www.burda.ae

Al Burda takes its name from Qasidat Al Burda (‘Ode of the Mantle’), an epic poem about the Prophet Mohammed (PBUH) by the 12th-century Sufi mystic Imam Al Busiri. In honour of the birthday of Prophet, the UAE Ministry of Culture and Youth launched the Al Burda Award in 2004, which has since traditionally celebrated the disciplines of Classical poetry, Nabati poetry, Classical calligraphy, Modern calligraphy and Islamic ornamentation. In 2018, the Award welcomed the first edition of the Al Burda Festival that comprises a fully-fledged programme of talks, performances and exhibitions, gathering creative leaders and personalities from around the globe to collaborate, exchange insights and share ideas.The Festival also saw the launch of the Al Burda Endowment, a biannual initiative through which the Ministry grants a sum of AED 500,000 among 10 creatives who embrace experimentation and reinterpretation in their approach to Islamic art and culture. The inaugural cohort of artists are Ebtisam Abdulaziz (UAE), Ammar Al Attar (UAE), Dana Awartani (Palestine/Saudi Arabia), Khalid Al Banna (UAE), Zoulikha Bouabdellah (Algeria/France), Aisha Khalid (Pakistan), Aljoud Lootah (UAE), Nasser Al Salem (Saudi Arabia) and Stanley Siu (Hong Kong). Their works were unveiled in November 2019 at Manarat Al Saadiyat during Abu Dhabi Art and travelled to Alserkal Avenue, Dubai in February 2020 with plans to tour to other cities.

My involvement with Al Burda is threefold – For the Endowment, I contribute to the artist selection and serve as the point of liaison between the artists and the Ministry. I oversee agreements, work closely with the artists over the course of their artwork development, support on shipping, installation, insurance, as well as liaise with entities around the world to potentially host the traveling Al Burda Endowment exhibition. Additionally, I managed the production of a bilingual publication and aside from authoring, commissioning and proofreading texts, oversaw the design and production processes. I formulated a talks programme for the Endowment’s debut in Abu Dhabi in 2019 and also devised a social media strategy.

For the Award, I worked closely with the Ministry to rework the Award strategy, covering all aspects from its archive, guidelines, jurists and prize money to site development, PR strategy, reach and partner organisations.

For the Festival, I formulated a programme that presented talks, workshops, exhibitions, lectures and performances, inclusive of all speakers, themes and overall Festival objectives.