Orpic, Polyeco Gulf launch environmental initiative in Oman

Orpic in collaboration with Polyeco Gulf and the North Al Batinah Directorate General of Education have launched a unique environmentalbased educational platform in the Sultanate. Modelled on the lines of a successful environmental programme initiated in Greece, the Polyeco Contemporary Art Initiative (PCAI) will be unveiled in two schools this July focusing on the concepts of recycling and the conservation of public utilities.

As part of the programme, students will conduct site visits, participate in workshops and will find solutions for environmental issues that, at the end of the programme, are going to be featured in short animated films.

Athanasios Polychronopoulos, Executive Chairman of Polyeco Group, said the Polyeco Contemporary Art Initiative (PCAI) was originally launched in 2014 based on his genuine belief that art is the best tool to stimulate dialogue about critical environmental issues. The transition to moving images in the last decades as a dominant expressive medium is the main reason for PCAI’S primary focus on video and film. PCAI directly commissions international and Greek artists to create artworks on environmental issues while also feeding on issues of artistic practice.

To date, PCAI has commissioned 14 moving image projects by renowned Greek and international artists and collaborates and supports organisations and artists through a wide range of activities. With commitment and sensitivity to its role in society, PCAI has now rolled out PCAI Junior, a series of educational programmes for children designed to increase environmental awareness through digital art.

In March 2018 Polyeco Gulf and Orpic decided to collaborate and introduce the innovative educational platform to Oman.

The selected institutions for the First PCAI Junior in Oman are Al Rakha and the Qais bin Saad Schools. The entire project has been developed with the support of the Directorate General of Education in North Al Batinah.

Earlier this month, a PCAI Junior team of educators and artists implemented the programme in two summer schools. The programme’s fundamental goal is experiential learning and the basic tool for this achievement is “learning through playing”. All activities are site specific, thus enabling students to recognise the environmental threats of their area of residence, propose solutions and, finally, capture them in a short film.

This summer, PCAI Junior works with two age groups addressing different environmental issues.