7th Doha Cultural Festival 2008

1.This table is divided into 3 columns but they should mention the subject on the top of each column (Venue, Doha Local Time, Activity...etc)

 2.if the opening ceremony is at 20:00 on 28/2/2008 that means they are using a 24-hr (not a 12-hr) timing system. So is the Symposium in Al-Maha-Sheraton on 1/3/08 at 4:30 Dawn???

3.How can 2 activities (Demis Roussos & Flaminco Show) be in the same venue (Dafna-Sheraton) on the same day (1/3/08) at the same time (10:00...in the morning?)

 Thank you

if you pay peanuts you get monkies

And I was just thinking that when I'd arrived to Doha few years ago there was ABSOLUTELY NO INFORMATION about events apart from word of a mouth.

But now I must say it's much better! Really! Gulf Times, webpages, at least we know in advance things are happening, before that wasn't the case.

And that there is some inconsistency? Oh well... let's enjoy this Arab charm in Qatar (if you know what I mean). May not last too long.

Sylwia

Last years they made a complete pig's ear of the Roberta Flack concert.... shambolic - and Ms Flack left the stage after four songs.... it was shameful.

I went to the Sheraton this afternoon, the very nice ladies at reception told me that they had had many enquiries but the promoters:
a) haven't told them when exactly they will be at the Shertaton to sell tickets
b) don't want the Sheraton to give out their number so people can find out......

Well there we go..... bring on the clowns.

"a) haven't told them when exactly they will be at the Shertaton to sell tickets
b) don't want the Sheraton to give out their number so people can find out......"

----> yeah but this is like only over a week to go ?  

Not a thank you to Qatari for getting and posting the programm just a load of complaints.

You can call the Arts and Cultural Centre yourself if you are not satisfied with the programms. One thing is sure it may have some shortcomings and may not be well advertised but at least Qatar is trying.

Placido Domingo is very high calibre for Doha not having an Opera house I think it is great just getting him here.

Ok they are not world class at organising but they are moving forward - perhaps not the right people in place yet but getting Placido Domingo - I enjoy clasiscal and Opera is great I feel.

I have also been to concerts in the diplomatic club which were very well organised - so let's see what happens.

 "at least Qatar is trying" ... who said Qatar was not trying? Why do you need to involve the name of the whole country in a simple issue like this? I only said that the table needed explanation!

"You can call the Arts and Cultural Centre yourself"...so if anybody on QL needed explanation/clarification about something they should not post on QL? They should go & call the concerned parties?

 "Not a thank you to Qatari for getting and posting the programm just a load of complaints"....I didn't know that you were Qatari's lawyer! In this case you need to consider other possibilities: maybe I sent him a private "Thank" message? Maybe I wasn't blaiming him or complaining about him, in the 1st place?  

if you pay peanuts you get monkies

Taking your first point peanuts, the problem is things like this keep happening, again and again. As oryx says, they are bidding for the Olympics so you'd expect a certain level of professionalism when it comes to organising events. Apparently ticketing for the tennis final on Sunday was also poorly organised, with people who had tickets queuing for hours to try and get in with no success.

You are a bold and offensive person and this programme is about Qatar not about any other country.

You have turned and twisted all the things I wrote and you are aggressive.

You can post anything you like on here, but you are an agressive and obviously not a literate person, as it was not about you blaming Qatari.

If you are not sure about the programme call the Arts Centre it is easy if you want and need more information.

Please don't dicuss with me in that tone again in fact don't even post to me again.

and you need to work on it!

I have not twisted any of your words. It is not my problem if your brain is twisted, and for the 2nd time: THIS PROGRAM IS NOT ABOUT QATAR! IT IS ABOUT A FESTIVAL!

You were defending Qatar & saying that "at least Qatar is trying". I totally agree with that, I clarified to you that I NEVER said the contrary, and that in fact, I see no need to judge the country because of a simple festival.

Did you have your coffee or are you always this nervous in the mornings?

if you pay peanuts you get monkies

But isn't that typical from a British woman? 

I am sure you guys were raised on such language & behavior that it became a part of your daily life.

