Mona Bin Kalli: The Sheikha Manal Little Artists Program in partnership with Art Dubai - now in its fourth consecutive year - provides young people with the skills and confidence to express their interest in the arts and help discover new talented artists within our evolving and vibrant arts scene, supporting of the vision of our wise leadership to foster a thriving local artist culture and community

Dubai, 19 March 2016: The Sheikha Manal ‘Little Artists Program’ is hosting a number of specialist art workshops for children and teenagers in schools, in the lead up to Art Dubai. The ‘Artists in Schools’ program offers exclusive classroom workshops to two schools - Jumeirah Model School for Girls and Rashid School for Boys -  that will serve to support the stimulation of artistic creativity for young and emerging artists in the UAE.

Held under the patronage of Sheikha Manal bint Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, President of the UAE Gender Balance Council, President of Dubai Women Establishment and wife of Sheikh Mansour Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Presidential Affairs of the UAE, Sheikha Manal’s ‘Little Artist Program’ will take place in its fourth consecutive year at Art Dubai from 16 – 19 March 2016. The program, established in 2013, is designed for children and teenagers ages 5 – 17 years, encouraging young people to become creatively involved and participate in the field of the arts and serve as a platform for creative thinking and artistic expression within the region.

The Cultural Office and Art Dubai have commissioned London-based artist and educator, Polly Brannan to lead the ‘Little Artist Program’ including the pre-event activities and special interactive classroom workshops for the children in schools. A number of artist apprentices will also take part in assisting with the workshops and include: Asmaa El Afifi, Alia Lootah, Isabella E. Toledo, Zahia Abdul and Maryam Saffarini.

“It is wonderful to see the children in schools participating across the entire arts spectrum such as theatre and performing arts, drawing, painting and poetry - all encouraging artistic exploration and giving young artists the opportunity to build confidence and develop new creative skills during a crucial time in their learning and development stage,” said Mona Bin Kalli, Director of The Cultural Office. She added: “The Sheikha Manal Little Artists Program in partnership with Art Dubai - now in its fourth consecutive year - provides young people with the skills and confidence to express their interest in the arts and help discover new talented artists within our evolving and vibrant arts scene, supporting of the vision of our wise leadership to foster a thriving local artist culture and community.”

During Art Dubai, children with their families will work together to map out their own content and demonstrate artistic performances such as songs, comedy, dance and theatre – using props, posters and background design visuals they have created themselves. Discovery tours will be guided by UAE-based and international artists and workshops will consist of six zones where participants create their own production with the help of the lead and apprentice artists.
Part of the Cultural Office of Sheikha Manal and Art Dubai’s longstanding commitment to local arts education as an integral part of one of the largest not-for-profit programs of any art fair worldwide, the Sheikha Manal’s “Little Artists Program” is free and open to all; it takes place throughout the tenth edition of Art Dubai, from 16 to 19 March, 2016.