For love of Egypt At the Cultural Development Fund's Creativity Centre, on the Opera House grounds, an hour-long singing performance entitled "Singing for the Homeland" and conducted by Emad El-Rashidi found Sherif Sonbol ready with his camera. Held under the supervision of stage director Khaled Galal ( Black Coffee ), the director of the centre, the evening featured both old and new patriotic songs. The audience included Samir Khafagi, the Egyptian theatre legend, as well as the veteran journalist Neam El-Baz and the filmmaker Sandra Nashaat. On Orphan's Day (5 April), the Indian Embassy took 200 orphan children to the National Puppet Theatre. Present were the head of the Foreign Cultural Relations sector at the Culture Ministry Hossam Nassar, the Ambassador of India R Swaminathan, the Director of the Maulana Azad Centre for Indian Culture Suchitra Durai, artists Jihan Qamari and Intissar Abdel-Fattah and members of the Indian community in Cairo. The Leadership for Education and Development Programme (LEAD) held its seventh annual conference under the title Masr Tela'et Omy (Egypt Turned Out to be My Mother) with an agenda intended to empower young Egyptians by raising awareness of political issues and presenting for discussion a number of initiatives. The opening of the conference was attended by Margaret Scobey, the US ambassador to Egypt, James Bever, the director of the US Agency for International Development, Nobel laureate Mohamed El-Baradei, the former director of the International Atomic Energy Agency and AUC trustee, Lisa Anderson, president of the AUC, and Sohair Saad, director of LEAD, as well as members of local organisations and NGOs and university students. In her conference address, Anderson said the objective of the conference was to encourage political participation with a critical thinking approach amongst Egypt's youth. Scobey 's remarks focussed on the importance of the LEAD programme and its development year after year. One of the highlights of the conference this year was a series of forums moderated by Egyptian political and public figures, including El-Baradei who addressed the future of Egypt and the role of the young. "You are Egypt; you are the future, that's why every one of you, when you go back to your governorate, should realise that your role in politics reflects on your lives, future and families. Thus politics is not luxury; it's a way of living, and you should know that if you don't take part in it inside your community, you wouldn't be able to determine your life." Established in 2004, LEAD is a partnership initiative supported by USAID and the Egyptian Ministry of State for International Cooperation. Each year, 57 public schools, one male and one female from each of Egypt's governorates, are awarded full scholarships to attend AUC. A delegation of celebrities and media figures who participated in the revolution visited the Catholic Centre to bestow an honorary shield upon its director Father Boutros Daniel for supporting sublime art. The delegation included Sanaa Mansour, Nelly, Wafaa Salem, Hanan Fawzi, Amr El-Shobaki, Samir Sabri and the director of the US-based Gallup Centre for Muslims Studies and member of the US President Obama's Advisory Council on Fatih-Based and Neighbourhood Partnerships Dalia Megahed. photo: Abdel-Hamid Eid The Acting and Cinema Supporters Association, presided over by Soheir El-Morshedi, held a seminar celebrating the 25 January Revolution in the presence of celebrities like Sameh Abdel-Aziz, who sang to the revolution. In a high-profile ceremony, the Semiramis InterContinental General Manager Michael Koth handed over two important paintings found by hotel security in the vicinity on 28 January to head of the Fine Arts Sector at the Ministry of Culture, Ashraf Reda. The paintings, by Omar El-Nagdi and Yehia Abu Hamda were among the 20 making up the National Council of Women collection, at NDP headquarters on the Corniche, which was burned down. Present were Security and Government Relations Manager Hisham El-Eissawi, and members of the security team who were honoured included Amir Hassan, Thabet Hussein, Mohamed Abdel-Ghani, Hisham Saleh, Mohamed Eissa and Mohamed Youssef. One of the unsung heroes of the revolution was Ahmed Bassiouni, who died on 28 January while defending his rights. Bassiouni was a sound and visual artist, musician and assistant professor at the Painting and Drawing Department of the Faculty of Art Education, Helwan University. Many considered Bassiouni among the most important artists of the new generation. For his early large-scale expressionistic paintings, he won first prize in painting in the 2001 Youth Salon. Later his work took an experimental turn, utilising new media and multimedia installations. Bassiouni grew more interested in the study of digital interactive media and became one of a handful of contemporary Egyptian artists working in that field. The Ahmed Bassiouni-Egypt Independent Artists Music and Film Festival will be held on 16 April at Darb 17 18 Contemporary Art and Culture Centre. The festival will be held annually in honour of Bassiouni and to support and encourage other independent artists. The Ahmed Bassiouni-EIA Music and Film Festival will be the first event in Egypt to gather all manner of independent artists: musicians, photographers, and filmmakers. The festival, which focuses on Independent Artists and aims to promote the idea of uniting and encouraging positive change on the Egyptian art scene, will feature solo musicians, bands and short film screenings alongside a gallery featuring the work of visual artists. ( see Listings p.19 )
