TEHRAN – The 27th edition of the Visual Arts Festival for Youth opened online on Sunday as the entries are physically on view at the Iranian Artists Forum.

The festival is organized every year in the categories of drawing, painting, calligraphy, miniature, sculpture, cartoon, photography and illustration for artists aged from 16 to 25.

Speaking during the opening ceremony of the festival, Visual Arts Office director Hadi Mozaffari said, “While the health of the young artists and their masters has been of great concern, we did not want to close the festival. This is why we decided to hold the festival online, and the workshops will also be virtual.”

“The festival enjoys high significance in discovering young talent, and the participating masters find the best talent. And this year, they will also introduce the best for the workshops,” he added.

In his message to the festival, Deputy Culture Minister for Artistic Affairs Seyyed Mojtaba Hosseini said that the organizers have tried to provide facilities for the young artists to hold online workshops and experience a new form of the festival.

He hoped that the young artists practice patience and know that art will not be stopped with any excuse.

Secretary of the festival Rezvan Sadeq in his message said that not organizing the festival would mean giving up against the danger of the coronavirus, but the master artists decided to attend online workshops to keep this wonderful national festival alive.

The festival will be running until Friday. 

127 young artists competed in the 26th edition of the festival, which ran from August 21 to 25 in the western Iranian city of Ilam.

Photo: A poster for the 27th Visual Arts Festival for Youth.

RM/MMS/YAW