The New York Times has reported on the East-West: The Art of Dialogue initiative – describing how the Shafik Gabr Foundation is launching a “global cultural exchange project”.
The article, published on the 26th September 2012, went on to say: “Mr Gabr will use Orientalist painting as a jumping-off point for a series of international panel discussions in November and December on the themes of ‘cultural exchange and Orientalism’ in London, New York, Washington, Paris, Istanbul and Cairo, with additional events planned for California and Scandinavia. The series, called “East West: The Art of Dialogue,” will inaugurate a global cultural exchange project, bankrolled by Mr. Gabr with an initial investment of $3 million.”
“Next spring, his philanthropic foundation, in conjunction with an independent U.S.-based human rights organization, will select artists, scholars and social entrepreneurs from the West to travel to Egypt, and from Egypt to the West, for a six-week exchange that will lay the groundwork for a project that will be determined by the participants. Mr Gabr hopes it will be the beginning of an endeavor that will result in other East-West exchanges in years to come.”
In the article, Mr Gabr is quoted: “I have a very strong feeling about the importance of bridge building. I’ve had a huge concern as I’ve witnessed the world spiraling into more conflict, that there would be more misperception, more conflict and clashes between East and West. I was inspired by the Orientalists. I call them early globalists.”
For the full article in the New York Times and International Herald Tribune, click here