More than 200 students from various schools in Doha participated in the painting workshop organised by the International Academy for Intercultural Development (IAID) as part of the World Environment Day (WED) celebration, yesterday. The WED, initiated by the United Nations Environment Programme in 1972, will be celebrated on June 5 in over 100 countries under the theme “Your Planet Needs You”. The workshop participants were drawn from hundreds of painting entries. The workshop was conducted by two prominent faculties from the Virginia Commonwealth University Qatar (VCU-Q) – Kipp Greeene and Donald Earley. The workshop was conducted in two sessions. The IAID has joined hands with the the Friends of the Environment Centre (FEC) to push the environment awareness programmes further ahead. “We are proud to announce so many outstanding activities that no one should miss,” said Dr Saif Ali Al Hajari, Chairman, FEC and Vice Chairman, Qatar Foundation. “This planet needs you to act and behave positively and work together to protect our environmental resources. We have our responsibility towards our future generation, hence preservation of this planet is essential to be observed.” The special event will be celebrated through various activities in order to raise awareness of environmental issues amongst the many communities in Qatar by inviting students from schools to participate in a painting and a speech contest. “Last year we attracted over 1,500 families and around 70 prizes were awarded to deserving participants which included not just kids but also adults. This year we hope to double that,” said Rajesh Jadhav, Director of the IAID. “There is tremendous enthusiasm for this by both contestants and their families who also understand the importance of every person making a contribution to society. With the continuous support of Faber Castell, a Germany- based company as a prize sponsor of this event and Virginia Commonwealth University Qatar (VCU-Q), we are definite that this celebration will be meaningful for everyone.” A painting contest will be held on May 29 and 30. A speech contest will be held today and, there will be a free public WED seminar on May 30 to be conducted by Maya Saikali from Waqif Art Center, Muqeem Khan, Associate Professor of VCU-Q and Esra Qassem, a graduate of VCU-Q in Interior Design. The Painting Exhibition and Award Ceremony (painting and speech contests) will be held on June 6 at the Qatar National Theatre with a special performance by the artists of IAID. http://thepeninsulaqatar.com/Display_news.asp?section=Local_News&subsection=Qatar+News&month=May2009&file=Local_News200905231311.xml

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