A graduate from Virginia Commonwealth University School of Arts (VCUarts) Qatar has been awarded with Indonesian Art and Cultural Scholarship (IACS), the Indonesian embassy in Doha has said.
Mashael al-Musleh will join other 39 awardees from more than 30 countries to study and learn Indonesian arts and culture in the country for three months, ending August 18.
“Participants would study as well as blend with the community to feel and experience from first hand the richness of Indonesian culture,” said Indonesian ambassador Ridwan Hassan in a press statement.
The presence of a Qatari participant in this edition of the programme is highly appreciated by the envoy since the two countries are now celebrating Qatar–Indonesia Year of Culture.
“We hope that with this scholarship, another friend of Indonesia from Qatar will be born and it could establish stronger relations between the two countries, particularly in the cultural arena,” he said.
Under the IACS platform, the awardees will be sent to designated culturally-rich regions to learn Indonesian arts, languages and culture. At the end of the programme, all the awardees will be invited to Indonesia's presidential palace in Jakarta to celebrate Indonesian Independence Day on August 17.
“I am excited to join this programme. Through this programme, I hope I can bring more understanding about Indonesian culture as well as Qatari culture in the future,” said al-Musleh.
According to Ali Murtado, the embassy's head of Division for Socio and Cultural, the scholarship was first launched in 2003 and as of now has been awarded to 1,024 alumni students from 83 countries.
Under the IACS platform, the awardees will be sent to designated culturally-rich regions to learn Indonesian arts, languages and culture.
