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Speech by Prince Amyn Muhammad at the 2021 Aga Khan Museum Annual Lapis Ball held remotely 2021-10-01

Lapis Ball.jpg
Date: 
Friday, 2021, October 1
Location: 

October 1, 2021

Lapis Digital Benefit 2021

Speech by Prince Amyn Mohammed

It is my great pleasure to welcome you today to the Aga Khan Museum’s Annual Lapis Digital Benefit. When we held this event last year, we could not have known that this year too, we would have to celebrate remotely, once again.

However, celebrate we will.

Despite all the many challenges of the past year, the Museum has achieved so much. I believe in fostering intercultural understanding and dialogue and all of that of course with the generous support of so many.

Tonight, thousands of viewers, worldwide are coming together for an artistic journey of discovery, reflection and - most importantly - human connection. It is marvelous to witness, how the power of technology nowadays allows us new, unexpected and unprecedented ways to overcome seeming differences and to cross boundaries.

It allows a global audience to connect across great distances, a fact that not only mitigates the isolation imposed on us by the Covid pandemic, but opens new horizons for learning and for gaining insight not only into the lives and cultures of others, but into how much we share. In many ways it has played a significant part in enabling us to continue and to develop our international mission.

Digital technology also allows us to re-imagine the arts in new ways as indeed, we are experiencing tonight. Whether visual arts, music, dance, the spoken or written word, the Arts serve as perhaps the most profound form of communication and the greatest means of revealing, of building bridges across seeming distances of revealing the ties that bind us all.

With remarkable performances and talks by experts from different backgrounds, one of the variety of subjects of artistic genre, from classical flamenco and the sitar solos, to historical masterpieces from the Museum’s collection, and from contemporary Art, commissions, tonight’s program demonstrates that this Museum’s reach and educational mission are both local and global.

It gives me much satisfaction that over nearly two years now, in the shadow of a global pandemic, the Aga Khan Museum has never tired of finding new ways to drive our mandate of showcasing the contributions of Muslim civilizations and of fostering pluralism through the Arts.

Today, in the divided and fractured world where prejudice now seems all too often to be replacing knowledge and understanding, the work of building bridges between cultures, of engendering respect and true knowledge, is I think, more urgent and more crucial than ever.

I am excited and heartened by the innovative avenues the Museum has embarked upon to drive our Mission, which by now must have reached much well over five million people worldwide through the Museum site in Toronto and of its MuseumWithoutWalls online platform.
In our much-changed world today, we must continue to scale up our work to contributing positively to the lives of others through the Arts. And I am confident that, guided by the Museum’s most fundamental tenets, we are at the forefront of contributing to positive change and to a better world for all.

This wonderful evening tonight would not have come together without the inspiring vision of our sponsors, donors and the members of the Lapis Committee. I want to express my deep gratitude to each one of you. Your generosity is key in helping us to light the way forward.

And once again, to all of you who have joined us, especially tonight, I thank you for sharing with us in this moment of human connection, both celebration and

I trust, fun.

Thank you


Speech

Speech by Prince Amyn Muhammad at the 2021 Aga Khan Museum Annual Lapis Ball held remotely 2021-10-01

Prince Amyn Aga Khan
Source: 
video

October 1, 2021

Annual Lapis Digital Benefit 2021

Speech by Prince Amyn Mohammed

It is my great pleasure to welcome you today to the Aga Khan Museum’s Annual Lapis Digital Benefit. When we held this event last year, we could not have known that this year too, we would have to celebrate remotely, once again.

However, celebrate we will.

Despite all the many challenges of the past year, the Museum has achieved so much. I believe in fostering intercultural understanding and dialogue and all of that of course with the generous support of so many.

Recent Articles

BMO partners with the Aga Khan Museum to provide barrier-free access to the arts 2023-04-26

Enjoy free admission every Wednesday from 4-8 pm. Presented by BMO Financial Group. (Photo: Connie Tsang)
Source: 
www.businesswire.com

TORONTO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--BMO today reaffirmed its commitment to supporting arts and culture in the community with new funding support to provide free admission to the Aga Khan Museum every Wednesday evening from 4–8 pm. BMO Free Wednesdays provides the community with barrier-free access to arts and culture, allowing the Museum to further expand its ability to provide a truly inclusive environment for all.

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