Bahrain Polytechnic’s School of EDICT hosted the Kingdom’s first Behance Portfolio Review at the Bahrain Hall; showcasing the creative portfolios of the final year Visual Design students.
Behance, a unique business unit within Adobe, is the leading online platform to showcase and discover creative work. Companies can explore the work and access talent on a global scale, as individuals are able to update their work in a single platform and broadcast it widely and efficiently. This enables individuals to get potential jobs or contracts with organizations which require their skill.
The event is also held annually by volunteers in major cities around the world such as London, Berlin, San Francisco, Cape Town, Paris, Tokyo, Lahore, Montreal, and Brazil. It also takes place across the Middle East, such as Riyadh, Muscat, Dubai, Amman, Alexandria, Jeddah, and Sana’a.
The Polytechnic hosted the exhibition to inspire Bahrain’s local talent to display their creative work in the field of art and design. The exhibition included workshops and presentations with the art and design community, including an open discussion on the various forms of art used in different sectors.
The organizers of the exhibition also developed a website in order to promote the event, in hopes to develop a community in the future where they can enhance their knowledge in art and design.
Various guest speakers from Bahrain, experienced in art and design, participated in a panel discussion where they offered their insight to the audience on their fields of expertise. These guest speakers were Sh. Noora bint Khalifa Al Khalifa, Mr. Yousif Alghawas, Ms. Nada AlAlawi, Mr. Sandeep Ahlawat, Mr.Mahmood Alaali, and Mr. Mohammed Al-Maskati.
Bahrain’s Behance Exhibition focused on the Polytechnic’s fourth year students to display their final year visual design projects, where Bahraini designers were invited to participate at this unique exhibition.
The event concluded with the participants and sponsors being thanked for their support, as the students collected the following awards:
• Maria Isa: Outstanding Achievement Award
• Younis Attia: Professionalism Award
• Haifa Mansoor: Excellence in Visual Design Award
• Batool Mohammed: Best Portfolio Award
Acting CEO of Bahrain Polytechnic, Dr. Mohamed Al Aseeri, stated: “We witnessed a variety of unique projects from the School of Visual Design, reflecting the high level of creativity of the students which gives them a chance to show their potential at an exhibition.
“The Polytechnic succeeded in getting the opportunity to achieve a head start at hosting such an event, being the first of its kind in the Kingdom.
“What we achieved [at hosting this event] gives us a step forward to meet the objectives of the Polytechnic’s Strategic Plan 2015-2019, which talks about motivating students to become entrepreneurs. Additionally, it also meets the goals of the government action plan 2015-2018 and the Bahrain 2030 Vision.
“The audience consisted of parents of the students and industry partners, and these are the stakeholders we seek to strengthen our relationship with as they have a positive impact on students and their quest for excellence.” concluded Dr. Al Aseeri.
