The Minister of Culture Shaker Abdel Hamid has named Camillia Sobhy as the general secretary of the Supreme Council for Culture (SCC), the first woman to be appointed to this position since the council was founded in 1980.
Camillia Sobhy, a professor of Comparative French Literature at the Faculty of Linguistics, Ain Shams University, is the third secretary general to be appointed in a year.
Camillia worked as a cultural consultant to the Egyptian embassy in France where she was awarded a knighthood for Art and Culture from the French Minister of Culture & Communication Fredric Mitterrand promoting Egyptian-French cultural relations. Camillia also authored a book on French contemporary thought.
Camillia is no stranger to the SCC. Succeeding Nadia El-Kholi, Camilia has been working at the council since last July, as chief of the central administration to one of the SCC’s cultural committees.
SCC is an independent organising body that is run by the Ministry of Culture. It replaced the High Council of Arts and Culture that was founded in 1954. After January 25 Revolution, the role of the SCC sparked controversy as some Egyptian intellectuals called for the council to replace the Ministry of Culture, making it solely responsible for creating and monitoring cultural policy in Egypt. There were many administrative obstacles to this suggestion as it required a complete restructure of the council.
Ambassador Ezzedine Choukri, the former secretary general of the council, planned the reshuffle but resigned in July before it was implemented. Camilla Sobhi’s first role as the new secretary general will be finishing and implementing the scheme.
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