Iranian artists to organize charity event to help the hungry

Up to 100 Iranian artists are to sell their works at a charity event at Niavaran Cultural Center on Friday (October 17, 2014) to help the World Food Programme (WFP) with its efforts to ease global hunger, Khabaronline quoted Negar Gerami of the WFP as telling a news conference in Tehran.

“There is plenty of food to go around in the world,” she said, adding, “Our efforts are meant to reduce the number of people who go hungry to zero.”

She went on to say that Iran is not among countries that grapple with hunger, but that does not mean we can be indifferent to this global problem.

“October 16^th has been designated as World Food Day, and we at WFP make efforts to draw public attention to global measures to eliminate hunger,” she said, adding, “This year, works of art by Iranian artists are being used as a tool to raise public awareness. Around 100 artists have donated their works of art to be sold at the event. The proceeds will go to the WFP drive to take on world hunger.”

Parviz Kalantari, an Iranian painter, told the same news conference, “We need to stay clear of politics…. The Iranian people have always joined forces for charitable causes; still, efforts should be made to press home the fact that one should not be indifferent to global problems.”

Shokufeh Malek-Kiani, an Iranian photographer and an artistic consultant of the UN, said the number of artists who donated their works for the charity event, which features visual arts, has risen from 32 last year to around 100 this year.”