"Creativity and the Dialogue of Cultures" Conference was called to order this morning at 10 am on April 3, 2016. It is worthy to note that this is the first Africa & Middle East Society for Education through Art (AMESEA) conference to be held in Cairo, hosted by October 6 University and organized in cooperation with Helwan University. The session started with an English presentation delivered by Dr. Sally Michael Hanna, Associate Dean for Student Affairs at the Faculty of Education. She referred to Henry Moore's statement: "To be an artist, is to believe in life;" a statement that reflects on the role of art as a venue that allows humankind the opportunity to love life, to understand it fully and live to it well.
It is the aspiration of this conference to establish bridges of communication through the opening of a serious dialogue that acknowledges diversity, hybridity and aims at expanding our personal realities through achieving peace and harmonizing a globalized world through art. Successful as it is, the conference has attracted in the spirit of creation, creativity, and the courage to make a difference through functionalizing art in education at least a hundred and one participants from thirteen international destinations other than Egypt. Such participants have come together to open a dialogue about the challenges and possibilities of education through art. The countries represented other than Egypt are as they appear in the conference brochure: Portugal, The United States of America, The United Kingdom,