Project Brief

This project is called Narratives of Hope, and will be running from the 17 - 24 September 2006.

This brief was written last week, and sent to Beirut for the local partners. I had written a much longer version but the Lebanese asked for a brief, just a small paragraph. Here it is:

A project designed and managed by Samar Maakaron, in partnership with Assabil Public libraries www.assabil.com and funded by the Karim Rida Said Foundation www.KRSF.org


This project brings to the city of Beirut, specifically to the children directly affected by the war, 5 community artists from London, artists who wish to contribute in some way to the relief efforts happening after the war. Hence, this project allows these people to donate their experience and skills, in facilitating and planning workshops using drama, photography, visual arts and music.

These workshops will be designed around creating narratives of hope, starting from documentation of memories and loss. Through the usage of metaphors and characters, this work will allow children to express their feelings with a safe distance from the trauma of their reality.

Narratives of Hope will allow a group of 70 children (20-25 children for each of the three workshops), to use art to have fun, to channel their personal stories, their thoughts feelings and fears, into creative activities, theatre exercises, and music. This project tries to colour the world of these children with some hope, and send a message of faith and solidarity to the Lebanese community.

Steve, will be working with a group of Lebanese volunteers to exchange knowledge and skills in workshop facilitation.

Although it is difficult to think of a hopeful future after the latest events of this atrocious war, Narratives of Hope will attempt to search in the traces of the war, the memories, the children’s imaginations, their capacity to adapt to the situation, for inspiring stories of hope for the present.

Finally, the artists do not claim to have the solution, this project is a short project running only for one week, but it is being planned as a taster session, a session that brings people from different mediums to investigate ways of working with the children of South Beirut. It will be a creative research and investigation of both foreign and local talented people to find ways of using art, as a venue for more communication and expression.