Al Mutaiwee: DCCI Spends AED 2 Million to Highlight the Activities of the Cartoon Surprises Week
His Excellency Abdul Rahman Ghanem Al Mutaiwee, Director General of Dubai Chamber of Commerce & Industry (DCCI), announced in a press conference held yesterday (Monday) at the DCCI's premises that Dubai Chamber has offered AED 2 million for a variety of activities of the cartoon surprises which the DCCI organises from July 20 to 26 as part of the Dubai Summer Surprises 2006. He stressed the activities of the week, including entertaining shows, competitions, workshops and plays, which will provide the little ones with much enjoyment, fun and worthy time in the company of their favourite cartoon characters that have always played a vital role in children's daily lives.
The press conference was attended by Sultan Majid Lootah, Acting Director of Business Promotion Department at the DCCI, and Head of the Organising Committee of the Cartoon Surprises week, heads of the subordinate committees of the week and its work team, in addition to representatives of the local Arabic and English newspapers, magazines, radio and TV channels.
"Following the success achieved by the DCCI through organising the Colour Surprises week last year, DCCI has decided to organise the Cartoon Surprises this year placing a new challenge by introducing kids to new cartoon characters other than those which the children are used to watching on cartoon TV channels. We are sure that the activities we prepared would be a real surprise to children full with enjoyment, fun and benefit," said Al Mutaiwee.
He pointed out that the DCCI is spending AED 2 million to highlight the activities as an outstanding week of the 10 weeks of Dubai Summer Surprises 2006 which turned into the most entertaining family event in the UAE and the Gulf region. He said that AED 1.5 million were dedicated to prepare for the 14 activities of the Cartoon Surprises, while the other AED 500,000 was dedicated to the media coverage and the gifts to be distributed to the participating children and public.
"The DCCI is quite interested in helping children with special needs and sick kids at Dubai Hospitals enjoy the cartoon surprises through preparing special entertaining activities in which they could participate and enjoy just like other children who will be attending our fun activities at more than 15 shopping malls and centers in Dubai. A number of cartoon characters will pay visits to sick children at hospitals and disabled rehabilitation centers, accompanied with Modhesh, the mascot who has become a symbol of the Dubai Summer Surprises and is adored by all kids," Al Mtaiwee added.
Mr. Lootah, Head of the Cartoon Surprises Week's Organizing Committee, provided the press with details about the week's activities which have been carefully prepared to entertain children and teach them morals, values and stimulate their mental and artistic skills.
Among the 14 Cartoon Surprises activities, there will be four entertaining shows that will start with the Big Brothers activity where four professional artists from France will wander the shopping malls on long sticks wearing funny masks and costumes. While the second entertaining show will be the Toy Soldiers in which artists will be dressing military costumes and walking in a funny way. This show will be performed three times and will last for 30 minutes for each show.
The third show is the Big Puppets which will be presented by one of the biggest theatrical puppets artists in the world. They will perform their show with puppets through a meaningful tale with no dialogue.
The fourth show will be the Cartoon Character Carnival which will be conducted by five artists wearing masks and playing Arabic and English music. The show will ensure a positive interaction by the children who will be allowed to step on the stage to share singing with the artists.
The activities also include two kinds of competitions, the first of which stimulates a positive sense of competition among children who enjoy answering the questions given by two dynamic presenters. The second competition is the cartoon characters competition which targets children of different age groups, and it provides a different challenge every day with six winners who will compete in the last day of the week to choose the biggest one.
Three different interesting workshops will be conducted during the week enabling children to enhance their artistic talents and ensures a better interaction. The first is 'Be a Cartoon Model Photo Studio' where a professional photographer is going to shoot children who wear cartoon costumes and keep their photos. The second workshop is dedicated to caricatures where four artists draw the faces of children in a caricature way.
"Al Majd cartoon workshop is another interesting workshop which aims at developing a direct interaction between the attending children and some of Al Majd cartoon characters such as 'Safroot' the caring, polite and nice cartoon character and 'Antour' the careless, naughty and reckless cartoon character," said Lootah.
The fourth activity includes children plays which will be performed three times a day from 5-10 pm. The first of which is the Kingdom of Giants play which revolves about the theme of team work and cooperation through several dramatic situations that attract children's attention.
The second play will be the Enchanted Tree which is an educational and entertaining play that aims at teaching children the importance of self-reliance and hard work to make dreams come true. The third play is Uncle Fahman Tales which discusses the themes of greed and envy and its consequences through a light narrating style.
The fourth play is a comic singing one-chapter play which discusses the everlasting struggle between good and evil. The last activity is 'Reem and the Pirate' competition which urge children to compete with each other in a unique atmosphere of pirates, sailing and treasure hunting.
The DCCI's director general noted that a number of private companies will also arrange some other activities of the surprises, along with Mohammed bin Rashid Establishment for Young Business Leaders, in addition to a number of volunteering summer training students at the DCCI who will be helping the Cartoon Surprises team with preparing questionnaires to investigate public's feedback about the activities and children's interaction. They will also help in distributing gifts to the public and participating children.
Some other private companies will also arrange seven daily special activities under the theme 'Have Fun and Learn with Cartoons' which would help extend moral messages to children, enhance positive ethical issues, loyalty for their country and other good manners. The activities will be held at Deira City Center.
"The opening ceremony of the Cartoon Surprises week will be held at Mall of the Emirates at 7:30 pm on July 20. It will last for 30 minutes and will include dancing and singing performances presented by a number of artists on a special decorative stage that is made especially for the event. A number of gifts will be distributed to the audience and attending children," said Al Mutaiwee.
He added that more than 6,000 gifts will be distributed to the public one day prior to the opening of the Cartoon Surprises week. The gifts will be handed over to the subscribers of the Arabic and English newspapers and magazines with their daily copies, in addition to another 10,000 gifts to be distributed to children participating in the Cartoon Surprises activities. Other gifts will also be handed over to children and families entering the UAE through the Dubai International Airport during the first day of the Cartoon Surprises week, as well as to the children with special needs, reporters and DCCI employees.
Al Mutaiwee said that the DCCI will be honouring the members of the organising committee of the Cartoon Surprises week and other private companies and volunteers for their appreciative role and hard work in selecting and preparing for the best entertaining activities during the past few months.
-Ends-
For further details please feel free to contact
Mohammed Tahseen Shagouri,
Editor, PR & Events Department (DCCI)
Tel Direct: 20208536
Mob: 050-6507926
Email: M.shagouri@dcci.ae
© Press Release 2006
