The work of the Sakakini is divided in 2 parts: Firstly, a monthly program of varied art activities destined to the general public, encompassing an average of 8 events per month. This month’s program, as well as some of our most salient past activities may be found in the Activities subdirectory.

The second part of our work is devoted to long term projects, divided into the 3 fields described in the opening page of this site: Nurturing the visual arts, Palestinian identity and narrative, and arts for all.

Information on our visual arts work may be found in the visual arts subdirectory. The information below covers the rest of our projects. 

Identity & narrative projects: These projects aim to record & disseminate Palestinian narrative, by intimately & creatively documenting the Palestinian collective experience, & cultural heritage.

Palestine: A Flowering Heritage Calendar: November 2003

The beauty of Palestinian flowers has been celebrated in various homegrown arts and crafts. This has motivated the Khalil Sakakini Cultural Centre to immediately adopt Lois Nakhleh’s and Joan Musgrave’s beautiful efforts of documenting Palestinian flowers in the form of botanical paintings, as part of our work to celebrate Palestinian cultural identity, and to increase appreciation for the visual arts. We have managed to create a calendar out of 12 of those beautiful botanical paintings of Palestinian wild flowers, with an accompanying text to each flower. Hopefully, this calendar will also serve as a window to a population which is isolated and besieged, and therefore, deprived from access to the beauty of the Palestinian countryside, and to its most precious feature, its wildflowers. These fragile and beautiful wildflowers, stubbornly re-flowering every year in hostile conditions, symbolize a whole people’s steadfastness. The Calendar Project is funded by the Heinrich Boell Foundation.

Sakakini Diaries: Ongoing

This project consists of the editing, annotation and publication of the complete diaries of a leading Palestinian historical personality, & the Centre’s namesake, Khalil Sakakini (1878-1953).

The project is based on 34 volumes of diaries written between 1907 and 1951. The volumes feature extensive information about Sakakini’s private life, as well as about crucial events and movements, such as:

The emigration experience of Arab intellectuals to the Americas at the start of the XXth century,

The waning days of Ottoman domination over Palestine, and the First World War in Palestine,

The Arab Revolt of 1917 as seen from within,

The reform and Arabization movement of the Greek Orthodox Church in Palestine,

The establishment of the British Mandate, the start of Zionist migration, The 1936-39 popular revolt,

The birth of the press in Palestine,

Social and intellectual life in Jerusalem and Palestine before 1948,

The birth of the Palestinian modern education system,

The Nakba, and exile.

The editor in charge of the project is Akram Mosallam. The reviewer is historian Dr. Adel Manna’. Volume 1 of the projected 8 volumes appeared in October 2003. It is hoped that at the end of the project, an abridged English version may be published. This project is in cooperation with the Institute of Jerusalem Studies (IJS), with funding from the Palestinian Ministry of Culture, the Prince Claus Fund, the Ford Foundation, and the A. M. Qattan Foundation.

In Their Memory: 2002

This project consists of the exhibition of 4 patchwork quilts of embroidery pieces stitched by the relatives of 156 Shaheed, in loving tribute to the lives of their sons, husbands, wives and daughters. The project was launched with the hope of helping the families deal with their grief and to give it meaning, & aimed to symbolically honor the lives of all those who fell for the freedom of Palestine. The pieces feature verses of poetry, traditional motifs from Palestinian embroidery, drawn or photographed portraits, etc. The vivid colors & motifs often symbolize events from the Shaheed's life.

The Shuhada are men, women, teenagers, & children, killed by Israel in varied circumstances, in their homes, while shopping, etc. This is the first memorial exhibit of its kind, focusing on the families' memorializing their loved ones through the use of local popular traditions. The 156 raw, beautiful, & intimate pieces express the pain of loss, & the irrepressible universal human longing for freedom.

The exhibit toured in Jenine and Bir Zeit, and featured also a companion poster distributed to visitors that bears in front photographs of the 4 quilts & in the back, a photograph & biography of each Shaheed. Lois Nakhleh volunteered her talent, time, and efforts to designing the quilts.

100 Shaheed-100 Lives Memorial exhibit and book: February 2001

Nakba commemoration program: 1997-98 

1997 marked the 30th anniversary of the occupation of the West Bank & Gaza, and 1998 the 50th anniversary of the Nakba. Because of the determining importance of these events on Palestinian identity, the Sakakini devoted the majority of its 1997-98 activities to events reflecting on, and remembering these events. The program was the only one undertaken by a Palestinian arts and culture organization in Palestine, and gained considerable media coverage in the local and international media. The program featured:

   -The realization of the first web site on the Nakba

   - 10 lectures by a number of prominent Palestinian intellectuals on the influence of the 1948/1967 events.

   - 15 public testimonies by survivors of the most salient events of the Nakba.

   - First ever video recording of testimonies of the survivors of the Nakba to create a sample visual/oral archive of   the Nakba. The tapes were distributed freely to local Palestinian universities, and research centers.

   - Documentary film screenings, and archival photo exhibits.

