Dar al-Athar al-Islamiyyah's 23rd Annual Cultural Season

On 25 September 2017, Dar al-Athar al-Islamiyyah (DAI) officially launched its 23rd Annual Cultural Season with a lecture by Dr. Ziad Rajab at al-Yarmouk Cultural Centre. While the lecture was focused on the collection of incense burners in the Tareq Rajab museum, it also explained some of the driving forces behind the accumulation and curation of various museum collections. It also provided insights on what it takes to build the foundation for a cultural institution that can survive the test of time. But the Tareq Rajab museum isn’t the only institution that has stood the test of time, so has DAI and its annual cultural season.

Now launching its 23rd annual cultural season, DAI has always presented a veritable selection of activities to inspire individuals from all walks of life and every interest imaginable, these activities include: lectures, concerts, educational opportunities, workshops, cultural excursions, film screenings, theatrical productions, and special events.

One of our key objectives for the annual cultural season is to expand our activities so that it embodies the collective interests of everyone in the community, said DAI’s Director General Sheikha Hussa Sabah al-Salem al-Sabah. For our first annual cultural season in 1995, we modestly started with a handful of lectures and workshops. Today, we are privileged to say that we have over 230 activities that fulfill the interests of every demographic in Kuwait, from children to adults, and volunteers to patrons.

The season runs from the end of September 2017 through May 2018. But what will be happening throughout these eight months?

Our lecture series invites many of the top scholars and intellectuals from around the world to give a brief presentation in the areas of their expertise. These lectures happen every Monday evening at 7 PM at the DAI at Yarmouk Cultural Centre, and cover a host of subjects from Iranian carpets to Arabic lexicon.

Tuesday nights promise to be exciting as the DAI hosts its second full season of classic films. 16 classic films have been short-listed from more than 60 years worth of film-making, and include films from Europe, Asia, the United States and the Middle East. Some will make you laugh; some will make you cry; and at least one will make you ponder! If you also enjoy arts and crafts, we will have workshops on many Tuesday nights. It’s a wonderful opportunity to express your artistic creativity and talent.

Our Wednesday concerts are one of DAI’s cultural season staples. The music is as diverse as the lectures and films. The programme features a blend of musicians from all over the Arab region that perform local and traditional folklore music. Mixed in with a bit of international opera and chamber music, the Wednesday music nights are truly an eclectic experience.

The cultural season is not just limited to adults. We also have a variety of activities and educational programmes for children. We strongly believe that children learn best when the right tools are used in teaching. For the DAI, these tools include objects in the exhibitions, teamwork, and fun plus paint, crayons, glitter, glue and all sorts of other material that encourages creativity. This cultural season we are inviting children, between the ages of 18 months and 12 years old, to participate in our story-time and writing programmes.

All in all, DAI’s 23rd Annual Cultural Season will host 32 lectures, 16 classic films, 33 concerts, 2 theatrical weekends, 8 family days, and several exhibitions. There will so be at least 3 book launches, 2 festivals, 124 children’s educational opportunities and 5 training sessions for volunteer docents. This season its easy to say that there is something for everyone.

The Dar al-Athar al-Islamiyyah promotes the fusion of people, cultures and ideas, said National Council of Culture, Arts and Letters Assistant Undersecretary Abdulkareem al-Ghadban. Our exhibitions do that by bringing together objects created by different people, in different places, from different periods and highlighting their shared humanity. This, our 23rd Cultural Season features activities that do the same: through lectures, educational opportunities, cinema, theatrical and musical performances, workshops and special events.

All Dar al-Athar al-Islamiyyah activities start at 7 PM.  For more information on any aspect of the programme, click here to contact us.

A Pdf of the new seasons calendar can be downloaded by clicking on this link: Season 23 Booklet  a free printable brochure and  calendar is included and please make not of Sunday, 25 February Exhibition Opening: “Islam Loves Art: Objects in The al-Sabah Collection” 7 PM, ACC -  it is the one of most amazing collections of Moghul art in the world.