AMP-athon, previously the Creative Media Festival, is an annual student-led initiative exploring various themes selected by the student body. Over 48 hours, participating students work with student leaders and faculty advisors to produce performances, paintings, and other creative works and then showcase them to the community on the final day of the festival, exhibition day.
Inspired by the diverse community of Northwestern Qatar, this year’s theme explored the meanings and expressions of identity around the world. “We are multifaceted beings with many senses of ourselves, and this year's theme embraces this complexity and the different ways identity is defined and expressed by people around the world,” said Susan Dun, associate professor in residence at Northwestern Qatar.
Together with Professors Dana Atrach and Leila Tayeb, Dun was one of the faculty advisors for this year’s festival. She said this year’s festival was an open platform for students to reinvent the meaning of identity and apply the creative skills they learned in the classroom while exploring how identity is shaped and influenced. “More importantly, this year’s theme reflects the diversity of Northwestern Qatar that makes our community special.”
Working with faculty advisors, the students produced five projects, including a short film, live performances, paintings, installation art, and sound and light design elements, and showcased them during the exhibition directed by Northwestern Qatar students Tala Bibi and Juyoung Kim and produced by fellow students Aidana Bauyrzhanova, Taniya Tleubayeva, and Ginger Wang.
In underscoring the festival’s impact, Marwan M. Kraidy, dean and CEO of Northwestern Qatar, said it brings together student storytellers and artists across majors in a celebration of creative expression. “The range and impact of the works produced by our students at this year’s festival is a testament to their creative excellence,” he said.
The Arts, Media, and Performance Festival is one of many programs designed to encourage students to use their creative media skills in exploring scholarly and research themes beyond the classroom.
