The Little Art organized the first exhibition of 4th season of ArtBeat – National Child Art Competitions & Exhibitions. This year’s theme “Kaisa Pakistan” encouraged children to reflect on their identity, visualize their true culture, draw and paint how they see Pakistan. 4th ArtBeat received artworks from 210 schools and nearly 25 community organizations from across Pakistan, making it the largest participation of children the competition has ever seen.
The opening ceremony was organized at the Sir Syed Memorial Society to announce the start of the gallery exhibitions in Islamabad and was attended by an audience of 200 people including school children, teachers, families and special guests from the community. The ceremony also screened a showreel film with the highlights of 4th season of ArtBeat, with experiences from the competition and workshops shared by the students and jury members.
The chief guest at the event was BISP chairperson, Ms. Marvi Memon and the guests of honor included Mrs. Brig.(R) Iqbal M Shafi (Honorary president of Sir Syed memorial society), Director UNESCO Ms. Vibeke Jensen, Executive Director GD Pakistan Ms. Valerie Khan, Artist and professor Aqeel Solangi, Visual Artist Sana Arjumand and Artist and Asst. Professor (NCA Rawalpindi) Mr. Sajjad Akram.
Quotes by guests
Welcome speech by the Director of The Little Art, Shoaib Iqbal:
“ Welcome Children! This is a day to celebrate the creativity of all the children who participated in the 4th ArtBeat Kaisa Pakistan. This is your day! We received a huge number of artworks and worked hard to select the winners of this year. I would like to thank and congratulate each and everyone who took part in this project and our guests for extending their support throughout. With this kind of support each year we aim to make ArtBeat grow and reach to more children around Pakistan”.
Director UNESCO Pakistan, Vibeke Jensen:
“ A big congratulations to all the children! I had the chance to view some great work made by young artists at the exhibition today and I was greatly impressed by their talent. Keep going forward!”
Marvi Memon: During her speech Ms. Marvi stated:
“I am extremely happy to see such a good initiative made by The Little Art and I would like to extend my support on behalf of the Federal Government and BISP and we would love to make this project grow further and collaborate with children to produce more artwork and promote their creativity. We shall give a chance to all children especially the extremely marginalized through this project. ”
Executive Director, Group Development Pakistan, Patron of The Little Art, Ms. Valerie Khan said:
“Congratulations all! I am glad we have policy makers like Marvi Memon amongst us today who can implement programs like ArtBeat at a larger scale and reach more children in Pakistan. I wish you all the best. Jeevay Pakistan!”
The Assistant Professor at National College of Arts NCA- Rawalpindi, lecturer at College of Art & Design PUCAD, Mr. Sajjad Akram said:
“I have been working and following The Little Art for the past year. It is really positive to see that new ideas and vision is being introduced to children through art making and this is really important for their development. I am happy to announce that my studio Nukta Studios will be opening it’s doors to children coming through ArtBeat for studio workshops next year”.
Senior artist, Sana Arjumand :
“Congratulations to all the winners of ArtBeat. Consider this a big achievement in your life. As an artist, trust me when I say follow your heart and do what you love. There is nothing that can come between you and success. Do not be discouraged by negativity and keep aiming to make your dreams come true”
Senior Artist, Asst. Professor (DFA) at NCA Rawalpindi, Mr. Aqeel Solangi:
“The age in which you are working right now carries a lot of innocence and creativity. And the works you are creating has a lot of power as well, power to change, challenge and even question issues that we face. Congratulations on your achievements and keep doing great work”
Some of schools that had been selected for prizes and exhibits included: Chapter School, Roots ICY international School Rawalpindi, Angelique School Islamabad, Army Public School Rawalpindi, Beaconhouse School System Civil lines Rawalpindi, The City School, Viqar un Nisa Noon Girls Higher Secondary Institute Rawalpindi, OPF Girls College, Islamabad and Bostaan’Ilm School Rawalpindi.
Child artists that were selected to present their works at the gallery exhibitions in Sir Syed Memorial Society Auditorium in Islamabad were awarded certificates and cash prizes worth Rs. 1,00,000 by the honorable guests. The show was open to public till 18th of September and saw the participation of nearly 1,000 people.
ArtBeat is a project of The Little Art which was initiated in 2012 with a vision to promote visual culture, develop understanding of issues among children and youth from their own perspective, and celebrate children as artists and present children’s view to community. The project has been able to engage over 16,000 children as young artists, organized over 12 exhibitions displaying child art in public galleries across 3 cities.
The Little Art is a non –profit organization working for promoting arts education and providing creative learning opportunities to children and young people in Pakistan.
