Sharjah Department of Culture
Sharjah, United Arab Emirates, established 1981
The government department that organises Sharjah's calligraphy biennial, Islamic arts festival and cultural programmes.
About
The Sharjah Department of Culture is the government body that runs cultural affairs in the emirate of Sharjah. It was set up by Amiri decree in 1981 as the Cultural Department and took its present name in 2017. Abdallah bin Mohammed Al Owais is its chairman.
Its annual programme covers more than 40 festivals and forums in poetry, theatre, literature and the visual arts, in Sharjah and abroad. Through its Directorate of Cultural Affairs it organises the Sharjah Calligraphy Biennial, whose twelfth edition, Mizan (Balance), runs from 7 October to 15 November 2026.
The department also organises the Sharjah Islamic Arts Festival, founded in 1998, and the Sharjah Award for Artistic Criticism Research. In Calligraphy Square, in the Heart of Sharjah, it runs workshops at the Arabic Calligraphy Centre and stages the Katateeb Creations exhibition. Under its earlier name, the department hosted the ninth Sharjah Biennial in 2009.
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