‘NCCAL underwent tough times in past ten years’

KUWAIT CITY, April 13: Assistant Secretary General of Cultural Department at the National Council for Culture, Art and Letters (NCCAL) Mohammad AlAsousi indicated that NCCAL, in the past ten years, underwent tough times which majorly affected its performance; however, it managed to bounce back majestically to create a major cultural leap in the country, reports Al-Anba daily.

During an interview with the daily, Al-Asousi affirmed that the testimony to this cultural leap in the country is NCCAL’s activities last year on the sidelines of the festivals held to mark Kuwait’s selection as the Islamic Cultural Capital, revealing that NCCAL held more than 820 activities within 365 days.

He explained that NCCAL carried out three activities per day throughout the year. This is besides what was presented by the civil society organizations and the private and public sectors. All this is testament to the fact that the Kuwaiti cultural movement is active. They are clear indications that the public cultural movement in Kuwait is effective and involves a huge range of social caliber.

Al-Asousi affirmed that the Kuwaiti public is passionate about culture and art, which is evident from their attendance in various cultural festivals that respect the minds of the public, adding that the number of people visiting the NCCAL website these days is huge and is continuing to grow.

Regarding NCCAL’s publications, he indicated that NCCAL’s publications are distinguished considering the fact that Kuwait did not invest its publications under the influence of a certain ideology. He clarified that NCCAL publications are only aimed at cultural enrichment without any contaminations similar to some other countries’ publications, which end up to be politicized, affirming that this is something Kuwait did not do.

Al-Asousi concluded by saying the Kuwaiti society has great confidence towards NCCAL, which plays a major role in enhancing cultural relations with other countries through concerts and exhibitions presented by various countries. He stressed that this gives the people of Kuwait dual benefits, and provides opportunity to lovers of art and culture among the people of this country to watch such presentations here in Kuwait, saving them the trouble of travelling overseas to attend such events.