   - Press outreach and sensitization, through provision of information and contacts to the international press on the Nakba.

The Sakakini is now working on adding the testimonies to the website, and translating them.

Arts for all projects: These projects aim to expand the local arts & culture audience, & attract new and non traditional segments of the public. 

Arts Outreach to Young women and Girls: Autumn 2003.

This project takes to 3 local female educational organizations the regular activities and events of the Sakakini; it is born out of an Iftar organized in Ramadan in 2001 for young female college students...  The aim is to provide young women who are under -or non- exposed to the arts and culture, and who often come from economically disadvantaged environments, and/or remote towns and villages; to the vitality and wide horizons of the arts. There is also a focus on showcasing works and performances by female artists. The events encompass readings, film screenings, concerts, dramatic performances, etc. & have an interactive format. The 3 organizations are the Amari refugee camp school for girls, Palestine Technical College, & the Ramallah Women’s Training College. The program is funded by the German Fund for Palestinian NGOs, managed by the local office of the Friedrich Naumann Foundation. Given the great success of the current program, and enthusiasm of its participants, the Sakakini seeks funding to continue it into 2004, to expand it to boy’s schools, to local universities, and to turn it into a full fledged permanent outreach program.

Media Watch: 2001

This monitoring and assessment project aimed to assess local media’s coverage of the arts, and improve it. A survey was made of the local media’s quantitative and qualitative coverage of the arts. Questionnaires were circulated to arts organizations and media organizations, to assess the challenges they face. A workshop was held to discuss the results of the findings, which led to the adoption of a number of recommendations for implementation by media organizations, and arts organizations. The project was funded by the Heinrich Boell Foundation.

Special projects: The projects under this heading were undertaken by the Sakakini before the review of its programs in 2000, leading to a decision to concentrate exclusively on projects in the visual arts, identity and narrative, and public outreach.

Creative Writing project: 2000

An intensive creative writing project run by Libyan-American poet, and creative writing professor Khaled Mattawa was held in June 2000, & gathered 12 young writers. Many of them went on to win prestigious awards. Besides helping young writers, the project was instrumental in identifying problems and opportunities in developing creative writing programs in Palestine.  The project was made possible by funding from the US Consulate’s information office, & the hospitality of the A. M. Qattan Foundation.

Experimental Youth Theatre project: 1999

This was a 2-time experimental project undertaken with Ramallah's Dar-el-Amal, the only rehabilitation center in the West Bank for young offenders. The project consisted the 1st time of organizing a writing workshop using the life experiences of these young boys, culminating in their writing a short play made up of skits depicting young men's lives in Palestine. The play titled "Hafla" (Party) burst with dance and music. Given the success of this project, a second project was started this time in co-operation with the Beit Sahour home for girls, also the only West Bank center for young female offenders. This time there were joint rehearsals between the girls and boys at the Sakakini, that also led to a the writing of a play titled "Moutheer" (Thriller) dealing with issues of love, marriage, criminality, etc.. The 2 workshops were led by Algerian-French playwright Mohammed Rouabhi, and funded by the Swiss development Corporation, SDC.

Outreach Project

The aim of the Cultural Outreach Project is to introduce marginalized girls and young women from refugee and rural communities in the Ramallah region to the vitality of the arts by organizing interactive art and cultural activities, including discussions with local female artists, hands-on arts and crafts workshops, film screenings, concerts, theatre performances and the showcasing of work by female Palestinian artists. The project began in 2000. In 2004 the project, which originally focused on the Ama’ari Refugee Camp, was extended to include the Qalandia Refugee Camp Girls’ School and the In’ash Al-Usra Orphanage. The project was initially funded by the German Fund for Palestinian NGOs, & additional funding from AUSAID and Swiss Cooperation supported the project’s extension through to October 2004. Given the great success of the Program, the Sakakini is currently seeking funding to expand the project to include new schools, boys and young men from refugee and rural communities, centres for children at risk, and orphanages, and to add workshops to the spectrum of activities proposed.


 

2004 Summer Camp

The first Summer Art Camp for children was run by artist, & former Sakakini Centre staff member Mo’een Hassouneh, with the help of a group of youth volunteers. The summer camp consisted of 12 four-hour sessions featuring workshops in clay sculpture, kite-making, collage, drawing, printing, as well as film screenings and presentations of work by contemporary Palestinian artists. Over 60 children participated in this fun, artistic and educational project which was supported by the Spanish Cooperation through the Pontifical Mission to Palestine.
 

2004 Screenplay Competition & Workshop

The first National Screenplay Competition for youth, entitled "The Moment I Grew Up," was organized by the Sakakini Centre in cooperation with the Ramallah International Film Festival and the Palestinian Ministry of Education in July 2004. 8 screenplay synopses were selected from over 800 entries by a 16-member selection committee. The winners, among whom 6 were female, were invited to participate in an intensive scriptwriting workshop run by the well-known Italian director and scriptwriter Vincenzo Amato. The winners also received digital camcorders during the closing ceremony of the festival, as further encouragement to pursue a career in filmmaking.