Ministry of Foreign Affairs
The Permanent Committee for Organizing Conferences
the Saban Center for Middle East Policy at the Brookings Institution
PRESS
RELEASE:
ARTS AND CULTURAL
LEADERS SEMINAR MEETS FOR FIRST TIME IN US-ISLAMIC FORUM
2006 U.S.-Islamic World
Forum
These were the key themes
discussed in the Arts and Cultural Leaders Seminar, which
included rock and hip hop musicians, actors, filmmakers, art
collectors, novelists, and private foundations which fund the
arts. Participants from Pakistani rock musician to Yemeni
filmmaker Bader Ben Hirsi remarked on how unusual it was for
cultural figures to participate in a conference that focused on
political affairs. Martin Indyk and Peter Singer, co-convenors
of the conference confirmed that this was a first. They also
pronounced the meeting an “incredible success” and plan to
include the Arts and Cultural Leaders in future years.
Participants agreed that music is
the universal language.” Music, culture, sports is what makes us
want to know the other”, commented Salman Ahmed, founder of the
popular rock ban “Junoon”. He and British Muslim singer Sami
Yusef told of playing to mixed crowds of tens of thousands,
which included people of all faiths. American Muslim hip hop
musician Ali Shaheed Muhammad explained the global reach of hip
hop, “People identify with the struggle. It doesn’t really
matter where you come from, we all have the same story”.
The storytelling power of the
arts was another theme. Novelist Amy Tan, who has written
about Chinese-American identity learned that her novels have
helped young women in Qatar and Palestine as they have
struggled with issues of culture and identity.
Participants agreed that the
stories told in films had great potential to reach millions of
people and could contribute to increasing understand between the
west and the Islamic world. Bader Ben Hirsi and Ahmad Abdali,
director and producer of “A New Day in Old Sana’a”, wanted to
introduce Yemen with a story about normal people. They
succeeded despite many obstacles, including having to defend
the film before the Yemeni Parliament, and have won the best film
awards at the Cairo film festival.
Still participants lamented the
difficulties of making and distributing films within the Islamic
world, despite the current Renaissance in filmmaking. “It is
heartbreaking that our own films are ghettoized within our own
culture”. More than 90% of what is in on TV in Arab countries
is American. Michael Nozik, producer of “Syriana” wondered,
“How do you create a model for young Muslims to express
themselves?” He noted the need to find economic markets for
young Islamic filmmakers and artists.
Collector of Islamic art, Nasser
David Khalili noted that “People in the west need to recognize
Islamic cultures and the Islamic world needs to learn about
themselves.” He advocated using art and culture to introduce
both the west and the Islamic world to the breadth and depth of
achievements in art and design, which are largely unknown. Jane
Alexander, actress and former Chairman of the National Endowment
for the Arts in the United States, noted that designs everywhere,
from kitchens to evening gowns, originated in Islamic art, but
no one knows it.
Session coordinator Ambassador
Cynthia Schneider noted that artists play a valuable role by
looking reflectively and critically at society. Alexander
summed up the potential of the arts to contribute to building
bridges between cultures, “Art persuades”.
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