Memorable success

Ashok Suvarna, Executive Director, NPA Events gives a recap of how ‘Rembrandt in Oman’ was organised which led them to win a Middle East Event award

In one way, it was the meeting of theatre and art, with the common thread being creativity. Ashok Suvarna is a passionate stage artiste and theatre personality with more than 50 commercial and non-commercial plays to his credit. As the executive director of NPA Events, Suvarna has been involved in organising a number of events, included notable plays.

Therefore it was a natural progression when Al Salmi Library wanted to bring Rembrandt’s paintings and etchings for display in Oman, Suvarna’s NPA Events was chosen for the job, knowing that passion and creativity would come together befitting the 17th century artist.

The result was that Oman’s art connoisseurs were left breathless to see in flesh and blood more than 100 original etchings by the world-renowned Dutch artist Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn. The event called “Rembrandt in Oman” was organised at the Grand Hyatt Hotel from August 19-September 19 in 2009.

Winner laurels
For organising this once in a lifetime exhibition, NPA Events bagged the first prize in the Best Arts and Cultural Event category at the Middle East Event Awards in Dubai in May this year, beating other contenders.

However, the organisation of this event was no easy task and it was only the tenacity, determination and dedicated efforts of NPA Events team, which made it possible. The Afrah Ballroom of Grand Hyatt was converted into an art gallery within a short period of just four days employing more than 65 people who worked non-stop day and night to complete all the settings including lighting, security, flooring etc. A 4-metre high facade resembling Rembrandt’s house was also erected to complete the feeling of entering the Dutch maestro’s house. In addition, dehumidifiers imported from Dubai were installed in the gallery area to take care of the humidity issue and the preservation of the prints.

“We at NPA Events believe in perfection and excellence, therefore, we work with passion to achieve that. At the end of the event, the entire team looks carefully into everything to see what is imperfect in that particular event. Then we try to assess what was ordinarily done which could have been done extraordinarily, and then rectify the same in our next event. It is an ongoing process for us. But we aim to create the ‘wow’ factor in every event we handle,” says Suvarna, while talking about the memorable event.

Suvarna also says that a large part of the success of ‘Rembrandt in Oman’ event is due to the efforts of the creative department of NPA Events headed by Mansoor Taher, which left no stone unturned to completely change the look and feel of the posh ballroom into a classic, centuries-old Dutch art gallery.

The exhibition attracted over 6000 local and international visitors and scored exceptional reviews in local as well as international print and online media.

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