The Inauguration of the "Regeneration" Art Exhibition at Al Khubairat British School in Abu Dhabi

Special to TAG Educa News Agency

ABU DHABI - Dr Hamed Al Suwaidi, HMA Philip Parham British Ambassador, HE Younis Alkhouri, Under Secretary of the UAE Ministry of Finance and governor, and Mr Mark Leppard MBE -headmaster of the school-had recently the honour of opening an exciting new exhibition; entitled “Regeneration” at the British School of AlKhubairat in Abu Dhabi.

In attendance were Debby Burton Shaw - Chair of Governors, and Gavin Anderson - Director, British Council UAE, as well as a number of parents of participating students.

The Regeneration Exhibition is the result of a collaborative project to celebrate the ‘UK/UAE Year of Creative Collaboration 2017’, a series of planned cultural events with the aim of forging new links between artists and reaching out to new audiences.

The British Council states that the UK/UAE Year of Creative Collaboration 2017 “aims to increase the visibility of the UK in the UAE and vice versa to give greater focus, depth and contemporary relevance to the long-standing relationship between our two nations. The unique cultural program will continue to strengthen existing relationships and broker new ones between our people, institutions, and businesses. We explore the role culture plays in shaping the societies of tomorrow. Through an innovative program of high-quality projects, we hope to stimulate and inspire the next generation and look towards future collaboration between the UK and the UAE.”

Throughout 2017, the British Council hopes to collaborate with British and Emirati partners to provide a widerange of activities and events including projects in the arts, literature, education, society, sport, science and trade.
By engaging with this idea, exploring the past and present heritage of the UAE within a creative context and identifying the creative links that artists have with the past, the Regeneration project has inspired a wide range of artworks in a very extensive variety of mediums. Exhibited works include drawing, sculpture, photography, writing, film, music, and dance,with examples from right across the British School Al Khubairat community.

As the Abu Dhabi Patron of the National Portrait Gallery in London and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, the support of Dr. Hamed Al Suwaidi to both this event and the wider Arts community is deeply encouraging for the artists involved, and for the British School Al Khubairat. The British School has consistently provided a high standard of education since it was founded in 1968, and an important part of this has been in encouraging engagement with the Arts and artistic endeavours such as the UK/UAE Year of Creative Collaboration 2017.
Visitors and guests at the exhibition had the opportunity to spend time browsing, with ample opportunity to engage with each exhibit, discuss the works and,most importantly, to speak to the students about their creative processes and their plans for the future.