Spring of culture

The Ministry of Culture and the Bahrain Economic Development Board (EDB) this week announced the programme details of the two-month-long 9th Spring of Culture Festival.
 The festival will run for two months and the programme will include:
* Five Hundred Year of Islamic Calligraphy - Masterpieces from Sakıp Sabancı Museum (Turkey), will start in February and continue through to April 13 at the Bahrain National Museum.
* Souq Bab Al Bahrain will continue to offer local designers the chance to present their merchandise and products from March 1 – 29 at the gate of the old Manama souq.
* Art Market will be held at Bab Al Bahrain for two days from March 13 to 15 and April 10 to 12 and local artists will present their work.
* The programme will include music concerts for Michael Fadel from Lebanon and the Arab Idol talent, Ahmed Jamal, above.
* A concert for the Grammy award winner, Ramsey Lewis, the American jazz composer and pianist along with seven-time Grammy winning singer and song writer, Philip Bailey who will perform at Arad Fort will take place on March 5.
* Rock star Eric Clapton’s concert will be held on March 8 at Arad Fort (see pages 1, 12 & 13).
* Arabic artist Mohammed Abdo’s concert will be held at the Arad Fort.
* Performance of Eric Carle’s ‘The Very Hungry Caterpillar’ and other kids stories by Canada’s Mermaid Theatre of Nova Scotia will perform at the Alumni Club from March 27 to 30.
* The Turkish dancing band, The Fire of Anatolia will perform at the Arad Fort.
* The Chinese culture week which is organised in cooperation with the Chinese Embassy, will feature the Silk Road exhibition and will be held April 10 to 19.
* Liaoning Ballet of China will also perform at the festival.
* The China National Acrobatic Troup will continue to entertain families at Arad Fort from March 20 -22.
* A Japanese Maki-e exhibition will be held from March 2 –April 6.
* Jose Carreras will entertain opera devotees on March 5 at Arad Fort.
* American soul and disco singer Gloria Gaynor, above, will perform at Arad Fort on April 4.
* The 16th Bahrain International Book Fair will run from March 27-April 6.
 
The 22nd Heritage Festival will be held during the Spring of Culture and as part of its programme this year, the festival will focus on fabric manufacturing and Bahraini traditional outfits and will include an exhibition and market for the designers to offer products.

In addition, Bait Alqous’s The Diving House will be opened on April 13. One of the 16th locations in Muharraq which represents the pearl road, Bait Alqous will feature an exhibition to present the lifestyle traditional to Bahraini pearl divers. Ebrahim bin Saad Gallery will also be opened at the same day as well.

* The festival will also include the opening of a photo exhibition for six professional photographers who were in Manama last year to capture the capital as they saw it.

Educational workshops will be held for young talents to enhance their skills. They will be offered free of charge for people who sign up in advance and will feature international artists and bands such as the Very Hungry Caterpillar and the Chinese Aerobatic band.
 
Workshops will be offered in cooperation with the Ministry of Education, the Royal Charity Organisation, and Arabian Gulf University, including a week-long sand painting workshop by Indian artist, Kardashian Batick. 

For more details, visit www.springofculture.org