The Aspire International Kite Festival 2018

Events Details

After attracting more than 40,000 visitors in its first year, Aspire Zone Foundation (AZF) is preparing to host the second Aspire International Kite Festival, a three-day event due to take place in Aspire Park from the 6^th until the 9^th March, 2018.

Teams of professional kite flyers will gather in Doha to compete in a range of individual and team kite events including synchronised kite performances and kite flying art displays. The country’s first kinetic wind decorations have also been set up in Aspire Park to captivate the event’s visitors.

Inter-school competitions

In addition, amateur enthusiasts and young children will be able to design and decorate their own kites and take part in inter-school competitions that are organised by AZF as part of the main event in March. Children from Grades 1-6 can enter the competition with a maximum of ten students per team.

In the run up to this year’s inter-schools competitions, AZF organised a three-day workshop series for 60 teachers from 15 schools last November. The especially designed workshops were organised to provide inspiration and ideas for how to build and decorate a kite, as well as tips and tricks for flying them and easy to follow explanations of kite aerodynamics.

The workshops were delivered by acclaimed Canadian trainer, Robert Trépanier. Trépanier’s airborne portraiture has had a huge impact on the art of kite flying. His own kite features caricatures of everyday people with distinguished, sometimes dark and often humorous features. In his workshops, Trépanier addressed topics such as kite history, the science behind kite flying, and different techniques for of kite making, tailored to de easily understood and implemented by young children.

First-place school team winner will walk away with QAR 50,000, whilst second-place winner will take home QAR 30,000, and third-place winner QAR 10,000. Last year’s winners were Muaz bin Jabal School, Gheras International School and Birla Public School respectively.