Egyptian Academy of Arts in Rome inaugurates new cultural season

CAIRO – 12 November 2017: The Egyptian Academy of Arts in Rome, headed by Jehan Zaki, inaugurated its 2017/2018 cultural season on Saturday under the auspices of the Minister of Culture Helmy al-Namnam.

The inauguration was attended by the Egyptian Ambassador to Italy Hisham Badr, the Head of Cultural Development Fund Sector Ahmed Awad, the Arab calligrapher Ahmed Moustafa and many other Egyptians and Italians.

During the opening ceremony, Egyptian Marimba star Nesma Abdel Aziz performed a concert with artists from the Italian Conservatory. They introduced a diversity of Arab and western music in addition to the songs of Fairouz, Umm Kulthum and Abdel Halim Hafez.

In addition, an exhibition of Arabic calligraphy was opened in cooperation with the Cultural Development Fund Sector.

The concert was followed by a speech given by Badr. He praised the role of the Academy in strengthening the relations between Egypt and Italy through art and culture and expressed his pleasure for the great transformation occurring in Egypt.

On the other hand, Zaki said that she is extremely happy as the inauguration of this season coincides with the closing of the World Youth Forum (WYF) held in Sharm El-Sheikh. According to Zaki, the WYF is helping change the world’s vision toward Egypt.
She also mentioned the meeting held between the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar and the Pope of the Vatican during Interfaith Dialogue Conference in July.

The Egyptian Academy of Arts in Rome is the only Arab academy to teach arts among other 17 institutions in Italy. The establishment of the academy was the idea of the Egyptian painter Ragheb Ayad, who with the support of his colleague Youssef Kamel, wrote to the Egyptian embassy to suggest the establishment of the academy in Rome. The academy was founded in 1929 in the Villa Borghese district.