The 1st Qatar Marine Festival (QMF) is scheduled to take place from 29 January to 7 February 2010.

The Qatar Marine Festival is based on five pillars – Culture, Education, Environment, Sport and Entertainment. These particular areas were targeted in order to connect this project to the Qatar Vision 2030, especially in terms of modernization and preservation of cultural traditions, protection of environment and social development.

1st Qatar Marine Festival will cover all the five clusters mentioned above. Some of the events of the Festival were announced at the press conference.

The Visual Art Exhibition, as part of the cultural events, will be focusing on the Qatar Marine Festival themes and messages through expressions of various forms of art such as painting, photography, sculpture, graphic design, sound and video interactive art and any other shape or form of artistic expression that showcases Qatar’s traditions and maritime heritage.
The Marine Life event, included in the environment cluster, will display marine flora and fauna in order to educate the visitors and raise environmental awareness. Pools and aquariums will contain marine species highlighting the history of marine life in Qatar. Marine equipment like nets, water filters, etc., will also be exhibited.

A Book Exhibition will be held as part of the education cluster. The exhibition will include local, regional and international books on a variety of subjects related to the marine theme. The books will cover a wide range of age groups and story readings will be organised for the young readers. A number of local authors will participate in book signing and briefing, to encourage the young generation of the region to take interest in book reading and writing.
Dhow Sailing Competition will be held during the festival. Twenty-two feet (22ft) traditional dhows will be racing to test the skills and the endurance of the participants and presenting a fascinating show for the spectators.

Among numerous entertainment activities, Music Nights will bring together local and regional Arabic bands that will perform traditional Arabic music, dance and songs. The performers will move around the venue creating a festive atmosphere and engaging the visitors to participate in the performance.

The 1st Qatar Marine Festival will be a non ticketed event with free access for public. However, due to the fact that some events will have limited seating the accessibility will be on first-come-first-serve basis. While some events will be purely spectator performances, other activities will be interactive and open for public participation.

http://www.qmfoc.gov.qa/

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