Zubair Qureshi
First-ever Islamabad Art Festival (IAF-19) is all set to open on Sunday (tomorrow) Nov 18 in collaboration with various art galleries, artist associations, foreign missions, and with support of Serena Hotels.
This was announced by former Director General of the Pakistan National Council of the Arts (PNCA) and eminent artist Jamal Shah while addressing a press conference at the Serena Hotel on Friday.
The festival will remain open until Nov 30 and serve as a trendsetter
According to a handout issued by the Serena Hotel, the event has been sponsored under the Cultural Diplomacy of the hotel that promotes art and artisans and brings them to limelight.
Led by President and Chief Curator Jamal Shah, IAF-19 is a collaborative project, and will be hosted in several locations in Islamabad and Rawalpindi, including museums, art galleries, educational institutes, and public parks.
The festival will be inaugurated on Sunday at 11:00 a.m. at Pakistan National Council of Arts (PNCA), and will continue for a full 13 days, before an elaborate closing ceremony on 30th November 2019. The thematic focus of IAF-19 is a ‘Dialogue between Tradition and Modernity’.
The festival is expected to engage an audience of at least 500,000 individuals from diverse backgrounds and ages. The participants of the festival will include over 200 individuals from 34 countries, and approximately 400 participants from across Pakistan.
It is for the first time that expression of almost all forms of art forms will be showcased together. Painting, sculpture, drawing, printmaking, textile design, dance, music, film, puppet shows, theatre, fashion design, and performing arts from across the world will be available to satisfy the cultural aesthetic of people in general. Simultaneously, Literature from different lands is also being focused. An International Literary Conference is also being held in the ambit of the Festival.
