Visual Artist, Researcher, Consultant, Writer
We were honored to discuss our course outline Dr. Nadia Wardeh and I with our esteemed colleagues in Jordan, Palestine, Lebanon and Qatar. Higher education in Southwestern Asia is in need of innovative regional curricula that promote dialogue towards conviviality and inclusive societies.
Dar al-Kalima University College of Arts and Culture March 26, 2021 Webinar.
Dear colleagues and friends, kindly spread the word about our upcoming anthology. “The Beirut Call. Harnessing Creativity for Change” presents diverse perceptions and expressions that speak to Lebanese in their homeland and in the diaspora, and it also transcends the borders of Lebanon as contributors address glocal issues—war, peace, memory, history, identity, creativity, cultural resistance, resilience, artistic activism, human rights, feminism, social justice, intercultural dialogue…—which can be discussed in a range of settings such as in schools and universities, arts & culture workshops and learning programs, youth and community centers, women’s groups, NGOs, as well as alternative education programs.
Proceeds will help Nabad continue to fund artists, arts NGOs, and small creative enterprises’ projects in Lebanon.
A special thank you to Elyssar Press, Dar Al-kalima University College of Arts and Culture, and our anthology’s esteemed contributors: Mitri Raheb Roula Salibi Joelle Sfeir Nada Raphael Roula-Maria Dib Roula Azar Douglas. Loulou Malaeb Wadih AL-ASMAR Rabih Rached Carmen Yahchouchi Anthony Semaan Omar Sabbagh Nadia Wardeh Katia AH Linda Tamim Faten Yaacoub Reine Abbas Frank Darwiche Dorine Potel Cliff Makhoul
Nabad
The Beirut Call cover photo credit Nada Raphael
The Beirut Call, coming out this April 2021, is one of Nabad’s latest projects in Lebanon.
This anthology offers a collection of first-hand accounts by artists, scholars, poets, and activists exploring the aftermath of the Beirut port explosion on August 4th of 2020.
Over 20 voices have come together for this publication and proceeds from The Beirut Call will help NABAD continue to fund artists, art NGOs, and locally-owned creative enterprises in Lebanon.
For this publication, Elyssar Press has partnered with the nonprofit Nabad, an outgrowth of the Dar al-Kalima University. We hope this blog serves as a mere introduction to the powerful and critical work that Nabad enables.
Please share THIS ARTICLE with a friend or anyone who is interested in the way art and social change empower communities and mold a more equitable society.
Published by Elyssar Press on March 20, 2021, Redlands-CA, USA.
As a founding member and member of the executive committee of CAFCAW, I was more than honored to attend this March 19, 2021 Youth Webinar.
“A different perspective on the youth in the Arab World: today CAFCAW gathered 30 young people from Palestine, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon.
They represent the ‘creative class,’ a socioeconomic group of young people who effectively sell their ideas, knowledge, and innovations in high-value-added professions. CAFCAW youth will select today the finalists civic youth initiatives to receive CAFCAW 2021 award.
Youth in the Arab world are facing immense challenges (Unemployment, political oppression, gender injustice, corruption, migration, etc.). But what people don’t know is that:
One out of five youth in the Arab World belong to the creative class. CAFCAW is proud to provide a forum for those members to share ideas and to get the needed training and mentoring” (Dr. Mitri Raheb).
Thanking my students from Germany and Spain for making it worthwhile to introduce them to interreligious dialogue in Lebanon while the country is collapsing.
To Maria, Lucia, Hannah, Joris, Leonard, Charlotte, Nikolaus, Ludwig, Nathan, Jacob, Guillermo and Eleni: you definitely encouraged me to keep struggling for conviviality. I hope this course inspired you to learn more about the hidden gems of this country, and the many spaces of dialogue that are often disregarded.
Course: Challenges, Opportunities and Praxis of Interreligious Dialogue in the Middle East: the Case of Lebanon.
Certificate of Study in the Historical and Religious Reality of the Middle East.
FACULTÉ DES SCIENCES RELIGIEUSES
Université Saint-Joseph de Beyrouth
March 2021
It was a pleasure seeing you again and celebrating together Dar al-Kalima University College of Arts & Culture and CAFCAW new publication “Towards Inclusive Societies: Middle Eastern Perspectives”.
For those interested in the subject, the book is available on Amazon: https://amzn.to/3t8pb5i
Read the full article on the Nabad program and its projects in Lebanon, written by Florence Massena and published by London-based news website The New Arab – Elaraby.co.uk “The heart of Beirut – devastated by the August 4 explosion – was the home of many artists, cultural actors, and companies that were part of the social fabric of the city. Outside emergency relief initiatives, some organizations like Nabad wish to give them back the spark to go on with their projects and ideas” (…).The heart of Beirut – devastated by the August 4 explosion – was the home of many artists, cultural actors, and companies that were part of the social fabric of the city.
“Nabad was launched last November as an intervention in the artistic and cultural milieu in Lebanon. It’s a Lebanese-Palestinian program financed by Dar al Kalima University in Bethlehem, whose director Dr. Mitri Raheb is a friend of Pamela Chrabieh, founder and program manager.
For now, they are at the first phase of activity, in Lebanon until May 2021, hoping to secure more funds to become permanent and evolve regionally.
“After the explosion, Dr. Mitri called me, he asked me how his university could help,” Chrabieh recalled to The New Arab. “Emergency help was big for the first three months, so we were wondering how to make an impact on the long-term.”
After contacting her friend Roula Salibi, the projects coordinator, they started a two-month work of field research, identifying the different cultural actors of the area, talking to them, and identifying the real needs on the ground. They ended up conceiving a hybrid program, based on art intervention, outreach, empowerment, and artistic creation.
“At the beginning, we thought we would focus on relief,” Salibi told The New Arab. “But we saw that people were already helped a lot by NGOs and small organizations, to renovate studios and galleries for example. What they were wondering was: how can we survive and work in the long-term?”(…)
In order to support artists and creative companies efficiently, Nabda launched a platform called Arleb with a first online exhibition of more than 500 works made by 61 emerging and established artists.
“Because of the pandemic, it’s not possible to go see an exhibition,” Chrabieh said. “So we decided to give artists a platform, free of charge, where they could exhibit and sell their work, mainly abroad because they need “fresh dollars” in order to be able to afford material.
“But it’s not just financial. The theme was set, on cultural resistance and Beirut, so most of them did create something new. I think the most important for us is to see artists be dynamic again, feeling boosted to create.”
Among their multiple ideas and projects, the team members try mostly to give back a voice to the cultural actors who may be overwhelmed by the situation.
“We’re doing whatever we can with the budget we got,” Chrabieh said. “Everything we do is based on community and solidarity, so that the heart of cultural Beirut beats a little. The situation is very tough, and we just want to give to artists, promote their work, and hope better days will come.”Read the full article HERE. Thank you for your support!
“Our team has been hard at work finalizing the first anthology that Elyssar Press is publishing. We are honored to be a part of this incredible project. The Beirut Call is a collection of first-hand accounts by artists, scholars, poets, and activists exploring the aftermath of the Beirut port explosion on August 4th of 2020.For this publication, we have partnered with the nonprofit Nabad, an outgrowth of the Dar al-Kalima University, College of Arts and Culture. Over 20 voices have come together for this anthology. Proceeds from The Beirut Call will help Nabad continue to fund artists, art NGOs, and locally-owned creative enterprises in Lebanon”.
Read the full article on Elyssar Press (Redlands-USA) website.
Dr. Pamela Chrabieh 