Al-Futtaim Motors launches inaugural Toyota Dream Car Art Contest in the UAE

Toyota’s global initiative, Dream Car Art Contest, designed to inspire creativity in youth and encourage interest in making the world a better place, was officially launched today by Al-Futtaim Motors, exclusive distributor of Toyota in the UAE, in collaboration with the Knowledge and Human Development Authority (KHDA) and the Ministry of Education, Dubai Educational Zone. 

Across the nation, and young people from 4-15 years, are invited to create and submit drawings of their idea of a “Dream Car” in a global contest that will see participation from private and government schools, art schools and the public at large, from December 1^st through January 31, 2015, with submissions closing on February 15, 2015. 

Entering the Toyota Dream Car Contest is a way for Toyota to encourage younger generations to explore their artistic abilities while imagining the future of mobility with valuable instant giveaways being handed out to each entrant. 

Thirty local finalists will get the chance to participate in a local art exhibition, while a further nine winners will receive grand prizes and the opportunity to enter the global contest. Selected award winners in the global contest and their parents or guardians will be invited on a trip to Japan to participate in an awards ceremony in August 2015 during which four finalist awards will be announced per age category: Finalist (60 total global winners), Best Finalist (12 total global winners), Bronze (9 total global winners), Silver (6 total global winners), Gold (3 total global winners) and the President Akio Toyoda Special Award (one winner). 

While in Japan winners will visit a Toyota factory and get to experience different facets of the Japanese culture. Additionally, the top three local finalists will be given a further art studies endowment from Al-Futtaim Motors. 

“This is the first year that the Toyota Dream Car Art Contest takes place in the UAE, joining around 80 markets from around the world in this unique competition that aims to inspire youth to dream and design their vision for the future of transportation,” said Jon Williams, Managing Director, Al-Futtaim Motors.

“We have seen many inspiring artworks from around the world, whether addressing societal issues, or looking to help decrease emissions and creating sustainable eco-vehicles, the next generation of future artists have incredible awareness of the importance of the automotive industry to our world, and we look forward to seeing new and exciting concepts from young UAE based artists”, he added.

Children who submit their artwork for the Toyota Dream Car Art Contest will have their submissions judged by a local jury.

Al-Futtaim Motors will be receiving participants in the Toyota Dubai Festival City showroom on January 23-24, 2015 and the Abu Dhabi Airport Road showroom on January 30-31, 2015, where special corners will be set for participants to express their creativity. These corners are equipped with the necessary art material and will be managed by a team of art tutors to guide and help the children materialize their ideas. 

With the support of the Ministry of Education, Dubai Educational Zone and KHDA, a large number of private and government schools will also be running the competition within their premises. 

Last year, over 660,000 youth, ages 4-15 from 78 countries submitted their creative artworks to the Toyota Dream Car Art Contest worldwide. Of these, over 600 entries were submitted to Japan for consideration in the world contest.