Manama: Doha, the 2010 Arab culture capital, will host Arab and non-Arab cultural weeks in the next three months, the culture, arts and heritage minister has said.
“We are not alone and we live with others. The world is a mixture of cultures and we want to appreciate that,” Hamad bin Abdul Aziz Al Kuwari said at a press conference to review the assessment of the first three months of the year and talk about the second quarter of the “Doha, Capital of Arab Culture 2010” festival.
“One thing we learned for instance is that we should not have more than one cultural activity in one day. “We will be holding one event per day, unlike in the first quarter. When we held more than one per day, many events attracted audiences at the expense of others.”
The festival organizers will also launch a different type of media campaign in the second quarter of the cultural celebration to attract more audience to the events, he said.
Under an agreement with Qtel, the telecoms company will send 10,000 random text messages per day, in addition to the 3,000 listed individuals, while the dedicated website will offer more services to all users. All the events will be promoted on billboards.
“We will also advertise in malls and cinemas and we will be holding some of the events in the malls, during the hot summer months,” the minister was quoted as saying by Qatari daily Gulf Times.
According to Al Kuwari, the real challenge for Doha will be after 2010.
“We hope that the cultural momentum will persist. Major theatres have plans to open soon in Qatar, such as the Romanian Theatre at the Cultural Village. These are all positive signs of the rich cultural environment in Qatar,” Al Kuwari said.
