Sheikha Hind attends final day of D’reesha Performing Arts Festival

HE Sheikha Hind bint Hamad al-Thani, the Vice-Chairperson and Chief Executive of Qatar Foundation (QF), attended the final day of the D’reesha Performing Arts Festival, which welcomed thousands of visitors over seven days.Over the course of the week, HE Sheikha Hind watched performances such as Rumi: The Musical and The Journey of Ibn Battuta, detailing the adventures of the famous Arab explorer, as well as toured the QF festival’s various zones.This year, the zones included "D’reesha of Invention", which integrated science and performing arts and was sponsored by ConocoPhillips Qatar, and Al Khater House, and housed a variety of cultural performances, workshops, and activities.An area dedicated to art and music allowed visitors to try different instruments as well as paint, sculpt and act, while the Torba Farmers Market offered a range of local produce from homegrown businesses.The final day of the festival featured an Arabic Poetry Night, where a number of Arab poets shared works focusing on important issues facing the region.The event welcomed Rawda al-Hajj, whos regarded as one of the Arab world’s most famous poets, Kuwaiti poet Dalal al-Baroud, Syrian poet and writer Anas AlDoghem, and Jassim bin Mohamed al-Sahih, a poet from Saudi Arabia.The D’reesha Performing Arts Festival was held in collaboration with principal partners ConocoPhillips Qatar and the Social & Sport Contribution Fund.Strategic partners are the Ministry of Culture, the Ministry of Social Development and Family, the Doha Film Institute, Torba Farmers Market, Woqod and Dukhan Bank."Woqod sees D’reesha Performing Arts Festival as an opportunity to educate a global audience during the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 about regional and Arabic traditions," said Woqod managing director & chief executive Saad Rashid al-Muhannadi. "We are pleased to assist the QF in its role as a cultural authority in advancing Arabic culture."Ahmed al-Meer, who visited the festival with his three children, said: "Although the festival coincides with the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022, with many football-related activities are taking place across Doha, D’reesha Performing Arts Festival is considered the best for families.""This is because it provides an educational and cultural experience, and it is also a lot of fun for children and parents," he explained. "This is what encouraged us to visit multiple times.""We’ve had a great time, and the children learned a lot about our customs and Islamic history," al-Meer added. "We want to thank Qatar Foundation for organising such a unique event."Nine-year-old Reem al-Enezi spent a full afternoon at Oxygen Park, where she participated in many activities."I enjoyed everything – drawing, painting, and reading stories," she said. "I also wore Qatari clothes and took beautiful pictures. I love this place, and I want to come back."Studio 5/6 was one of the entities participating in the "D'reesha of Invention" zone, and through workshops it introduced students to robotics programming, as well as different Arab scientists."One of the activities that we offered was allowing young students and their parents to take pictures with our camera, and then putting all these pictures together to build a bigger image of an Arab scientist," said Studio 5/6 project manager Sabine al-Kahi. "It was a great way to encourage students to guess and research Arab scientists."For more information, visit www.qf.org.qa/dreesha