TEHRAN -- The 3rd Festival of Bismillah (In the Name of Allah) opened on Sunday at the Niavaran Cultural Center in northern Tehran.

The festival comprises calligraphy, graphic design, and handicraft sections.

A glance is enough to watch the works of veteran and young artists next each other.

The event mainly aims to encourage young gifted artists to foster Quranic innovations.

Works of master calligraphers Gholamhossein Amirkhani, Ali Shirazi, and Amir-Mohammad Falsafi are on display on the first floor of the center.

The secretary of the artistic event said that artists mostly have participated in graphic design section rather than the calligraphy one.

Since there was much variety of subjects and structures in graphic design, the participants showed more interest, Fereidun Mardani surmised. “However, calligraphy has also undergone many changes. In fact, progressive movements have been occurred in the field.”

Mahshad Khosravi-Yekta, Hossein Abuzari, Amir Anami, Alireza Abbasi, Asadollah Aqajlu, Rashid Rahnama, Mehdi Khalilpur, Omid Jafari, Ali-Asghar Hosseini, and Hamed Hakimi are some of the artists who have taken part at the graphic deign section.

The occasion also exhibits Amir-Hossein Quchi-Beik’s posters on the themes of Iran’s typography, war as the world’s devastator, the first children festival and the calligraphy exhibition of the Islamic world, and the 2nd Festival of Bismillah.

Farzad Adibi, Reza Abedini, Masud Nejabati, and Damun Khanjanzadeh will judge the graphic works while Mohammad Heidari, and Nabi Razi will evaluate works at calligraphy section.

Eleven artists will be honored at the closing ceremony on Oct. 22.

According to Mardani, the festival will move to Morocco later in a collaborative effort by the Islamic Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ISESCO) and Tehran Education Department.