Quotes by audience
Nabgha
It was wonderful being here and all work is highly appreciated
Naheed
I really appreciated the project. It really provides a path to the upcoming talent in Pakistan. Such activates should be conducted
Fawad
It was such a nice experience. It makes me so happy that my girl participated in competition.
Farah Khokhar
Proud of my son and happy to see so many other children took part and doing so well.
Gallery
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The Little Art organized the opening of season’s second exhibition event in Lahore for the 4th ArtBeat– National Child Art Competition and Exhibition 2015. In the 4 editions of the program, nearly 16,000 children and youth have participated in the competition, 9 exhibitions has been organized across Pakistan, 10 studio workshops were conducted for children with senior artists and art students, and student’s artworks has been promoted in public art galleries and at international art exhibitions like the Sharjah International Biennial for Children’s Arts.
This year’s theme “Kaisa Pakistan” encouraged children to reflect on their identity, visualize their true culture, draw and paint how they see Pakistan. 4th ArtBeat received artworks from 210 schools and nearly 25 community organizations from across Pakistan, making it the largest participation of children the competition has ever seen. Some of schools that have been chosen for prizes and exhibits include:
Special Education and Training Center, Bostaan’ Ilm School, Rising Stars Girls Elementary School, Bloomfield Hall School, Roots International School, Army Public School, Faisalabad Grammar School, Karachi Cambridge School, Happy Home High School, SLS Montessori & High School, Roots School System and the Bacha Khan Foundation schools all the way from Malakand and Khyber Agency.
This year’s jury consisted of esteemed painters, artists and experienced art educators such as; Dr. Shahida Manzoor (Principal, College of Art and Design, Punjab University), R.M. Naeem (Painter and Teacher, National College of Arts),Sadaf Naeem (Painter and Lecturer, Kinnaird College), Amina Ansari(Painter). As part of the program this year ArtBeat also offered studio workshops in summers to 60 selected students with Studio R.M and College of Art & Design Punjab University to excel in their skills with professional artists.
Our opening event in Alhamra was attended by special guests such as Mr. Asghar Nadeem Syed , playwright, art critic, writer and poet, Ms. Qudsia Rahim, Executive Director, Lahore Biennale Foundation, Ms. Salma Anwar Education Advisor LACAS, Ms. Sadia Khalid Head of Co-curricular activities DHA Schools.
“In our country, collectively we don’t have any representation of children and their talents. But looking at this exhibition here today I can see that The Little Art has made it possible. Any country that has progressed in history were ones that valued art, creativity and knowledge. And the work displayed by children here today truly reflects that we might be on the right path”
said Asghar Nadeem Syed during his speech at the opening.
“It is fantastic being here and I’m truly impressed by the works exhibited here today. Parents and teachers should be proud of their children for being able to express their views and share them with public at this beautiful exhibition today.”
said Ms. Qudsia Rahim, Executive Director of Lahore Biennale Foundation.
The selected winners from the competition were awarded cash prizes worth Rs. 1,00,000 and certificates at the opening event by the guests. A curated show of nearly 400 child artworks is presented at the exhibitions in the 3 cities.
As we end our exhibitions in Lahore today we are now looking forward to open ArtBeat in Karachi for the very first time on 9th of Oct at the Karachi Arts Council.
In the Press
*The exhibitions are free events open to public and there is no need for any passes.
Gallery
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We are excited to share that this year we have had some remarkable achievements in terms of growing our projects. The little seeds we had sown a few years ago have started to grow and branch out.
For the first time ArtBeat has taken its exhibitions to the city of lights – Karachi. The Little Art collaborated with Teachers Resource Center who are our wonderful partners in Karachi and with the support of Karachi Arts Council we organized our very first opening exhibition at their gallery from 9th Oct- 10th Oct, 2015.
The opening event was inaugurated by the chief guest, Meher Afroz, senior fine artist and the guests of honor included eminent sculptor and painter, Abdul Jabbar Gull, our jury member and award winning visual artist, Amina Ansari and secretary of Karachi Arts Council, Mr. Ahmed Shah.
The guests awarded prizes and certificates to the schools that participated and had their work exhibited at the public gallery. Some of the schools that were represented at the opening event included: Happy Home High School, Beaconhouse Kindergarten branch, Nazimabad, The City School Darakshan, PSS Montessori, Foundation Public school and Education Bay school.
There was an air of excitement amongst the children of having their work represented by ArtBeat in Karachi and we can’t wait to expand even further and provide more opportunities to children in the region.
Our dreams of developing a visual culture for children and young people in Pakistan are slowly starting to realize and even though we have a long way to go, we are certain that the friends and supporters we find along the way will help us further our mission to nurture creativity amongst our nation.
Gallery
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