Education City Speaker Series at QF to focus on art, identity and conflict
Latest edition of platform for dialogue to be held in collaboration with the Virginia Commonwealth University School of the Arts in the US
NEXT week, the latest edition of Qatar Foundation’s Education City Speaker Series will explore what the creative world can teach us about the larger world – and about ourselves.
The online event, held in collaboration with Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) and Virginia Commonwealth University School of the Arts (VCUarts) in the United States, will take place on Monday, October 25 from 7-8pm (Doha time), with a panel of local, regional, and international experts sharing their perspectives.
The discussion will delve into how art allows people to experience and empathize with perspectives other than their own, as well as its role as a powerful tool for shedding light on conflict and other people’s struggles. It will be the 12th online edition of the Qatar Foundation’s popular dialogue platform, which has attracted tens of thousands of viewers from around the world since it went virtual at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Dr. Abdellah Karroum, Director of Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art, which is based at QF’s Education City; art dealer, curator, activist, and arts journalist Zayna Al Saleh; and Assil Diab, a visual artist, designer, and graffiti artist based in Qatar, will speak at next week’s event. Basma Hamdy, Associate Professor of Graphic Design at Virginia Commonwealth University School of the Arts in Qatar, will moderate the discussion.
The first Education City Speaker Series to be jointly held with the main campus of one of QF’s international partner universities reflects both the current QatarUSA Year of Culture 2021, and the lasting ties between QF and leading US universities who have longestablished branch campuses at Education City.
Since its establishment, the Education City Speaker Series has hosted everyone from global health experts and UN leaders to authors and entrepreneurs, and in its online form it has addressed topics as diverse as COVID-19 vaccines, youth and identity, the future of education, regenerative development, and the need to amplify the voices of Palestinians on a global scale.
It enables audiences in Qatar and around the world to hear from and interact with experts and thought leaders on key topics influencing global society, thanks to QF’s belief in the power of dialogue to foster greater understanding and appreciation of different perspectives, as well as the sharing of knowledge and ideas.
On October 25, the latest edition of the Education City Speaker Series will feature a 40-minute moderated discussion followed by a 20-minute question-and-answer session in which the online audience will be able to ask the speakers questions
For more information and to register for this free event, visit www.qf.org.qa/ecss