Bangladesh chapter of Mitsubishi Asian Children’s Enikki Festa was held at the National Art Gallery of Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy on Monday evening.
Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy under the management of its fine arts department has organised the Bangladesh chapter of the art event.
The event featured awards giving programme followed by the inaugural ceremony of an exhibition. Presided over by director general of the BSA Liaquat Ali Lucky, renowned artist Mustafa Monwar was present as chief guest at the programme. Among others, director of the BSA fine arts department Syeda Mahbuba Karim, and secretary of the academy Salauddin Ahmed were present at the programme.
The Enikki Festa invites children living in 24 countries and regions across Asia to submit Enikki entries and hold exhibitions of the award-winning works.
“I am amazed to see such a well-organised and huge exhibition featuring artworks of children arranged by Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy. It's good news for Bangladesh that so many child artists of Bangladesh are going abroad”, said Mustafa Monwar.
Liaquat Ali Lucky in his speech said, “We have greatly extended the activities of BSA to spread art and culture among people. A child’s talent should not be solely measured based on marks obtained in examinations. A child must grow up being aware of nature and the arts. We have to introduce children to music, dance, recitation, and other cultural activities.”
After the discussion, artist Mustafa Monwar distributed 24 awards to winners in different categories. Bangladeshi children, aged between 6 and 12, have painted everyday life, festivals, rustic life, school activities, International Mother Language Day, Victory Day, and others in the artworks that were created between 2017 and 2022.
Later, three winning child artists Md. Shimul, Sheikh Samia Imrana Disha, Sanjida Tabassum who received the Grand Prix Award shared their feelings at the event. The exhibition is featuring 950 child artists’ artworks from across the country.
In the 2017-2018 event, 8250 paintings by 1650 children from all over Bangladesh were submitted and 310 children's paintings were selected for exhibition, while 330 paintings from 8600 paintings by 1720 children were selected for the year 2019-2020, and 310 artworks from 13,400 paintings by 2,680 children from all over Bangladesh were selected for 2021-2022.
BSA organised the event, to encourage Asian children to understand each other's cultures and to work together to build a better future through Enikki. The exhibition will remain open to all every day from 11 am to 7 pm until August 8.
Started in 1990, the Mitsubishi Asian Children's Enikki Festa is a program that seeks to promote literacy education and stimulate cultural exchange among children by allowing them to learn about each other through ‘enikki’ (illustrated diaries).