Thank you anyway. I prefer to refrain from using such language with you.

if you pay peanuts you get monkies

Why do people get so defensive when anyone makes a genuine criticism of how things are done here?

Is it because the criticisms are generally true, and rather than trying to defend the indefensible (in this case the 'organisers' of the Cultural Festival) they instead attack the person making a perfectly reasonable observation?

Let's be realistic.  For a festival of this nature, the program should have been released over 2 months back.  Ticketing information should have been released one month back, and tickets should have gone on sale 2 weeks ago.  None of that has happened.  The event is well-intentioned, and we are all ever so grateful that it is on at all.

But if you plan an event, surely you intend for people to actually go??? And if you want people to go, then why not, you know, sell some tickets?????

___________________________________________
"Even a stopped clock gives the right time twice a day." Withnail & I

I say this without a touch of exagerration - get used to it.

If you'd have been here for the final of the football at the Asian Games you would have seen something altogether worse, but that's ancient history now.  They busy mangling other events these days.  

Let's run a book to see who can get the first tickets to any of the cultural festival events.  Maybe one of us will be lucky enough to go.

The thing that bugs me about it the most is that they (by they I mean the 'organisers of the various events in Doha) plan these half-baked events that no one can go to, due to either their incompetent management or non-existent marketing.  So since no one goes, they don't bother to repeat it again the following year. 

If they did things properly here, people would support it. 

I went back to the Sheraton and the promoters were there BUT:

a) they had no programme of events (unlike kind Qatari!)

b) they were not ready to sell tickets.....

Please that is bad........but they are selling tickets now!

Rami - well said.... the idea is to get people to go - eh?

Qatar makes the effort for sure with loads of events but they deserve so much better from their promoters/organisers.

And this goes for the QFA - shambolic

I went there today to buy tickets for Denis Rousous. Tickets are completely in Arabic, they put seat number on it with a sticker (double or triple make sure they put the right sticker on, if I hadn't, I'd end up on someone elses lap!).

When I asked what time it will be, they didn't know, they said 9 or 10, but call on a day (Saturday) and ask then.

Great, huh? 

Sylwia

Unfortunately, the cultural festival is an event that has got worse and worse with every passing year. The highlight was the first year, when the Golden Warrior of Kazakhstan and various grave goods from his mound were displayed here and there were numerous events with visiting artistic troupes.

There is usually one expensive Western highlight (Andrew Lloyd-Webber's Cats one year, Aida another, Placido Domingo this time) but what the organisers are really interested in is the Cultural Cafe, where local poets gather, receive congratulations from ministry officials and recite some of their works.

The rest of it is just thrown together, higgledy-piggledy, while the newspapers are each paid a fat lump to produce daily advertising supplements proclaiming that it is all wonderful (and the festival committee's PR people can't even be bothered to provide any information about events to the newspapers who are churning out the rubbishy advertising supplements).

But what can be expected from a culture ministry that surreptitiously closes down its country's national museum for years, for no apparent reason.

They have masses of cultural artifacts that could be showcased but I expect they will all remain in storage because, as far as the organisers are concerned, culture pretty much seems to begin and end with the oral tradition of the bedouin which is, of course, inaccessible to most of us.

where exactly in the sheraton are they selling tickets? my mom is there right now and she cant find them! :S

 I got a text from a friend in New Zealand (I kid you not!) last week saying that there is a big promotional campaign there to visit the Doha Cultural festival!!!!!!! Do these promoters have any sense? Some of us HERE would like to find out about it and be able to buy tickets.

I would like to go to The Barber of Serville but the thought of trying to arrange it has put me off. 

I don't go to mythical places with strange men.
-- Douglas Adams, The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul.

Thanks for the posting. It's informative. Thanks.

"It is better to die with memories than to live with only dreams."

"Sometimes love is for a moment, sometimes love is for a lifetime.
  Sometimes a moment is a lifetime!

Adey ... if the promoted all the way to NZ , for a start why they cant write the ticket in English too?

"Deadly serious. My friend wanted to know what it was all about. He even
quoted the advertising line - "the land of peace and love"
"Doha...where cultures combine""

-----> ...............................and Land Cruisers rule!!!!!

where can i purchase this little mermaid tickets?