Hammana, Lebanon – (A. M. Qattan Foundation – 26 November 2018)
On Saturday, 24 November 2018, the A. M. Qattan Foundation (AMQF) concluded the Performing Arts Lab at the Hammana Artist House, Lebanon. The event was organised in partnership with Collectif Kahraba (Lebanon) and Connexion VZW (Belgium). The Performing Arts Lab is part of Selat: Links through the Arts, a project implemented by the AMQF in partnership with Prince Claus Fund (Netherlands).
Fourteen male and female participants with diverse backgrounds and artistic interests engaged in the Performing Arts Lab gathering. In the Lab, these participants shared their desire to develop their tools and expertise in performing arts. They looked for promoting and strengthening their own voices and improving their abilities to launch artistic initiatives. Based on group work and the spirit of collaboration, they aspired for creating and developing performing arts projects within their local communities in the future.
Held over two weeks, the Performing Arts Lab gathering was under the artistic direction of Dramaturge Hildegard Devuyst of Connexion VZW and Artists Aurelien Zouki and Eric Deniaud of Collectif Kahraba.
The Performing Arts Lab was informed by the experience of the Performing Arts Summer School (PASS), implemented by the AMQF Culture and Arts Programme between 2007 and 2015. PASS was organised in partnership with Royal Flemish Theatre (Brussels) and Les Ballets C de la B (Ghent). It engaged a broad group of Palestinian participants with a view to supporting the performing arts scene with young artists and new visions and practices. The experience had a far-reaching impact and substantially transformed many artists who participated in the successive versions of PASS. Artists were empowered to play pivotal roles in the artistic and cultural landscape. Some of these artists have gone beyond the local level and engaged in art projects outside Palestine.
Selat: Links through the Arts seeks to promote cultural life among Palestinians across Lebanon and strengthen cultural ties between Palestinians and Palestinian communities and the rest of Lebanese society. In this context, in addition to Palestinians, the Performing Arts Lab brought together Lebanese and Syrian participants, providing a free and open space for learning, meeting and expression, and breaking virtual barriers imposed by the complex political and social reality.
In an assessment session of the experience, participants unanimously agreed that this initiative was important. For most of them, it was a new experience, offered a different way of learning, and provided new tools and methods for work. This intimate space also furnished a special opportunity to meet with colleagues, make friends, and build potential artistic partnerships which would go on and last forever.
In the context of assessing the workshop, Shadi, a Syrian artist with a university degree in theatre, described his engagement as a complex experience: “It made me go through internal conflicts all the time, and to wonder strongly about the kind of education I had. From now on, I have to work harder to break the restrictions and traditional work patterns which the academic experience imposed on me.”
The youngest participant in the Performing Arts Lab was Hussein, a 16-year-old Syrian refugee from Raqqa. Hussein said: “I will get back to my troupe One Hand in the Shatila camp with much energy and with new ideas. I hope that you can gather us once again to see what we have done after this workshop.”
Samer, a Lebanese, summed up his assessment of the training programme, stating: “This is more than a workshop. It is a school.” Salma, a Palestinian refugee, commented that the training programme represented “a process of exploration by engaging in and living the experience.” Salma added: “I was surprised by myself. If it were not for this experience, I would have not had this distinctive feeling in my life.”
To enrich the artistic programme of the Performing Arts Lab, a number of guest artists were hosted to meet with participants and share their artistic experience. Artist Hanan Hajj Ali, who performed her monodrama, Jogging, to participants. Artists Sandra Iché and Ghassan Maasri from Mansion art initiative also took part in the programme. Additionally, participants watched Heroes, a performance by Khouloud Yassine, at the Zoukak Studio, Beirut. Artist Hashem Adnan curated a workshop on writing for the theatre.
Over the last days of the Performing Arts Lab events, Mahmoud Abu Hashhash, Director of the Culture and Arts Programme, Nisreen Naffa’, Head of Arts and Literature Unit, and Amal Kaawash, Selat: Links Through the Arts Project Coordinator, joined the training programme, reviewed activities, took part in the assessment session, and discussed the possibility of building on and moving forward with this experience. A meeting was also held with Collectif Kahraba to discuss the potential for building a long-term partnership to pave the way for a more sustainable cultural and artistic collaboration between Kahraba and the AMQF.