab world, she noted, and drew his inspiration from the ancient Egyptian civilisation. This came about following his visit to the Egyptian Museum in Cairo’s Tahrir Square when he was 8 years old, a trip that marked a turning point in his life.
This story has inspired Art D’Égypte to provide cultural activities for children, to try paving a path for those children through Egyptian cultural and artistic heritage.
Meanwhile, Secretary-General of the Egyptian National Committee for UNESCO, Ghada Abdelbary, said, “We are keen to sponsor initiatives bynon-governmental and civil society institutions that fall within the policy and strategies of UNESCO.”
She added, “It was out of this belief that we sponsored the Art D’Égypte initiative to publish the Misr Helwa Wa Teama colouring book series, which explains, in an attractive way to children, the heritage of their Pharaonic civilization.”
Abdelbary noted that the book highlights one of the important Egyptian sites registered on the World Heritage List, the pyramids area from Giza to Dahshur.The book is also consistent with the UNESCO World Heritage Education Programme, which was launched as a special project for the UN organisationin 1994.
It was set up with the aim of providingyoung people with the opportunity to participate in protecting their cultural heritage, as well as protecting and promoting global heritage.
The “Forever Is Now” exhibition will be the first time in the 4,500-year history of the Giza Plateau that contemporary artists from all around the world are invited to showcase their work. These will be juxtaposed with the monumental backdrop of the Great Pyramids of Giza.
