On November 14, the National Museum’s Shami Hall hosted detailed project lifecycle presentations by the owners of Rawafed’s incubated cultural projects, six projects successfully shortlisted from a pool of over 150 applications submitted.

Rawafed launched the Cultural Projects Incubator (CPI) earlier this summer to create projects and cultural organizations that can play a positive role in the cultural development of local communities and environments.

The presentations came at the end of a five-day workshop in which the project owners underwent a comprehensive training program that focused on enhancing their management abilities and shaping their approach to the implementation of their projects.

Yasser Dreibati, owner of The Arab House Orchestra (one of the incubated projects), commented on the workshop: “I heard about the CPI through the Internet and was encouraged to apply because of the framework provided - Rawafed provides full support and training and that is important as incubation.”

The workshop was supported and run by Al-Mawrad Al-Thaqafy (The Cultural Encyclopedia), one of the first organizations in the MENA region to provide cultural management training and implementation tools.

Concepts such as networking, planning, funding and media relations in the arts and culture sector were introduced to the project managers by Laila Hourani of Syria, Hanan Haj Ali from Lebanon, and Shareef Maher from Egypt.

Managing Director of Al-Mawrad Al-Thaqafy, Basma El Housaini, said: “We designed a cultural management workshop that meets the needs of the incubated projects, presenting the project owners with important management and planning skills.”

This workshop is significant as it integrates the CPI framework of improving the cultural environment in Syria and building the cultural partnership between Syria and the Arab world.”

By the start of next year, the project implementation will start, once the managers have undertaken more training in different areas, such as communications and Non-Governmental Organization management.

The CPI will be assisting the project managers in securing spaces for their projects, as well as regularly assessing their progress.

Rawafed Project Manager, Nada Osman, commented: “Today’s event [the presentations] is the result of all the hard work put in by the project managers and the CPI members so far, and we are all excited to see the realization of these projects and their planned activities by the start of 2011.”

Projects were selected on the basis of those that demonstrated vision, leadership, and community awareness whilst also being sustainable.

The Homs Art Platform (Samer Ibrahim): An alternative cultural space based in Homs that aims to cultivate new audiences in the city and garner a greater appreciation for arts, and at the same time, incubate individuals’ creative perspectives and talents.

The Work & Art Atelier (Muhannad Deeb): The project focuses on the issue of visual pollution in cities, and how materials such as metal and concrete negatively alter the environment where people live.
The project will use these materials to create art that presents these elements in a new and interesting way, by working with sculptors and local communities to bring art into public spaces in Damascus.

The Arab House Orchestra (Yasser Dreibati): A new initiative from the Arab House of Music that aims to enhance the artistic environment of the local area through the participation of young people in the production and performance of music.
The project will create a platform to encourage young people to express themselves and illustrate their personalities through music, to contribute to the shaping of the communities in Latakia.

Cultural Integration for People with Special Needs (Chavia Ali): The project will provide cultural training, specifically writing, to disabled people and work with community members to increase the integration of the disabled community into their societies.
This should help the disabled community find a platform to influence culture.

The Syrian Photo Agency (Hisham Zaweet): Aims to document Syria by building a physical and digital visual archive.

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