Egypt’s Parliament appointed writer and art critic Dr. Nevin Al-Kilani as Minister of Culture, succeeding renowned flautist Dr. Ines Abdel Dayem. Al-Kilani is the second woman to hold the Ministry of Culture since its establishment in the late 1950s.
On taking over office, 10 important files from the ministry’s various cultural sectors were taken up for consideration.
Development of cultural sites was one of the ministry’s priorities. These include the rehabilitation of El-Samer Theatre in Agouza, Cairo, now closed down for many years, by the General Authority for Cultural Palaces, and the completion of the Gezira Art Museum as the largest art museum in the Arab region and the Middle East.
The General Authority for Cultural Palaces has suffered a significant decline in its role in recent years. In spite of initiatives like ‘The People’s Cinema’ and ‘Start Your Dream’ there is much work to be done by the authority to reach out to the various governorates to spread cultural awareness, tackle budget constraints, and reopen closed palaces such as the sixth district Culture Palace.
Ever since the coronavirus crisis, the Egyptian state has taken a clear approach towards digital transformation and technological development. For this, the ministry has launched a special platform on the Internet, a popular video on YouTube, besides holding the Cairo International Book Fair. The ministry aims to digitize its own archives and publications to be made available to the public through its official website. The website will also feature digital records of all the ministry’s holdings displayed across museums and other websites affiliated with the Ministry of Culture.
With the global publishing industry staring down the barrel of high printing prices, the ministry will have to go back to a consolidated publication committee to unify efforts to publish with minimal wastage, where each publisher takes up responsibility for specific works so as to avoid overlapping in terms of reference, in order to save expenses.
Dr. Dayem’s previous term was successful in adding the date palm to UNESCO’s Lists of Intangible Cultural Heritage with the aim of ensuring better protection of important intangible cultural heritages and the awareness of their significance. There remain hundreds of intangible items of cultural interest that need to be registered and included in the list. With diversity of food cultures being hailed, it comes as a surprise that Egypt’s culinary heritage has not been as internationally renowned as its monuments. Delicious vegetarian dishes made from beans, like Kushari and Molokhia, are just a couple among the delectable list waiting for inclusion.
Egypt has also launched new programmes focusing on children and youngsters. The ministry’s Young Creators’ State Award aims to give priority to children and young people in order to create a new generation of innovators. Talent scouting amongst the younger generation will be another of the ministry’s priorities for completion.
In recent years, among the achievements of the Ministry of Culture was the regularity of holding local book fairs despite the many crises that the world faced. The new ministry will focus on developing a map of local exhibitions with specific agendas on pre-set dates, and reaching out to all governorates of the Republic.
Another prominent project that needs completion is ‘The People’s Cinema’ at the Sharm El-Sheikh Culture Palace with the aim of supporting the film industry in Egypt. It is a huge artistic project that aims to provide contemporary cinematic works at nominally-priced tickets to make them affordable to all segments of the society. Halls of select major cultural palaces across the governorates have been converted into cinema theatres attracting movie buffs from across Egypt. The importance of this project is especially so for those governorates that do not have cinema halls as means of entertainment.
Another important initiative is archiving and documenting cultural and artistic heritage. Archiving Egyptian art to preserve them from extinction and a national archive for Egyptian cinema and theatre are also on the cards.
The ministry’s aim will be to build on these initiatives and become a nucleus for spreading awareness.
