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(Arab News), 20 February
2006 – Women’s Janadriya
cultural Festival will open
next week with lectures, a poetry night and a Saudi artists exhibition.
We are providing
translations of the lectures for our non-Arabic speaking guests, said
Jawaher Abdul Al, director of the women’s Janadirya cultural Festival here
Sunday. There will also be a couple of English teachers available to
accompany foreign women who wish to attend the festival, she told a press
conference.
The festival started last
Wednesday with the inauguration by King Abdullah. However, the women’s
festival will start next week with the cultural festival starting Saturday
night at King Abdulaziz Historical Center and the heritage festival Monday
morning at Janadirya Heritage Village.
The women’s Janadirya
cultural Festival has already come under criticism even before its
inauguration. The lack of attendees in the previous festival and the choice
of the topics were the main points of criticism.
The cultural festival
consists of lectures, short seminars, a poetry night and an art exhibition.
This year’s festival centers on nationalism and women’s participation in
the economy.
The women’s cultural
festival has been witnessing a decline in attendance with the passing of
every year. We hope this year the attendance will be higher, said Abdul
Aal. We have worked really hard in inviting female officials, schools,
universities and organizations to participate with us this year.
Abdul Aal acknowledged that
on the first day of the cultural festival the podium was nearly packed due
to the presence of princesses and the inauguration party, then the
attendance started to dwindle. However, she said she doesn t know the
reason behind the low attendance and that the team has done everything
possible to make this year’s event more popular.
Many attribute the lack of
attendance to the choice of topics and the repetitive programs every year.
Abdul Aal, however,
insisted the topics and speakers are varied every year and that the
organizing team cannot restructure the program.
A cultural festival has to
have lectures and a poetry night that is what a cultural program is. People
who want plays, quizzes and other activities will find what they want at
the heritage festival, explained Abdul Aal.
Many are predicting another
year of low attendance due to this year’s choice of topics.
This year’s topics focus on
nationalism and women’s participation in the Saudi economy. These topics
are repetitive, said Nora Saleh a Saudi teacher. They have been discussed
extensively in the Riyadh Economic Forum, at the UN millennium Women’s
forum and at the National dialogue.
Another criticism was the
irrelevant topics to many Saudi women and housewives. Last year they
focused on technology and the lectures were too technical. This year it
seems the lectures will be full of statistics and numbers again, said Hana
Khaled, a Saudi teacher.
However, Abdul Aal insisted
that the topics were carefully chosen by a panel of female academics to ensure
the relevance of the topics and that the lecture on women’s participation
in the Saudi economy will be based on a religious perspective and not an
economic perspective.
The women’s three-day
cultural festival will start next Saturday at 6 p.m. at King Abdulaziz
Historical Center in Murabba a district with an inauguration ceremony
followed by the opening of the art exhibit and a lecture on nationalism
titled The Nation, What it Wants from Us and What We Want from It.
On Sunday a lecture on
women’s participation in the Saudi economy from a religious perspective
will be presented at 7:30 p.m. and on Monday a classical poetry night is
scheduled at 7:30.
A press conference by the
Janadirya Women’s Heritage Festival will be held on this Tuesday night.
The women’s heritage
festival is scheduled to open next Monday.
More info on:
Janadriya Village
A View of Kingdom's
heritage
Picture Gallery of
Janadriya Festival
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