DUBAI: The success of any venture lies in the clarity of vision, in-depth understanding of the field of action, proactive approach towards work, proper planning, and perfect execution of the task. Funun Arts kick-started the year with all these values in mind.
The Art Vision 2023 conference at The Metropolitan Hotel, Dubai witnessed the official unveiling of their future projects.
Funun Arts, led by Shiba Khan and Farah Khan — popularly known as the Khan sisters — is the biggest art community in the United Arab Emirates.
It was formed in 2016 and has been an integral part of the UAE art scene with art exhibitions, live art, art workshops, art talks, and innovative experiments combining more than one art form to enhance the artistic experience.
Funun is one of the most consistent and prominent members of local and international art exhibitions. It is expanding to new countries this year with the vision to bring new cultures and artistic traditions under a single roof, making it more accessible to art lovers around the world.
Art Vision was the first art conference of 2023 and was attended by His Excellency Suhail Mohammad Al Zarooni, chairman of Al Zarooni Foundation, many dignitaries, media persons, corporate sector, artists, speakers, and influencers.
According to Shiba Khan, the founder and CEO of Funun Arts, it is the words of Henry Ford that inspire them to strive for success as she firmly believes in the power of teamwork. “Coming together is the beginning. Keeping together is progress. Working together is success,” she quoted their motto with conviction.
This has been the success mantra of Funun Arts from the beginning, and they still adhere to the values illustrating tremendous growth and success in every venture they undertake.
Shiba Khan also expressed her gratitude to His Excellency Suhail Mohammad Al Zarooni, who is the patron of Funun Arts, for his immense support.
During the art conference, His Excellency Suhail Mohammad Al Zarooni announced the collaboration of Al Zarooni Foundation and Funun Arts group. “The aim of art is to represent not the outward appearance of things, but their inward significance,” he said.
Funun Arts’ focus for the year 2023 will be on sustainability. This is in unison with the UAE government’s declaration of 2023 as the year of sustainability and UAE hosting the COP28.
Funun is focusing on aspects of sustainable living by concentrating on saving energy at home, sustainable means of travel, stopping food wastage, and implementing the concepts of reducing, reusing, repairing, recycling, and usage of eco-friendly products.
The art group firmly believes that this will be a wake-up call for not only artists but also for the entire community.
Major announcements for the year 2023-24 were made during the conference and future projects were also discussed.
The Funun colours for the year will be blue, green, and red which define the maximum goals of sustainability and climate change. Funun will be distributing refillable bottles with messages on them to create awareness of sustainability — refillable bottles were distributed during the conference.
“#OurWakeupCall and #ArtCanChangeClimateChange” is the hashtag and tagline of Funun Arts for 2023.
Funun Arts also officially announced their major projects for the year which are the International Mother Language Day art event to celebrate regional languages, the Women’s Global Conference for International Women’s Day, the Art Marathon — a series of art workshops, and live painting with people from all walks of life. The Journey of Art-Turkey Expedition — an international art event in Turkey. Annual Student Art Show 2023 with the theme ‘Art can change Climate Change’ and the UAE Art and Culture Festival — an art festival to celebrate the National Day of UAE.
The Art Vision 2023 conference was about the endless prospects in the world of art and how the art fraternity can work together in reaching new heights.
“The sky is not the limit. This is the world of imagination by which we can colour our dreams and make them real. We are offering a platform where artistic dreams come to reality. This conference was an opportunity to share our dream to colour the future of the art community in UAE in the most successful way. We don’t dream about succeeding alone. We succeed as a team and we do have a strong team,” Shiba Khan said.
Farah Khan, the co-founder of Funun Arts, spoke about the social cause that drives them forward. “We believe in giving back to the society. Art, being a very powerful tool of expression, can bring positive change in the community.
“We believe in initiating meaningful conversations with the audience and inspiring them to think of current issues in innovative ways. This conference is about doing something different, something huge for the welfare of the community. In short, we are giving back to the community by creating awareness through art.”
The names of art ambassadors and youth ambassadors were also announced during the event. The art ambassadors are Arezoo Rahmdel (Iran), Mahfuzur Rahman (Bangladesh), Rafah Abdul Razzak (Syria), Sheikha Al Kuwairi (Qatar), Maryam Maigada (Nigeria), Layla Ousta (Syria), Nishtiman Ghaderi (Iran) and Madhuri Musani (Congo).
Khan Ayan Abdulla and Mohammad Huzaifa Khan — the founders of Youth Creative Minds — Mira Singh and Mohammad Mustafa are the youth ambassadors for the year 2023-24.
The pinning ceremony of the ambassadors was performed by His Excellency Suhail Mohammad Al Zarooni.
The Khan sisters spoke eloquently on their concept of Art Gifting which is a project in collaboration with the Dubai Library Distributors. In this project, artists will work with children of determination, labourers, and people in need to create artwork. These artworks will be available in the stores of Dubai Library Distributors.
Beside this, Funun Arts along with British Herald will be launching their coffee table art book.
Funun Art requested the corporation of the entire art fraternity in these noble ventures and expressed their in-depth gratitude for the immense support they received from media, collaborators, supporters, artists, family, and friends throughout their journey.
