The Little Art (TLA) organised the opening event of the 8th season of ArtBeat – National Child Art Competitions & Exhibitions. The ceremony was organised at the Zahoorul Akhlaq Gallery, National College of Arts to announce the start of the national gallery exhibitions in Lahore. Following the Lahore event, the exhibition will then travel to Karachi and Islamabad. This year’s theme was “My Mother, My Father,” to creatively highlight parents’ contribution in our lives beyond their conventional roles. TLA gave the opportunity to young artists to draw or paint them as portrait, or share one scene from their life that represents them. This year, TLA received nearly 6,799 artworks from more than 202 schools from across the country and nearly 11 community organisations participated in the competition. TLA’s jury for this year’s competition consisted of esteemed painters, artists and teachers such as RM Naeem, Abdul Jabbar Gull, Sadaf Naeem and Sajjad Gul. Film actor Shaan Shahid graced the opening ceremony as the chief guest. The ceremony guests included Dr Ajaz Anwer, Dr Murtaza Jaffri RM Naeem, Sadaf Naeem, Zil-e-Huma, Imran Ahmed, Ali Azmat and Imran Faiz. They all addressed the audience and commended the artistic initiative that is giving a chance to children from all over Pakistan to express their creative side. Child artists who were selected to present their works at the gallery exhibitions in Lahore were awarded certificates and cash prizes by the honoUrable guests. The ceremony also screened a show reel of the highlights of the previous season of ArtBeat, with experiences from the competition and workshops shared by the students and jury members. Some of schools that had been selected for prizes and exhibits included: TNS Beaconhouse DHA Lahore, SLS Montessori & High School Satellite Town Campus Rawalpindi, Foundation Public School Junior Section DHA Karachi, Beaconhouse School System Bahawalpur, Beaconhouse School System Clifton Campus Karachi, Peshawar Model Girls High School Peshawar, Fatima Fertilizer School Sadiqabad, Govt Special Education Centre Muridke, Roshni Association Lahore and Bacha Khan School PabainiSawabi. 46 students will be working closely with RM Naeem in RM studios for the summer period, 30 selected artists by jury will be attending close sessions with Abdul Jabbar Gul in AJG studios in Karachi, and 34 selected will attend a studio workshop in Nukta Studio in Islamabad. The selected winners from the competition were awarded cash prizes worth Rs 100,000 and certificates at the opening event. A curated show of over 126 artworks was showcased at the exhibition at the gallery in National College of Arts in Lahore. The show opened to public on Saturday from 10am to 4pm. Exhibitions will also take place in Islamabad and Karachi. ArtBeat – National Child Art Competition and Exhibitions is a project of TLA which was initiated in 2012 with a vision to promote visual culture, understanding of issues among children and youth from their own perspective, celebrate children as artists and present children’s view as a point of discourse for adults and community. TLA is a non -profit organisation working for promoting arts education and providing creative learning opportunities to children and young people in Pakistan. Published in Daily Times, February 18th 2019.