Lucien de Guise / New Straits Times Malaysia
IT would be hard to think of a spiritual leader who has made as big a difference to the arts as Aga Khan IV.
If one trawls far back enough into the history of a religion such as the Catholic church, it is possible to find popes who were more interested in culture than in punishing the insufferable Galileo, but their efforts tended to be almost entirely in their own Roman backyard. For several generations, the Aga Khans have perhaps benefited from not having an obvious backyard. They have become true citizens of the world.
Matching the dynasty’s geographical diversity is the Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN). This is not one of those networks that involve the occasional breakfast meeting to discuss new contacts for advertising-flyer campaigns. The AKDN has cast its net wider than just about any organisation on the planet, including the United Nations.
Read more: Art & About: Aga Khan’s vision http://www.nst.com.my/nst/articles/Art_About_AgaKhan__8217_svision/Article/#ixzz0s1TmM5GM
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