7th annual Islamic Arts Festival
The 7th annual Islamic Arts Festival:The largest and oldest Festival of Islamic Arts in the USA was held online this year due to the pandemic. The festival was held on the 5th and 6th of December and had something for the casual art lover to the art intellectual and the student of art!
Over 22,000 visitors saw our online program. Visitors were literally able to walk through the 3D gallery to view and buy art in a museum-like environment. They were able to buy beautiful art to decorate their homes. In addition, there were live interactive sessions on calligraphy, Ebru, and painting. Visitors saw programs on how Islam encourages the pursuit of art and beauty in our daily lives through the Muslim Journeys Art Spot videos. Learn about the art of writing (calligraphy), the art of clothing (textiles), the art of spaces (gardens) on Saturday; and about geometry and the art of trade and travel. Visitors also attended panel discussions and programs on Islamic Arts.
In Collaborating with the community, we displayed art from more than a dozen Emerging artists and School children. This is our way to thank the community by promoting and encouraging young and emerging artists. The art pieces were selected after an internal competition among six local Islamic schools.
We also partnered with Boniuk Institute for Religious Tolerance, Interfaith Ministries of Greater Houston, and the Islamic Society of Greater Houston to help build bridges between communities of different faiths. Finally, we collaborated with IslamiCity and Unity Productions Foundations to promote the role of Islamic art in mainstream America. We presented “Beautifying Space – The Art of the Mosque”. UPF has produced numerous acclaimed films and documentaries on Islam and UPF made this presentation especially for our festival. Our fans met the UPF team of Michael Wolfe, Alex Kronemer & Jawaad Abdul Rahman as they joined our festival.
We also provided Texas refugees a platform where they can sell their art. These refugees are going through a difficult time and shunned because of their religious or ethnic background. The idea was to provide them some sustenance during these difficult times through sales of their art.
