| | | | | The Qatar America Institute for Culture wishes you a wonderful New Year full of good health, wealth, and happiness! 2021 will be a majorly exciting year for QAIC, and we look forward to sharing it with you, our community, in many fun and memorable ways! |
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|  | A New Home for Culture. Welcome to the New QatarAmerica Faced with the challenge of having to adapt to operating in a global pandemic, QAIC still managed to undergo a total transformation in both its mission and its home. As we close out 2020, QAIC is determined more than ever to deliver on its three main guiding principles of connecting creatives, convening communities, and celebrating cultures. In honor of QAIC’s new vision for its future, we are proud to officially unveil the above video to show you what the Qatar America Institute for Culture has in store for 2021 and beyond. Watch the video for a sneak peek, and we hope you will join us in the New Year. |
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|  | Transcendent Text Virtual Exhibition The Qatar America Institute for Culture (QAIC) is excited to announce the opening of its first virtual exhibition “Transcendent Text: Exploring Universal Values Through Islamic Calligraphy,” in partnership with the National Human Rights Committee in Qatar. The exhibition aims to tie ancient Quranic text with the contemporary Universal Declaration of Human Rights that was first composed by the United Nations in 1948. This 20-piece exhibit features the work of renowned Master Calligrapher and Sculptor, Sabah Arbilli, whose vibrant and vastly-technical paintings perfectly merge the beauty of color and expression with the sacred art of Islamic calligraphy. It specifically ties the values listed within the Universal Declaration of Human Rights with the Quranic Text that echoes a similar sentiment. |
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|  | QAIC Presents PostScript PostScript is an opportunity for aspiring authors and writers to share their unique perspectives on the cultural, artistic, and social landscape in the United States, Qatar, and the larger Arab and Islamic worlds. PostScript aims to enrich contemporary dialogue on cultural movements and trends relevant to the artistic community and to serve as a forum to discuss artists, exhibitions, literature, and other critical and contemporary issues in the world of Art. This initiative is open to writers 18 years of age and older. Those seeking to contribute can range from established analysts, aspiring scholas, or students. We look forward to you joining the conversation! |
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|  | A Decade in Review - Qatar's Top Art Moments The past decade has been a renaissance of art and culture for Qatar as it cements its role as a cultural hub, both within the region and internationally. Qatar’s largest city, Doha, is quickly becoming the Middle East’s artistic focal point. Qatar Museums, like the American Smithsonian system, hosts and exhibits an astonishing collection of Western and Eastern art that often rivals those hosted by their contemporary counterparts in the West. In addition to being home to a multitude of organizations and museums, Doha also boasts a stunning collection of public art that dots the city. This article provides a selection of 10 artistic developments that highlight the city’s transformation, and Qatar generally, as it strives to become the Middle East’s cultural capital. |
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| | Elizabeth Thornhill Joins QAIC Advisory Board During a thirty-year career in the U.S. Foreign Service, Elizabeth Thornhill served as a public diplomacy officer in U.S. embassies throughout the Middle East and South Asia. Her positions in press and cultural affairs focused on developing the people-to-people relationships between Americans and the citizens of Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Morocco, Egypt, and India. She continues to work on special projects for the U.S. Department of State. |
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QAIC in the News This week, the Qatar America Institute for Culture sent out a press release addressing the organization’s decision to refocus its mission and to rebrand as QAIC while simultaneously navigating through the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic. The release also speaks to how QAIC was able to overcome these challenges by adopting a more virtual approach to programming, and how QAIC is hopeful for the 2021 Year of Culture and all of the efforts the organization is involved with under this enhanced mandate and brand identity. |
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| | | Book of the Month: Jassim - The Leader The Gulf state of Qatar tops the Forbes list of the world's richest countries. In 2010, the country had the world's highest GDP per capita, and its reserves of oil and natural gas are vast. Yet Qatar has climbed to this pinnacle of wealth and influence in a remarkably short time, and from a starting point of obscurity and insignificance. This astonishing transition is the direct result of efforts nearly two hundred years ago of one visionary man – Jassim bin Muhammad Bin Thani, known as "the Leader." Qatar in the 1830s was a fragmented region, a desert peninsula without security or borders, where coastal communities depended on pearling for survival, while constantly at the mercy of tribal raiders. Jassim's background in this precarious environment led to his understanding that the gap between tribal settled peoples must be bridged, and then to his harnessing of regional conflicts to create a unified Qatari state. Skilfully allying with Ottoman forces to fend off the British, Jassim established power in the newly rebuilt capital, Doha, eventually becoming the first leader of the new country. For more information on this book and where to purchase it, click here. Book of the month provided by: |
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| | | |  | Become a Sponsor As a sponsor, QAIC can continue to develop meaningful expressions and experiences, functioning as a bridge spanning the cultures of the United States, Qatar, and the larger Arab and Islamic worlds. It is through the continued support from sponsors that QAIC is able to create inclusive experiences that highlight humanity’s similarities while delighting in the diversity of our differences, thus improving cross-cultural understanding. It is with your contribution that together we can create impact by giving QAIC the resources to become a trusted partner and art and culture catalyst by increasing awareness, creating harmony, and fostering human creativity in society in multiple ways. |
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 | Join Our Community As a member, you become part of the extended QAIC family. With this annual membership, you will receive a more involved QAIC experience complete with additional in-depth content and unique offerings catered to our members. These offerings include priority access to exclusive engagements with featured guests, intimate receptions with visiting artists, and other annual benefits to better serve you as a platform for cultural and creative enrichment. |
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| | | | | The Qatar America Institute for Culture (QAIC) is an independent 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that creates, curates, and executes programs and research that amplify the prominence of all forms of art and culture from the United States, Qatar, and the larger Arab and Islamic worlds. |
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