SAARC Artists

The SAARC Artists’ Camp 2013 was officially launched in the Maldives last night, the largest art competition held in the region.

The competition is organized jointly by the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) Cultural Centre, Maldives Ministry of Tourism, and the Maldives National Centre for the Arts.

The camp was officially launched by the Maldives Tourism Minister Ahmed Adheeb at a ceremony held at the National Art Gallery last night. The camp is planned to continue at the nearby island of Kuda Bandos for a period of four days.

A total of 41 artists from 8 countries in the region will participate in the SAARC Artists’ Camp 2013.

A number of high level officials attended last night’s ceremony, including Minister of Gender Dr. Mariyam Shakeela, the Director of the SAARC Cultural Arts Centre G.L.W. Samarasinghe, a number of Ministers from Sri Lanka, and High Commissioners from the region.

Speaking at the ceremony, Maldives Tourism Minister Ahmed Adheeb said that It is a great privilege for the Maldives to host the camp this year.

“It is very important that such a camp is being held in the Maldives. You must be aware that the country consists of an increasing youth population. Talented youngsters, artists who want to display their work to the world. It is a great privilege for the Maldives to host the SAARC Artists’ Camp this year,” Adheeb said.

A SAARC Artists’ Camp was first held 17 years ago in Shimla, India. Organized by the SAARC Cultural Centre, the camp was held in Sri Lanka for the past two year. This year’s camp will see a the full participation of the 8 SAARC countries for the first time. Maldives is also holding the camp for the very first time.

Even though 6 slots were allocated for participants from each country, 14 artists from the Maldives are to participate in the camp. The organizing officials of the camp revealed that they had prioritized to include artists below 35 of age.