People’s participation behind Muscat Festival success

Sultan bin Hamdoon al Harthi, Chairman of Muscat Municipality, said in a statement yesterday that Muscat Festival wouldn’t have been so successful had it not been for the huge turnout of citizens and residents, adding that this year’s festival witnessed well-studied promotion plans and was accompanied by distinguished media coverage both locally and internationally. The new festival’s newly-introduced activities which varied from sports and culture to heritage, arts and entertainment made it an internationally recognised event. The organisers succeeded in displaying the nation’s civilization and heritage components through a unique participation by all the Sultanate’s governorates. Programmes such as the heritage village and Assalla added new favourable dimensions to the already successful festival. The event was marked by distinguished international participation that added further dimensions of beauty, said the chairman of Muscat Municipality who is also the chief of the Festival’s Main Organizing Committee. The Tour of Oman, the Muscat Fashion Week, the Muscat International Festival for Arts, Heritage and Creativity have all drawn large numbers of visitors and put the Sultanate in the international limelight and contributed to one of the Festival’s key objectives of becoming a melting pot for world cultures, said Al Harthi. Al Harthi pointed out the International Festival for Arts, Heritage and Creativity was implemented in co-ordination with the Public Authority for Crafts Industry and the Istanbul-based Research Centre for Islamic History, Art and Culture (IRCICA). Festival’s Organizing Committee accepts all opinions and constructive criticism in order to add to the achievements that have hitherto accomplished.