UNESCO-Ruby Partnership
This innovative new programme promotes creativity and innovation through cultural and professional exchange among ceramists from China, Gabon, Morocco and Tunisia. It aims to strengthen South-South cooperation and encourage the professional development of young ceramists in Africa and the Arab States.
This four-year programme involving top ceramics institutes in the four participating countries has been made possible thanks to the support of the Shenzhen Ruby Football Club (China).
Each programme cycle is broken down into two phases. During the first phase, students from ceramics schools in Gabon, Morocco and Tunisia travel to Jingdezhen, China for two weeks of exchange, workshops and conferences at the Jingdezhen Ceramics Arts Institute, the strategic programme partner. During the second phase, master ceramists from China travel to the ceramics institutes affiliated with the programme in Africa and the Arab States for further exchange and to engage in conferences and hands-on workshops. The first programme cycle (2012 – 2013) was a great success.
The involvement of the ceramists, who come from Morocco, Tunisia and Gabon to the different workshop organized in China, has been rounded off by a ceremony, which enable to introduce several original works last October. The coming of Chinese masters to the institutes in Gabon and the Arab states is ongoing.