Minister of Culture H E Sheikh Abdulrahman bin Hamad Al Thani speaking during a meeting at Qatar University.
Doha: Minister of Culture H E Sheikh Abdulrahman bin Hamad Al Thani attended at Qatar University on Tuesday a symposium featured Qatari cultural elites and discussed their role in enriching the cultural scene.
The symposium is part of the events of the symposium season organized by the Ministry of Culture, in partnership with Qatar University and the Arab Center for Research and Policy Studies from March 17 to 31.
During the symposium, the Minister of Culture held an open meeting over two hours with intellectuals and writers, where he listened to their views, ideas and interventions about the role entrusted to the Ministry of Culture and the role of the cultural elite in enriching the cultural scene.
The writers and participants discussed many issues during the meeting, most notably the history of Qatari culture and how it attracted the attention of foreign travelers who admired Qatars history and culture; in addition to the interaction of Qatari culture with its Gulf and Arab surroundings and how it contributed to enriching the Arab cultural scene.
The writers pointed to the cultural movement that Doha has been witnessing since the Doha International Book Fair, and noted the return of the Doha Theatre Festival. They underlined that the symposium season of the Ministry of Culture is a breakthrough towards strengthening the intellectual environment to enhance the role of culture and intellectuals in community service.
The writers and intellectuals also noted the important role of cultural elites and the role of civil society institutions in promoting societal culture, stressing the need to develop the mechanisms of the intellectuals themselves in literature and the arts and to upgrade their tools, with attention to their role in dissolving differences and removing prejudices and fanaticism from society.
