Focus Cultural Region served MENA Region | Headquarters Kuwait City, Kuwait Website www.nuqat.me | |
Founded 2009; 8 years ago (2009) Legal status Non-governmental organization, Non-profit organization | ||
Nuqat (نقاط) is a non-profit organization for the development of art, culture and society based in Kuwait City. Nuqat has run an annual conference on art, design and creativity since its foundation in 2009 and regularly holds events and workshops in both Arabic and English covering topics in the fields of visual, therapeutic and performing arts in addition to business and entrepreneurship.
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About
Nuqat, first known as 'Nuqat Ala Al Huroof' (نقاط على الحروف) "started off with one objective in mind - to develop Arab creativity on all levels, encompassing design, advertising, architecture, fashion, production and all other pertinent social and cultural fields. Established out of frustration with the lack of spirited exchange in the Middle East, the Nuqat team is made up of like-minded cultural visionaries from Lebanon, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, and Dubai who have a growing optimism about fueling creative dialogue in the region.
Nuqat identifies, tackles, and resolves creative issues with the aim of gathering and educating an empowered public who go on to enact change in the Middle East. Nuqat’s mission as growing cultural force is to advance creativity and enrich society. Through initiating social design projects and connecting innovative powerhouses in the region, Nuqat blurs geographic and social boundaries and opens new frontiers for cultural and creative innovation."
Nuqat aims to establish Nuqat institutes in different cities across the Middle East and to develop a specialized educational curriculum, in addition to organizing the ongoing annual Nuqat conferences for tackling a variety of pressing topics in the creative realm. Since 2009, Nuqat hosts a yearly conference (with offshoots in Saudi Arabia and Dubai) and a wide range of activities including workshops, exhibitions and design competitions.
The Nuqat conference has since expanded to address a number of topics relevant to creativity in the Middle East including: architecture, art education, art therapy, calligraphy, civil rights and citizen participation, fashion and jewelry design, food presentation and photography, graphic design, human rights, novel writing, publishing, screenwriting, street art, technology, television production, and typography.
History
According to its founders, Nuqat was started out of “frustration with the lack of spirited exchange in the Middle East” and “with one objective in mind - to develop Arab creativity on all levels.” The organization was founded in 2009 with a two days consortium and began their intensive activities in 2010, hosting a conference, workshop and exhibition at the Gulf University of Science and Technology (Kuwait) on the theme of visual pollution. In 2012 Nuqat organized workshops, exhibitions and conferences under the heading The Lost City of Arabesque in both Kuwait and Dubai - the latter was produced in conjunction with the Dubai Culture and Arts Authority and Tashkeel and traced the route of traditional arts in Dubai to their modern counterparts.
In 2013 the conference theme was Executing Culture Shock and in 2014 the theme was The Missing Link: Practicing the Collaborative Approach. For the years of 2012, 2013, and 2014 the Kuwait edition of the Nuqat conference was hosted in the Amricani Cultural Centre (Dar al-Athar al-Islamiyyah) and the Sadu House hosted the workshops.
Nuqat partnered with LOUD Art in Saudi Arabia to produce a second edition of their “Executing Culture Shock” program, which according to Nuqat ambassador Tala Saleh was a way to emphasize the “communal framework” of Nuqat as an Arab organization.
Cultural Programs
Nuqat regularly organizes art and design competitions, film screenings, exhibitions and other cultural events. In conjunction with 29Letters, a type foundry based in Beirut, Nuqat hosted the first annual Hourouf competition in 2014. Hourouf aims to identify in its pool of applicants new bilingual type designs in Arabic and Latin.
Amongst the films screened by Nuqat are Schehrezade’s Diary by Zeina Daccache and short films by Kuwaiti directors including Dinosaur by Meqdad Al Kout.
Educational Programs
Since 2009 Nuqat has offered dozens of workshops in a variety of practical and theoretical art and design subjects. Nuqat's street art workshop have led to public art interventions in Mubarakiya district and on the Sheraton roundabout at the heart of Kuwait City. Nuqat is currently offering a course series in photography, design and entrepreneurship
Partnerships
Nuqat workshops have received many different sponsors. In 2014 Jazeera Airways and IKEA provided materials and support for workshops in which participants created design solutions for the airlines and the furniture giant. In 2015, Alghanim industries sponsored Dr. Amar Behbehani's workshop 'Innovative Entrepreneurship: A Creative Process' and Elevation Burger sponsored Wajha's workshop 'Social Design | Fi Al Wajha' as well as Liane Al Ghusain and Wakim Zeidan's workshop 'Social Media Writing'.