Create: A Project to Empower Art in Exile
About the Project
Create is a partnership between Ettijahat- Independent Culture, the British Council and International Alert to enhance the expertise of artists and cultural activists. The project aims to create environments and initiatives which will enable artists, cultural activists, and civil society organisations to play increasingly active roles in improving the lives of Artists and different communities, primarily by supporting creative endeavours which develop long-term cooperation and mutual resilience between communities.
In light of the political, economic, and cultural changes, the project seeks to create a long-term support network for artistic production which will strengthen contemporary art practices and target refugees and communities in crisis. The project will also address local audiences in the host communities into which artists and new cultural initiatives have moved.
Components of the projects
Between 2015 and 2016 the project will focus on artists and initiatives in Lebanon, and will be based on four core components:
The first component addresses the need to develop actors’ skills in artistic project design and management during times of crisis. It will use training schemes and events to demonstrate techniques which use art to challenge stereotypes and alleviate tensions and frustrations.
The second component denotes a support network for ten artistic cultural projects which will be implemented over a six-month period, all over Lebanon. Create seeks to support projects which are innovative and think outside of traditional frameworks.
The third component entails the establishment of a platform on which artists and cultural activists can promote their work and artistic projects at international festivals. It also aims to encourage opportunities for collaboration and cooperation between artists and their international peers.
The fourth component comprises of an interactive dialogue targeting audiences in their new environments and linking them with artists, civil society organisations, and decision-makers, with the aim of developing independent cultural production abroad and enhancing collaboration between displaced persons and host communities.
Create Syria Project Objectives
The objectives specific to this project are:
· To build the capacity of up to 15 artists and CSOs in artistic cultural project management as well as their networking skills. This project targets emerging and established artists in addition to CSOs at cultural organisations.
· To support the implementation of 10 new artistic projects from cultural managers and artists, including emerging artists, and to aid them in reaching international art platforms through dialogue. This would benefit citizens in areas with notable refugee populations as well as the artists themselves.
· To engage citizens who live in refugee camps and host communities in a series of dialogues about issues affecting their lives. These dialogues will be made through a series of artistic methods and collective artistic expression.
· To raise awareness of the value of art and culture in times of crisis, in the region.
Selected Projects
Theatre
Koon Theatre Group/ Koon Theatre Lab:
A theatre training programme that aims to develop creative skills among Syrian and Lebanese youth by establishing a laboratory for experimental theatre that targets independent artists from various backgrounds as well as amateurs.
Masrah Ensemble/ Ti-Jean Family:
An extended music/theatre project ending with a performance by a group of young Syrians living at the Shatila camp. The project aims at the development of creative skills and also to weave the ‘Ti-Jean Family’ narrative with participants’ experiences of civil war and the Syrian crisis from their point of view.
Citizens. Artists/ The Puppets' Closet:
A puppet theatre project that aims to work with a group of young people and train them in puppet theatre basics in general, and specifically in sock puppet theatre. The project also aims to enable participants with the basics of sock puppet making, animation and writing scenes which are incorporated in the final performance toward the end of the project.
Yousef Al-Kabra/ Damma:
An interactive theatre project that seeks to develop the knowledge and skills of fourth graders at the Jousour Center in Beirut. A play will be performed to a diverse audience of students, parents and host community.
Music and Singing
Sonbola Association/ Syrian trainers’ training in children’s choir:
A choir training project for a group of young Syrians in Lebanon which incorporates singing skills and choir leadership in order to enable them to spread this form of art in refugee camps and migrant communities and participate in Sonbola’s children’s choir training.
Women Now Lebanon/ Our Stage!:
A music/theatre project that aims to change cultural perceptions around Syrian refugee children in the Beqaa region and develop their artistic skills through various activities and training workshops in movement, music and theatre performance.
Music & Beyond/ Global Week for Syria:
A music project that aims to promote a dialogue between Syrian communities and host communities by training a group of children in choir and music.
Video and Cinema
Najda Now/ The camp and my parents' story:
A video-making project that aims to develop and promote youth skills in order to improve their living conditions and allow pace for self-expression, making their voice heard and documenting their oral memory.
Animation
Abdelkarim Qabrawi/ Animation pre-production phase:
A specialized project that aims to support and develop the artistic skills of youth in Syria, Lebanon and Palestine in the discipline of animation by holding training workshops designed to enhance trainees’ imagination through a specialised training curriculum in animation production.
Multimedia projects
Basmeh & Zeitooneh Association/ A cultural event during the second annual celebration of arts and culture at Basmeh & Zeitooneh:
A multimedia project that aims to promote communication and improve dialogue between divided communities (refugee and host communities) by holding a yearly cultural event to allow professional artists and young talent to participate in specialized workshops and present their works in different regions around Lebanon.
Raghad Al-Makhlouf and Wissam Al-Ghati/ EBDA:
A multimedia art project that aims to encourage communication between the Syrian and Lebanese communities in the Saadnayel region in the Beqaa and Shatila in Beirut through various artistic activities that target youth and result in collaborative productions in theatre, photography and cinema.
