National Arts Spectrum: Art competitions and festivities conclude

Over 1,000 students participated in an array of inter-school competitions.

ISLAMABAD:

More than 1,000 students participated in an array of extracurricular competitions and festivities organised under the National Arts Spectrum (NAS) 2011 that concluded here on Saturday.

Starting with a grand fashion show, the three-day event commenced with inter-school competitions in categories such as live arts, elocution and depiction, sketch making, battle of the bands, extempore, youth composers, talent hunt and street graffiti.

On the concluding day, Executive Director Roots School System Defence Housing Authority (DHA) 1 campus, Khadija Mushtaq, gave out shields and certificates to the winners.

Sana Shah and Areesha Bilal of Roots DHA-1 campus were declared winners in the “Youth Composers” category. Roots DHA-1 campus team Supernova’s film Welcome to Seasons of Oblivions won the filmmaking competition. Another student, Mustafa Farrukh, was declared the winner in the photography contest. Rust, the band, took the lead in the “Battle of the Bands”; Ibrahim Amir was the winner of the “Elocution and Depiction” contest; Najiha Fatima leaded in the sketch-making contest, while students Tabeer and Fazeen were declared winners of the street graffiti competition.

NAS Vice President Akbar Jafri said, “We are trying to promote art in a society where it is usually discouraged and are also striving to change people’s mindset about what art entails.”

He said that art is not just drawing but it is more abstract, “it can be anywhere from a sketch to a film to street art”. Interestingly, he said, the category of street graffiti helped promote more abstract versions of art; however, instead of vandalising walls the students were provided sheets on walls to draw on to keep the school’s façade unmarred.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 30^th, 2011.