The British Ambassador, Nicholas Hopton (fourth left) with officials from the British embassy, British Council Qatar, Qatar Museums Authority, Qatargas and Shell Qatar attend a photo call after the press conference at St Regis Hotel yesterday. Shaival Dalal
DOHA: Building on the success of the cultural exchange programme, Qatar UK 2013 yesterday announced events to be held in the next few months.
Over 50 events have been held and more are is yet to come, organisers of Qatar UK 2013 Year of Culture told a press conference at St Regis Hotel.
BBC Symphony Orchestra, Damien Hirst and V and A Pearls Exhibition are some of the highlights Qatar UK 2013 Year of Culture has in store for the autumn season.
Nicholas Hopton, British Ambassador to Qatar, said: “The Qatar UK 2013 Year of Culture has been a tremendously eventful year to date. People in Qatar and the UK have had many opportunities to share and experience first-hand cultural, sporting and musical events from each other’s nations. The British embassy is very excited about the upcoming UK Season in Qatar and we are lending our full support to the project.”
Among the highlights are the first visit to Qatar by the BBC Symphony Orchestra, Damien Hirst: Relics Exhibition, the artist’s first retrospective solo exhibition in the Middle East, Ben Barbour Exhibition, following Ben’s artistic journey from Qatar to the UK on a vessel transporting Qatargas’ LNG this summer, the Doha-based resident artist’s drawings will be on display in Katara for three weeks.
In October and November, Qatar UK 2013 will host Café Scientifique — a series of informal events where scientists will host talks in public cafés and parks across Doha.
Topics will vary from observation in human beings and animals to star-gazing on the Corniche.
The autumn programme will also include a ‘Women in Science’ Day, in collaboration with Qatar Shell at the Qatar University on November 27, with talks and workshops by leading and inspiring Qatari and UK female scientists.
Qatar UK 2013 Year of Culture recently produced a film, celebrating the strength of relationship between the UK and Qatar and highlighting some of the collaborative projects created during the Year of Culture, in the fields of visual and performing arts, sports and science.
Through events such as the first Arts and Disability Festival in the Middle East, the Ehtifal family day in Hyde Park and Barbour’s recent trip on an LNG vessel from Qatar to the UK, the enhanced cultural interchange has strengthened relations between the two countries, which will continue to flourish even when the Year of Culture concludes at the end of 2013.
Miguel Blanco, Director of Strategic Cultural Relations, Qatar Museums Authority, said: “Qatar UK 2013 is the second bilateral Year of Culture coordinated by QMA. Working together with the British Council and our Platinum Sponsors — Qatargas, Shell and Vodafone — this cultural exchange initiative with the UK has given us the opportunity to promote cultural dialogue and programmes, strengthening relations between our two countries.”
The Peninsula
