City: Damascus

Date: 2010

Delegates: Ahmad Firouzabadi, Parvin Poshtkoohi, Faranak Asadi, Sara Pakdaman

Descriptions:

The Iranian Children’s 2^nd Friendship Week was held in Damascus, Syria by Kanoon, aided by General Office of Social Affairs and Overseas Iranians & the Organization of Culture and Islamic Relations, the cultural management of the Museum Organization, and the Syrian Culture Ministry.

The inauguration ceremony was attended by the General Manager of the International Affairs of the Syrian Culture Ministry, the Iranian Haj and Pilgrimage Organization representative in Damascus, Iran’s Supreme Leader’s representative in Ba’aseh, Iran’s Embassy authorities, the IRI cultural counselor, and some other Iranian, Syrian and Palestinian elite and authorities.

Exhibitions:

Kanoon’s books in Persian and English, ILI’s Arabic and Persian learning side studies, movie scripts, useful entertainments, Dara and Sara dolls, Kanoon’s book illustrations, children’s paintings and some pictures introducing Iran were exhibited.

Workshops:

Some workshops of storytelling, tile design, painting, collage, mask-creating, etc. were held. The workshops were so enthusiastically visited that over 500 Syrian children and young adults visited the programs everyday.

Movies:

Kanoon’s animation “Hajar’s Wedding” and documentary “The Glory of Takhte Jamshid” were shown.

Considerations:

One day of the program was especially for Palestinian children. 150 Palestinian students residing in Yarmook and Jarmaneh camps in Damascus arrived at the Iranian Cultural Counseling Office there and participated the art workshops, such as painting, calligraphy, and printing on dishes. There were 75 Syrian children among them.

Dr. Majed Aboomazi, one of the authorities of the Iran-Palestine Relations Committee, thanked Kanoon and admired the way the trainers treated children, stating, “Kanoon’s delegates reveal how much they are well qualified in dealing with children and young adults, and it represents Kanoon’s endeavor in this regard.”

‘Who’ll Calm Down the Storm?’, the nominated children’s book about Ghaza’s resistence against the Zionists, which has recently been published by Kanoon, was gifted to the Palestinian children.

Children’s and young adults’ introduction to other countries, their recognition of each other’s attempts and activities to develop their own talents, introducing Iran’s experience in children’s books, movies, animations, useful entertainments, illustration, photography, painting, etc. were all the achievements of the program.

The Iranian Cultural Counseling authorities in Damascus stated their satisfaction and gratitude of the program and Kanoon’s activities and were convinced that there should be a branch of Kanoon in Syria to improve the cultural cooperation between Iran and Syria.

During the Friendship Week, in addition to the reports by the IRI news agencies and reporters, the Syrian TV channels and their state and non-state news agencies and mass media vastly reported the program.

This was the 23^rd Friendship Week held by Kanoon in various countries since 2002.

Kanoon’s six books have been translated in Chinese and published by a Hong Kong publisher and have been assigned as side studies for schools in Hong Kong.

Kanoon’s Public Relations reports that these books’ copyright was sold to a Hong Kong publisher, Cotton Tree, during the 20^th International Book Fair in Hong Kong last summer, 2009.

 Accordingly, Cotton Tree has published the book titles,”I ‘m the Same, I’m the Same” by Fariba Kalhor, “Loyal and Disloyal Friends” by Mohammad Ali Jaafari, “A Short Step to School” by Ali Akbar Irandoost, “A Bud on the Rug” by Ibrahim Hasanbeigi, “The Moon and The Fox”  by Anahita Teimoorian, and “The Story of Kuti Kuti ” by Farhad Hasanzadeh in Chinese. The books include an extra worksheet which asks some questions about the stories and the illustrations of the books to be answered by the students with their teachers’ assistance. Publishing these books in Chinese in Hong Kong is considered significant since these books are going to be distributed among Hong Kong students and will provide them with some more information about Iranian culture.    

The illustrations of Kanoon’s three books are being exhibited in the 3^rd Zagreb Book Illustration Exhibition, held every two years in Croatia.

 According to Kanoon’s Public Relations’ report, the illustrations of the book titles ‘The Secrets of Monotheism’ by Hasan Amekan, ‘The Rider and the Pedestrian’  by Peiman Rahimizadeh, and ‘Kelila and Demna’ by Parisa Saber Moghadam have taken part in an international competition along with 96 entries from Ostrich, Slovakia, Slovenia, Hungary, Russia, Serbia, Italy, and the host country. They have been published in the 2010 biennale art catalogue.

 Some parts of this catalogue admire the Iranian book illustrations, stating, “Considering the illustrations presented by Kanoon last year, it seems that illustration as an art has had a long history in Iran and has been rather impressive in Iranian literature. The illustrators have illustrated the past memories quite meticulously and accurately and have passed on an artistic, scientific inheritance in this way.”    

In the Name of the Creator of Colors

The 6^th KANOON International Biannual Art Competition & Exhibition

Tehran -2010

The aim of the competition is to encourage children to create artworks, stimulate imagination and creativity of children as future makers,  and promote their understanding of the environmental protection and its impact to the human life.

Participation Rules:

-  Themes: A) How can we protect the environment?

B) Free subject

- Eligibility:  The competition is open to children of the following age        groups:

3-6 years old

7-9 years old

10-12 years old

13 to 16 years old

- Application: Any technique and material is accepted (poster color,

watercolor, pastel, colored pencil, print and …)

- Size: Minimum 30Î21 cm (A4) and maximum 70Î50 cm

- Deadline

All entries must be received no later than November 21, 2010.

* KANOON (Institute for the Intellectual Development of Children and

Young Adults) has the right to use the works of art.

Mailing Address

Center for the Artistic Creation of Children & Young Adults

Hejab St., Fatemi Ave.,

Tehran – IRAN

P.O.Box 14145/136

Phone: (+98 21) 88 95 15 03

Fax: (+98 21) 88 97 13 09

The winners are as follows:

Pooya Karimi, 10 years old

Mahsa Ghavidel 12 years old

Leila Zaki, 19 years old

Kimia Ardiani, 11 years old

Kimia Raaki, 12 years old

Keyvan Ebadi, 18 years old

Hossein Vazirian 12 years old

Fatemeh Ostad-Zadeh, 8 years old

Farimah Oliyaee, 16 years old

Illustrator: Mohammadreza Shams

Author: Mahmoud Mokhtari

Selected by Munich library as a notable titles

This book is a short rhythmic play for children. It’s about a boy to name Hasan who was forced out of home by him mother and very accidentally was elected as a hero by the governor.

Author: Soroor Katbi

Illustration: Entellagh Mohammed Ali

Selected in Belgrade 2009

Once upon a time, there was a watermill that the wind spun it, but one day, the watermill waited for the wind to blow but it was no sign of the wind. The watermill called, shouted but there was no sign of wind at all. The watermill realized that the wind doesn’t really want to spin it anymore. It became miserable so the watermill started to cry…….