Enhancing Syrian- Italian artistic and cultural cooperation relations discussed

With the aim of promoting cooperation and cultural and artistic exchange between Syria and Italy and enshrining the Syrian and Roman civilization in both countries in innovative artistic ways, a meeting was recently held between the Head of the Syrian Artists Syndicate, Mohsen Ghazi, and an Italian delegation from Venice Italian Friendship Association.

The guest delegation presented a series of cultural and artistic projects with different contents and trends that would contribute to building the bridges of artistic knowledge between the people of the two countries.

During a press conference, Ghazi spoke about Syrian cultural civilization and the beginnings of the Arab theatre as well as the importance of Syrian drama and its development, highlighting the Syrian lyrical and musical heritage, as Al-Qudud Al-Halabia were registered in the UNESCO list of human heritage, referring to the late Sabah Fakhri who captured an ancient Arab and international artistic position.

At the cinema level, Ghazi indicated that it is important to continue efforts to promote Syrian cinema and to pay attention to film festivals, noting that despite numerous attempts to target Syria’s creative artistic and cultural scene, efforts continue to promote Syrian artistic development and consolidate it in the Arab and international arena, hoping for promoting artistic and cultural cooperation between the two countries.

In a statement to SANA, Ghazi explained that the Italian delegation’s visit to Syria came on the basis of a series of important artistic projects relating to children and to certain segments of society, and they had proposals relating to the economy and educational cultural exchange.

 He clarified that one of the projects put forward was the creation of a video clip on Syrian monuments in order to introduce the ancient Syrian civilization.

Ghazi stated that a memorandum of understanding could be reached between the two countries through the Venice Association on humanitarian and cultural cooperation to demonstrate Syria’s cultural and artistic aspects globally and to dedicate all efforts towards their global spread, in particular the Syrian lyrical heritage and the strengthening of cooperation between the two sides in this area.

President of the Italian-Arab Friendship Association of Venice Paulo Capuso spoke about the story book project, which is the beginning of an integrated project named (overlapping stories) which focuses on cultural exchanges between children and young people in Syria and Italy, including a range of other events that will be held if the project is initiated, such as the exchange of educational visits, the creation of twinning between the children of the two countries and the holding of festivals in which the children of both sides participate and vice versa.

International Economic and Cultural Cooperation Officer Dr. Sana Shami showed the features of the projects presented during the conference which will begin with the project (overlapping Stories). It is part of an educational program for children and young people. It will be a beautifully illustrated book translated into Arabic and Italian and will be distributed to the children of the two countries. This project is designed by Dr. Sana Shami with Dr. Elenora, owner of the “Argento Dorato” in addition to a painting project on a wall of a square in Damascus.

Shami pointed to the second project, a book by Patrick Dessar, “an Economist,” who presented a book with an important idea that based on the economy without money on the principle of collective work, and the name of the book is “Mutual Economy in a Non-Capitalist Society,” in an attempt to combat the capitalist system in societies and move young people into different thought based on cooperation and partnership. The book has now been sent to the Arab Writers Union for translation.

The most important project is called ” Aleppo Pine”, which is the exchange of antiquities of the two countries through memoranda of understanding with the Museum of Naples and the museums of Paris, where Syrian artifacts are displayed in the museums of Naples and antiquities from Naples are displayed in the museums of Syria as well.

During the presentation, they will work to create multifaceted cultural events that reflect the real Syria, the Syrian citizen and his lifestyle. The aim is to show the real face of Syria   away from the fabrications of the hostile Western media.

Amal Farhat