Sheikha Manal Young Artist Award Exhibition opens

An exhibition featuring 50 shortlisted artwork submissions for The Sheikha Manal Young Artist Award will be inaugurated Tuesday, 26th November, 2013 at 7:30pm, by H.H. Sheikh Mansour bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum. The event will be attended by Judges Panel, Board Members from Dubai Women Establishment, distinguished members of the local and international art community and members of the media. The show will be open to the public until Monday, 2nd December, 2013. Moreover, the competition is sponsored by Harvey Nichols, Dubai, who are long time supporters of the arts within the U.A.E.. The exhibition, which will be held in The Art Centre at Dubai Ladies Club, will feature 50 artworks by young Emirati and U.A.E. resident artists and is open to male and female visitors from 10 am to 9 pm. First launched in 2006, under the patronage of H.H. Sheikha Manal bint Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, President of Dubai Women Establishment, wife of H.H. Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Presidential Affairs,The Sheikha Manal Young Artist Award is an annual fine arts competition, which aims to encourage, recognise and promote emerging artists from the U.A.E. and is especially popular amongst university students majoring in Art, Design and Multimedia. On the occasion, Mona bin Kalli, Director of The Cultural Office of H.H. Sheikha Manal bint Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum said, "Now in its eighth year, this year has seen a very impressive number of submissions from 30 different nationalities; reflecting the continued development of the art and culture scene of Dubai. The Sheikha Manal Young Artist Award is also one of the U.A.E. s most important art initiatives created for the recognition and support of young emerging artists; which was further reiterated with the recent addition of a new 'Design' category in 2013. "We are very pleased to note that we have received a large number of submissions in all four categories, which range greatly in subject matter and context. I know the judges will have great difficulty in choosing the winner," she said. This year s shortlisted entries will be reviewed by a distinguished panel of judges comprised of industry professional and practicing artists from the local and international art community comprised of Sheikha Wafa Hasher Al Maktoum, Founder of Fn Design Studio; Sheikha Maisa Al Qassimi, an active Curator in the UAE and recently joined Guggenheim Abu Dhabi as Programmes Manager; Dr. Farhad Farjam, Founder of The Farjam Foundation; Antonia Carver, Director of Art Dubai, Cyril Zammit, Director of Design Days; Ali Khadra, Publisher and Editor-in-Chief of Canvas Magazine. The winning artists will be announced during the Gala Award Ceremony to be held in mid-December 2013. Moreover, this year the value for the Award prize money has been elevated to total AED 405,000, which reflects the Awards overarching objective to encourage and propel new talented young artists into the spotlight. The new prize money will break down as AED 50,000, AED 30,000 and AED 20,000 cash prize for winner, runner up and second runner up, respectively for all four competition categories. Moreover, there is a cash prize worth AED5,000 for the winner of the People s Choice Award , which is decided by public voting through the Award's official website. Furthermore, following the opening of the exhibition on Tuesday, 26th November 2013, the public will have a chance to vote for their favourite art work for The People s Choice Award through the website s online voting feature. The People's Choice Award is distinctive in that it is the only award that is not conferred by the jury. Rather, it is bestowed on the finalist artist whose work receives the most public votes.