Ramallah - On Wednesday, 1 November 2017, the A. M. Qattan Foundation (AMQF) organised an encounter to evaluate the Culture, Arts and Community Participation project, implemented by the AMQF with co-funding from the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC).
To be implemented over a renewable period of three years, the first round of the project was launched last year.
Supervised the AMQF Culture and Arts Programme (CAP), the first round of the project offers financial grants to art and cultural institutions and collectives in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. The grants are designed to help beneficiaries to implement their visions of achieving the project goals; namely to promote community participation through arts and culture. In the second round, teams of researchers and community activists work under the supervision of the AMQF Educational Research and Development Programme (ERDP).
In general, the Culture, Arts and Community Participation project aims to highlight the role culture and arts can play in promoting community participation and convey the voice of communities to decision makers.
The Theatre Speaks
Hakawi Society for Culture and Arts (Hakawi) performed a play on a woman’s suffering in accessing medical services. After the show, a Gazan lady stepped on the stage and addressed the audience: “This is my story.” The lady told the story of her suffering to obtain a permit for the treatment of her son. The permit was eventually issued, but too late: two weeks after he son had died.
Hakawi applied the Theatre of the Oppressed style, which presents realistic scenes of how people suffer from oppression. These are ultimately discussed with the audience, who suggest solutions and reflections on the issues at hand.
Having joined the second round of the Culture, Arts and Community Participation project, Hakawi held several encounters with local communities in five remote areas across the Gaza Strip. Following a discussion of several economic, social and legal issues, the theme of medical services was selected. Hakawi also presented 17 theatrical performances, which it had developed to lead a community discussion of medical care and bring people’s voice to decision makers in the health sector.
Hakawi was not alone to employ the Theatre of the Oppressed in the project, but it was also used by Ashtar Theatre. Based in the Al-Jiftlik village, Ashtar Theatre joined the first round the project. Having carried out field research, Ashtar Theatre explored many community issues in the Jordan Valley area.
Ashtar Theatre invited 150 local residents, but did not tell them that a play would be performed. The audience watched a scene, in which students confirmed that Al-Jiftlik did not face any problem, nor was the village short of anything. The audience soon objected. The theatrical performance created a dialogue about life challenges in Al-Jiftlik.
In the presence of representatives of decision making circles, dialogues were then launched with male and female farmers and students. Problems were debated, including the proliferation of narcotic drugs, women’s employment in settlements, and school dropouts. Over the project lifecycle, Ashtar Theatre curated theatrical performances and cultural events in the village’s primary and secondary schools. Targeting the youth, it also provided training in drama, resulting in two radio drama episodes on issues concerning Al-Jiftlik.
The Culture, Arts and Community Participation project was culminated by a one-day conference, which addressed issues of relevance to the Jordan Valley area and Al-Jiftlik. Attended by a number of decision makers, the conference deliberated many important issues, which required immediate follow-up by relevant authorities.
In a similar vein, in the context of the project’s first round, school and university students presented their city of Jericho in a play, titled Open the Bag, Students formed a theatrical team of young actors, who have continued to receive training to produce a second play. Like the first one, the play will be a collective product. The script is shaped by regular encounters involving conversations with a number of mothers, whose children are the object of the issues they raise. These are then performed on the stage after training is provided by relevant specialists and researchers.
Drama was also an essential component of the Hebron-based Yes Theatre in both rounds of the project. Yes Theatre used puppets to launch a community dialogue in a number of villages and communities around the Dura city. Currently, Yes Theatre is employing drama in several towns and villages in the Hebron governorate in order to maintain a direct contact between citizens and respective local and municipal councils. In particular, citizens are involved in the strategic planning delivered by the councils of these towns and villages. Citizens have long been excluded from participation in this process.
Yes Theatre curated many theatrical performances and conversations, which uncovered the gap between citizens and decision makers. The Yes Theatre team believe that community concerns require a concerted effort by both parties.
A variety of art projects
At a certain stage, all project teams organised encounters with audiences. In light of the extended number of urgent and complex issues, it was not easy to select particular issues for production in an artistic way. For example, the Qalqiliya team focused its attention on a limited number of issues, using visual arts.
In Qalqiliya, researchers, teachers and active members of the project team will work on their individual artworks. In the project’s first round, these produced a group exhibition, titled The Third Hand.
Teacher Manar Zeid participates in a visual art project, which depicts Qalqiliya as she sees and remembers it. Manar describes her journey, saying: “I use to see Qalqiliya free of negative aspects. Overtime, I went on tours around the city. I had a very romantic perception about it. However, it has turned into something haphazard. Most agricultural land has been confiscated. When it is stripped of agriculture, what would remain of Qalqiliya?”
In Ni’lin, the project team debate the image of their town in the same way. They organise encounters with students, women and teachers under the supervision of researchers and artists. The team elected several issues, such as the limited participation of girls above 12 years of age in the town’s social life, and the legacy of popular games in Ni’lin. In the project’s first round, a documentary film on Ni’lin was also produced, illustrating the pivotal role the checkpoint set up by the Israeli occupying forces on the outskirts of the town, plays in the life of the local community.
In the Deir al-Ghusun village in northern Tulkarem, local residents said they sought to restore the cultural glory and pride of their village. To this end, Dar Qandeel for Arts and Culture led the project after it had lobbied dozens of young men and women to engage in and implement different and complex components of the project. In effect, various community groups were involved in the project.
In Deir al-Ghusun, events were implemented in public spaces, including murals made of recycled waste. Women, men and youths participated in other voluntary activities. In the context of the project, Dar Qandeel for Arts and Culture also organised many encounters and seminars, which brought together cultural figures and decision makers.
A family from Deir al-Ghusun donated a heritage house to establish a cultural centre in the town. Even after the project 3D was concluded, the centre continues to be operative and vibrant thanks to the efforts made by active youth groups from the town itself. 3D was the name Dar Qandeel for Arts and Culture chose for its various interventions to promote community participation.
It is worth noting that new collectives and areas have joined the second round of the Culture, Arts and Community Participation project. These include the Bedouin Silver Tent Association, which operates in Bedouin communities in Al-Eizariya, Anata and Al-Khan al-Ahmar area. Hakawi is also active in a number of marginalised areas throughout the Gaza Strip. Additionally, new teams have joined the project in the Anabta town in eastern Tulkarem, Qatanna village in northwestern Jerusalem, and Khan Yunis in the Gaza Strip.
The Society of University Graduates (Gaza) participated in the first round of the project. The Society received a grant to implement the Graduates’ Cinema project, which produced three films, followed by conversations with decision makers.
Of these, Umm al-Nasr: The Bedouin Village focuses on raw sewage lagoons, which outflowed several times. As a result, the Umm al-Nasr community suffered loss of life and damage to property. Located in close proximity to houses, these lagoons continue to pose a threat to the lives of children.
Another film was Mardawan, which sheds light on the lives of families that live in caravans as a temporary alternative after their homes had been destroyed during the 2014 war on Gaza. These families’ suffering did not end in these cramped caravans, which do not allow room for privacy or ensure stability.