ISLAMABAD: The Little Art organized the opening event of the 4th season of ArtBeat – National Child Art Competitions & Exhibitions. The ceremony was organized at the Sir Syed Memorial Society at 5:00pm to announce the start of the gallery exhibitions in Islamabad.

 This year's theme “Kaisa Pakistan” encouraged children to reflect on their identity, visualize their true culture, draw and paint how they see Pakistan. 4th ArtBeat received over 6,000 artworks from 210 schools and nearly 25 community organizations from across Pakistan, making it the largest participation of children the competition has ever seen.

 The ceremony guests included BISP chairperson, Ms. Marvi Memon, Brig.(R) Iqbal M Shafi (Honorary president of Sir Syed memorial society), Director UNESCO Ms. Vibeke Jensen, Executive Director GD Pakistan Ms. Valerie Khan, Artist and professor Aqeel Solangi, Visual Artist Sana Arjumand and Artist and Asst. Professor (NCA Rawalpindi) Mr. Sajjad Akram. Child artists that have been selected to present their works at the gallery exhibitions in Islamabad this year were awarded certificates and cash prizes by the honorable guests. The ceremony also screened a showreel of the highlights of 4th season of ArtBeat, with experiences from the competition and workshops shared by the students and jury members.   

 Some of schools that had been selected for prizes and exhibits included: Chapter School, Roots ICY international School Rawalpindi, Angelique School Islamabad, Army Public School Rawalpindi, Beaconhouse School System Civil lines Rawalpindi, The City School, Viqar un Nisa Noon Girls Higher Secondary Institute Rawalpindi, OPF Girls College, Islamabad and Bostaan’Ilm School Rawalpindi.

 During her speech Ms. Marvi stated: “I am extremely happy to see such a good initiative made by The Little Art and I would like to extend my support on behalf of the Federal Government and BISP and we would love to make this project grow further and collaborate with children to produce more artwork and promote their creativity. We shall give a chance to all children especially the extremely marginalized through this project. ”

 Director of The Little Art, Shoaib Iqbal said: ” This is a day to celebrate the creativity of all the children who participated in the 4th ArtBeat Kaisa Pakistan. We received a huge number of artworks and worked hard to select the winners of this year. I would like to thank and congratulate each and everyone who took part in this project and our guests for extending their support throughout. With this kind of support each year we aim to make ArtBeat grow and reach to more children around Pakistan”.

 The selected winners from the competition were awarded cash prizes worth Rs. 1,00,000 and certificates at the opening event. A curated show of nearly 400 artworks was presented at the exhibition at the gallery in Sir Syed Memorial Society Auditorium in Islamabad and the show will be open to public till 18th of September.

 ArtBeat is a project of The Little Art which was initiated in 2012 with a vision to promote visual culture, develop understanding of issues among children and youth from their own perspective, and celebrate children as artists and present children's view to community.

The Little Art is a non –profit organization working for promoting arts education and providing creative learning opportunities to children and young people in Pakistan.