Information Minister underscores significance of art to patriotism
KUWAIT: Kuwaiti Minister of Information Mohammad Al-Jabri said yesterday that art is of paramount significance to the consolidation of patriotism and denunciation of violence and extremism. Jabri, who doubles as Chairman of the National Council for Culture, Arts and Letters (NCCAL), made the remark while meeting Chairman of the Kuwaiti Arts Association Abdulaziz Al-Mefrej, its Secretary-General Abdullah Abdulrasoul and its Public Relations Manager Jamal Al-Lahw and Art Saad Al-Farraj.
The minister underlined the important message of art to promoting the values of loyalty and patriotism, decrying violence and extremism, accepting others and resolving various societal issues. He lauded the role of Artist Saad Al-Faraj in the development of the Kuwaiti art movement involving drama and theater over decades. During the meeting, they reflected on a plethora of subjects and topics pertinent to Kuwaiti arts, ways of bolstering and developing them, and of maintaining Kuwait’s pioneering art and cultural role.
Fully supportive
Separately, Jabri said that the political leadership was fully supportive of local cultural activities, which would contribute to enriching cultural movement in Kuwait. Al-Jabri expressed gratitude for the Kuwaiti people who contributed to enriching cultural, intellectual, artistic and literature movement in Kuwait. He was speaking on behalf of His Highness the Prime Minister Sheikh Jaber Mubarak Al-Hamad Al-Sabah, at a ceremony held on Saturday to honor winners of Kuwait’s appreciation and encouragement awards for 2017.
The ceremony is part of activities of Al-Qurain Cultural Festival. Mohammad Al-Sharekh, founder of Sakhr Computer Company and the pioneer who introduced Arabic language into computers in 1980s, commended cultural development in Kuwait which has been witnessing construction of cultural centers. AlSharekh, speaking on behalf of the winners, said he would continue to develop the Arabic language through computer applications.
State appreciation award
Former Information Minister Mohammad Al-Sanousi also won the state appreciation award. Sanousi was one of founders of Kuwait TV in 1960, contributed to the establishment of Kuwait Cinema Club and Kuwait TV band. Abdulkareem Abdulqader, a veteran singer, also won the appreciation award in recognition of his contributions. Jabri also recognized winners of the state’s encouragement award, amongst them Zaid Al-Obaid for his sculptures.
Abdullah Al-Turkmani won the award for directing a series, Ramadhan Khasrouh for directing a movie, and Muna Al-Shemmeri in the short stories category. Taghreed Al-Dawood won play script category, Huda Al-Shawwa is the child literature category, Dr Tareq Fakhruddin for translation category, while Dr Hamad Al-Qahtani and Bader Zuwair shared social studies and humanities award. Anthropologist Dr Ali AlZube won the sociology award, Fathi AlQallaf won the psychology award and Dr Abdullah Sahar won the political sciences award.