RISE contest celebrates young artistic talents

AMMAN — On Saturday, 15 young Jordanians from across the Kingdom took part in the final talent show and award ceremony of the RISE Talent Contest 2019 at Al Hussein Cultural Centre in Amman.

In 2018, the EU in Jordan created and funded RISE Talent Contest to promote and celebrate the talent and creativity of Jordanian youth, according to the EU in Jordan’s website. This year’s event was organised by European Union National Institutes for Culture (EUNIC) Jordan.

EUNIC is a cluster of European embassies and European cultural centres in Amman, currently comprising 16 members and funded by the EU, said Tala Sayyed, current project manager of EUNIC Jordan, in an interview with The Jordan Times on Saturday.

“We work on creating cultural events in Jordan and supporting local initiatives such as the Amman Jazz Festival or Baladk street art graffiti festival, and at the same time we have our own calendar with events such as the European Film Festival,” she said.

“RISE Talent Contest is very important, as it is the only nationwide talent competition in Jordan,” Sayyed noted, adding: “It’s a great opportunity for Jordanian youth to have a platform where they can share their talents and get exposed.”

“We contacted the winner of last year’s RISE talent show for multiple events,” she added.

This year, the contest attracted over 100 applicants, 55 of whom fit the requirements for the contest.

Four competitors for each category were selected to compete as finalists at Saturday’s show, Sayyed noted.

The young people between the ages of 18 and 28 competed in four different categories: Music, singing, dancing and arts. They were assessed by a jury composed of Jehad Hadad (music), Hind Hamed (singing), Abd Al Hadi Abunahleh (dancing) and Raed Ibrahim (arts), according to the EU website.

The jury chose one winner from each category. The winners were Rama Alfarekh (arts), Jana Mahadeen (music), Mohammed  Mousa (singing), Saleem Asfour (dancing), according to EUNIC Jordan.

The winners were awarded prizes aiming to foster their talents and promote education in different ways, for example, through dance classes or art supplies, the project manager said.

“Some of the young people are college students, some have other jobs,” Sayyed said, adding: “Maybe the prizes are a way to keep their passion going.”