​For the second consecutive year, Commercial International Bank-Egypt (CIB) further cemented its commitment towards the art talents in Upper Egypt and exclusively sponsored the Annual Art Exhibition organized by the Faculty of Fine Arts at the South Valley University in Luxor.

The exhibition opened its doors to all the faculty students and graduates to display their art pieces show their distinctive talents and reflect their hidden creativity and ingenuity. One of the notable features of this year’s exhibition is the outstanding, increasing number of young contributors compared to last year. The list of participants included distinctive students, faculty members, professors, and teaching assistants, in addition to academic and non-academic artists, all from the Upper Egypt governorats of Qenna, Luxor and Aswan.

The exhibition included the various fields of art, including painting, sculpture, photography and graphic. More than 100 artists contributed with nearly 200 pieces, which toughened the competition due to the high level of artistic senses. Through a specialized committee of specialists and professors, the winning pieces received monetary prizes from CIB-Egypt, which acquired their artworks to enrich the Bank’s Art Collection, as a way to grant such distinctive talents the adequate recognition and appreciation, in order to develop their art capabilities.

Dr. Mohamed Ahmed Oraby, Former dean of the faculty of fine Arts and the exhibition organizer said,”In my opinion, this exhibition is part of an ongoing series of CIB’s support, which is of a  very critical and crucial impact that empowers artists and motivate them to maintain their art creativity. Moreover, the Bank’s commitment towards Upper Egypt area is an unprecedented move that sustains our objective of creating a cultural, art movement in Upper Egypt, specifically in Luxor, which is similar to the central movement of Cairo. This move will in return enrich the cultural, social and tourist progress and development through portraying the modern, civilized façade of Egypt through artists. 

It’s worth mentioning that CIB-Egypt’s list of activities dedicated to support the talents of Upper Egypt during 2016 included the sponsorship of the fourth edition of the Upper Egypt International Salon, for the second year in a row, which hosted more than 13 Arab and foreign countries, from which 141 artists displayed their artworks. Among the Bank’s other activities supporting art, CIB-Egypt previously acquired many art pieces from the graduation projects of the recent graduates of the Faculties of Fine Arts at Alexandria University and Minya University in 2014 and 2015 respectively. Besides, the Bank sponsored Egyptian artists who participated at La Biennale di Venezia and Florence Biennale last year, which are two of the world’s most prestigious arts and culture events.