Beirut – (A.M. Qattan Foundation):
Between the 8th and 10th of April 2019, the A.M. Qattan Foundation and the Prince Claus Fund held a roundtable discussion in Beirut to evaluate the “Selat: Links through the Arts” project in the last three years (2015-2018).
The meeting was attended by Mahmoud Abu Hashhash; Director of the Culture and Arts Programme in the A.M. Qattan Foundation, Nisreen Naffa’; Head of Arts and Literature Unit, Amal Kaawash; “Selat” Project Coordinator, and the partners from the Prince Claus Fund in the Netherlands, Bertan Selim; Programme Coordinator of the Grants Programme and Ana Barretto; Programme Assistant of the Grants & Collaborations Programme.
The roundtable included a meeting with Rasha Salah, who was assigned the task of evaluating the “Selat” project. Salah presented an initial draft of her report based on the results of her meetings with a number of jury members, and many institutions and beneficiaries of “Selat’s” grants, in addition to meetings with representatives from partner institutions.
In addition, the meetings included a number of beneficiaries from the “Selat” project, including a group of participants in the performing arts workshop at Hammana Artist House, participants from the creative writing workshop, rap, clowning, and storytelling workshops and from al-Kamandjati Association. They shared their various experiences and suggestions for the development of workshops supported by “Selat” based on their needs.
The evaluation meeting also included a meeting with Noor Aburayya; al-Kamandjati project officer in Lebanon, in which she presented the updates of alkamandjati’s educational programme, and shared her experience as a project officer and a former student in the project. The roundtable meeting was followed by additional meetings, including a meeting with Abdullah al-Kafri; Director of Ettijahat – Independent Culture, at the foundation’s headquarters in Mar Mikhael, where Kafri presented the foundation’s most important projects focused on Syrian and Palestinian Syrian artists.
Abu Hashhash and Naffa’ have also held separate meetings with Rima Musmar; Director of The Arab Fund for Arts and Culture (AFAC), and Helena Nassif; Director of the Cultural Resource (Al Mawred Al Thaqafy), in which they discussed the latest programmes and projects of their foundations and prospects for future collaborations with A.M. Qattan Foundation.