2017
Pomegranate Award for Lifetime Achievement
Biography
Mr. André Azoulay, Counsellor to His Majesty Mohammed VI, King of Morocco, received ASF’s Pomegranate Award
for Lifetime Achievement in recognition of his remarkable life’s work bridging religious divides through artistic and
other cultural endeavors.
In 1992, to revitalize the historical, cultural, and spiritual legacy of his hometown, Counsellor Azoulay founded the Essaouira-Mogador Foundation. The Festival of the Andalousies Atlantiques, one of the Foundation’s eight cultural festivals, is the only one in the world where the stages are exclusively dedicated to Muslim and Jewish musicians, singers, and dancers. Counsellor Azoulay is also a strong supporter of the Association Mimouna, a movement of young Moroccan Muslims who preserve and promote the Moroccan Jewish heritage as an essential part of the Moroccan identity.
Counsellor Azoulay is a member of the Royal Academy of Morocco and the Spanish Royal Academy for Economy and Finances, and on the board of the Institute Pierre Mendes France (Paris). He has received several Doctorates (Honoris Causae) from leading world universities, including the Ben-Gurion University of the Negev.
President of the Anna Lindh Euro-Mediterranean Foundation for the Dialogue Between Cultures (2008-2015; Brussels), member of the Committee of Wise Men for the Alliance of Civilizations at the United Nations, Deputy Chairman
of the Foundation of the Three Cultures and Three Religions (Seville), administrator of the Mediterranean Forum and the Shimon Peres Center for Peace, Counsellor Azoulay has devoted a large part of his life to restoring trust and mutual understanding between Judaism and Islam.
