The founder of the Abu Dhabi Music & Arts Foundation (Admaf), Hoda Al-Khamis Kanoo, will receive an award at the 5th Women Together Awards Ceremony, to be held at the United Nations headquarters in New York on May 20.

The Women Together Awards are granted annually to outstanding individuals whose personal and professional efforts have made them symbols, icons and examples to younger generations.

Kanoo receives the award for her tireless work over the past 15 years to promote art and music throughout Abu Dhabi, the UAE and the Gulf region, especially amongst women and children.  She is the first recipient of the award from the GCC region.

Past recipients of the award include Hillary Clinton; Queen Rania of Jordan; journalist Rosa María Calaf and Nobel Peace Prize winners: Muhammad Yunus and Shirin Ebadi.

This year Kanoo will receive the award with other distinguished personalities including the former Irish President Mary Robinson; former Prime Minister of Norway Gro Harlem Brundtland; American Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour and entrepreneur Sir Richard Branson among others.

Kanoo began her relationship with arts and culture at the American College of Paris, where she studied French literature and art history.  During her stay in the French capital she developed a deep interest in classical music, and took advantage of the access to some of the best museums and art collections in the world.

Upon moving to Abu Dhabi, she held senior positions with the Abu Dhabi Cultural Foundation and the Abu Dhabi Chamber of Commerce.

In 1996, her passion and determination to advance classical music, the arts, culture and creativity amongst local nationals and residents, led to the establishment of the Admaf.

Today, Admaf remains a leading cultural organisation, with a strong educational mission, a vibrant events calendar and community programmes that reaches across all the Emirates.

Each year Admaf presents the Abu Dhabi Music and Arts Festival, the region’s foremost cultural event that attracts world-class artists from across the globe.

'My dream for the Foundation when we started in 1996 was to involve more people in art and musical activities. Now, some 13 years on, our educational work is going from strength-to-strength and we are reaching more people than ever before,' said Hoda Al-Khamis Kanoo.-TradeArabia News Service