El Sawy Culture Wheel

El Sawy Culture Wheel (Arabic: ساقية الصاوى‎) (transliterated: Sakkiat Al-Sawy) is a cultural center on Gezira Island in the Zamalek district on central Cairo, Egypt. Named after its founder and owner, Abdelmoniem El-Sawy, it is considered one of the most important cultural venues in Egypt[1] and receives more than 20,000 visitors each month.[2]

El Sawy Culture Wheel, entrance.

History

El Sawy Culture Wheel was established in 2003 by Mohamed El-Sawy. Prior to its construction, its location, beneath the 15th May Bridge in Zamalek, was a garbage dump and a shelter for homeless people and drug addicts.[3] El-Sawy named his center in honor of the five-part novel series: "El-Sakkia" (lit. 'The Wheel') written by his father, Abdel Moneim El-Sawy, an Egyptian novelist and a former minister of culture.[4]

Locations and halls

As of April 2009, El Sawy Culture Wheel has 3 branches: the main branch in Zamalek, a branch in Algeel Algadeed school, and a temporary branch in Qena. The main branch has eight halls: Wisdom hall, River hall, Earth hall, Word halls 1 and 2, Garden Hall, El Naseeb and Bostan El Nil.[5] The permanent premises in Qena is scheduled for opening in Ramadan, 2009.[6]

Activities

The center is home for various activities and cultural events. Every year, it chooses a main theme for most of its events, the 2009 theme was "dignity", through which it aimed to address some social problems, such as begging.[1] The center has organized hundreds of concerts and musical events, including those for oud, jazz, musical theatre, children chorus and performances for several Egyptian and Arab bands, singers and entertainers.[1] It also hosts several seminars, workshops, art exhibitions, book fairs and movie shows.[1]

Being the first non-government controlled private cultural center in Egypt, its events are claimed to have more freedom and higher quality than those in government-controlled centers.[7] In addition, it organizes a number of conferences and festivals, including an annual theatre festival,[8] the "Sakkia animated film festival",[9] El Sawy culture wheel festival for documentaries,[10] and the El Sakkia conference for Arabic language and Poet Laureate Ahmed Shawqi.

The Sawy includes several sections for arts and music training and a number of libraries, including a music library and children's library.[2] and it offers several art classes in painting, sculpture, piano and violin for children and youth.[4]

References
  1. "El Sawy Culturewheel in Egypt: From a place for beggars to a resort for intellectuals" (in Arabic). CNN. 2009-03-17. Retrieved 2009-04-01.
  2. "El Sawy Culturewheel in Egypt chooses minds as a focus for its 2008 activities" (in Arabic). Aljazeera. 2008-01-07. Retrieved 2009-04-01.
  3. "Many reasons for one visit". Al Ahram Weekly. 2008-09-25. Archived from the original on 2008-12-16. Retrieved 2009-04-01.
  4. "Inventing the Wheel". Egypt Today. October 2004. Archived from the original on 2008-01-18. Retrieved 2009-04-01.
  5. "From the Culturewheel website". Archived from the original on 2009-03-31. Retrieved 2009-04-01.
  6. "Cornerstone for El Sawy culturewheel in Qena laid" (in Arabic). Al-badeel Newspaper. 2009-04-01. Archived from the original on September 24, 2009. Retrieved 2009-04-01.
  7. "Popularizing Art and Culture: An Egyptian experience". islamOnline. 2006-09-04. Archived from the original on 2007-03-18. Retrieved 2009-04-01.
  8. "23 independent theatre groups in El Sawy culturewheel festival in Cairo" (in Arabic). Aljazeera. 2008-08-12. Retrieved 2009-04-01.
  9. "83 movies in Sakkia's first animated film festival in Cairo" (in Arabic). Aljazeera. 2008-12-24. Retrieved 2009-04-01.
  10. "Presenting El Sawy culturewheel documentary film festival awards" (in Arabic). Aljazeera. 2006-07-20. Retrieved 2009-04-01.

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