YouTHink Kuwait: DAI Museum Youth Council
YouTHink Kuwait: DAI Museum Youth Council is an organization backed by the Dar al-Athar al-Islamiyyah, an influential haven for arts in the Middle East. The youth council is led by a group of teenagers who seek to raise social awareness on issues concerning the youth of Kuwait and the Middle East, through art, events, workshops and exhibitions.
“What we are hoping to achieve through creating YouTHink Kuwait is simply to make the voices of the youth heard. All our activities and programs will be revolved around the affairs of young people and what matters to us and concerns us, and we specifically hope to shed light on certain social issues that we believe, as a group of teenagers, is important to talk about and discuss,” - Fatima Hassan, Chairman.
The youth council is a one year program, where each year students between the ages of 14 - 18 (must be in secondary school) are recruited as members of the council and are led by an elected executive team. Members of YouTHink Kuwait work together in commissions to create and develop events and activities concerning the cultural centre. These include themed teen nights, art workshops and an open art exhibition among other activities. In addition to this, one of the key roles of a member is to be a docent, whose major responsibilities are to help Dar al-Athar al-Islamiyyah visitors to better understand and appreciate the art and culture of the Islamic world. The museum provides 15 hours of docent training, and once the training is complete, members will be required to do at least 3 hours per month of docenting at the museum.
The first general meeting will take place at the Amricani Cultural Centre on Friday the 25th of November from 3:45 pm to 5:15 pm, where potential members will be introduced to the museum, the youth council and the aforementioned activities. Students who wish to join must register upon arrival. The museum hopes to see as many students as is possible in November, as this program is truly an exceptional opportunity that will be very beneficial to all students in the future.
“The November meeting will be a chance for the executive team to familiarize the recruited members with all the proposed and agreed on activities and their duties as a member and a docent, as well as clarify any questions they have about the new program and the way in which it operates.”