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| QMA’s Christian Wacker, Katara’s Imad Sultan, Jassim al-Rumaihi and CEO of The Youth Company, Mohamed Farid, announce details of the first ‘Run The World’ festival to be held from December 11-18 |
The Youth Company, the first social enterprise to be run by young people in Qatar, yesterday announced the launch of its inaugural ‘Run The World’ festival, which will focus on the theme of sport and youth empowerment.
The festival, which will take place from December 11-18 at Katara, is being organised in conjunction with Qatar Museums Authority and Katara.
CEO of TYC, Mohamed Farid expressed his excitement ahead of the first festival of its type to take place throughout the region.
“This festival is dedicated to the youth, providing them with fun and exciting activities to express themselves in a unique environment,” he said, adding “we would like to thank Qatar Museums Authority and Katara for enabling us to create the ultimate festival in honour of the youth. We hope that this festival inspires people to continue participating in sports activities throughout the year.” He explained that a team of 60 young people, aged between 15-26 have been working full time to organise the festival, which will feature around 2,000 volunteers with 60,000 people expected to attend.
“We want to offer a platform for youth to develop their true potential,” he said, adding “this will become an annual festival to give an opportunity for youth to grow and become leaders of the region.”
The festival will include a number of different events, including talent shows, concerts, photography and video exhibitions and conferences.
Running simultaneously to the Arab Games taking place in Doha, the festival will also offer a reflection of the strong emphasis placed on sport by the country’s leadership as part of the 2030 National Vision.
Director of Qatar’s Sports and Olympic Museum, Christian Wacker, spoke about the ability of sport to teach young people a number of important values, and highlighted the intrinsic connection between sport and culture around the world.
“Hosting the ‘Run The World’ festival reinforces Qatar’s commitment to encourage and enable cultural, and in extension sports initiatives. We are extremely pleased to collaborate with our partners to bring this event to life and are certain it will be a great success,” he said.
Cultural director of Katara, Imad Sultan commented: “This initiative is an excellent opportunity to engage youth in sports and we are proud to host this event in our state-of-the-art facilities. Providing a platform for an event that recognises the importance of youth in Qatari culture contributes to our long term vision to educate, entertain and demonstrate the importance of cultural exchange.”
Sultan highlighted the capability of sport to bring together people from different cultural backgrounds, and help them to understand each other better through art, culture and sport.
The festival will also feature the ‘Run The World’ conference, which will bring together young people from across the region to discuss possible solutions to problems faced by youth throughout the Arab world.
Secretary general of the conference, Jassim al-Rumaihi, explained that the conference will be organised around four themes; sport and education, community engagement, professionalism in sport and youth participation in sport.
Describing the conference as the festival’s “jewel in the crown,” he said that an announcement will be made regarding a long term initiative aimed at increasing the participation and engagement of young people in Qatar with sporting activities here.
The festival also includes a photography and short film competition, the entries to which will be displayed throughout the seven-day event.
Tickets should be available from December 3, but Farid pointed out that visitors under the age of 30 will be able to participate in the festival free of charge.