is a dynamic, Fez-based event consisting of exhibitions, discussions, and workshops etc. which brings together artists from Morocco and the international community. It offers a global platform for participants to discuss and explore the role of art in a modern world.
During its fifth edition in January 2020, the Fez Gathering will focus on the powerful role of arts and culture in the creative economy, as well as analyze and reflect upon how the arts contribute to sustainable human development.
The arts represent creative expression used to transcend traditional modes of communication. In our globalized era, the reach of artists expand beyond boundaries and limitations like never before, challenging traditional methods of individual and collective creativity.
Artistic expression is continuously shaped by the forces of nature, politics, markets, economies, cultures and religions. The combination of these external forces with individual perspectives brings about dynamic, unexpected, visionary, and revolutionary art forms. These art forms thus become a reflection of the times as well as a catalyst for change. The economy is a malleable force which both influences and is influenced by the arts thereby transforming cultural and socioeconomic landscapes.
• How does cultural heritage impact the life of an artist?
• How do artists both create changes in the labor market itself and the way cultural work is done? What is their process of innovation and enterprise?
• What is the nature of their work and the resources they draw upon?
• How can the arts and new forms of expression bring about social change?
• How can individual artists contribute to socioeconomic development?
• How are creative industries a vehicle for economic development in Morocco and Africa?
• How can the creative economy bring about sustainable development on an international, national and local level?
• How do different network structures produce different opportunity spaces?
• How do creative workers broker and synthesize across occupational, genre, geographic, and industry boundaries to create new possibilities?
For centuries, Fez has bridged economic, intellectual, cultural, social and spiritual differences between the “East” and “West,” as well as between “North” and “South.” The city of Fez in Morocco is a UNESCO world heritage site. It is the home of Al-Qarawayyin, the oldest functioning university in the world. It was the spiritual homeland of intellectuals such as Leo Africanus, Ibn Khaldun and Ibn Battuta. In present times, annual international cultural events such as the Fez Festival of Sacred Music and the Fez Festival of Sufi Culture, as well as the presence of new thinkers, idealists, modern artists and innovative artisans, are new milestones in the important cultural role of Fez in the region.
