Culture Resource is pleased to announce the grantees of the first round of Wijhat 2025, a program that supports artists and cultural actors through travel grants that enable them to participate in artistic and cultural activities in the Arab region and abroad.
The Wijhat team received 52 applications for this round. Of these, 44 were for international travel and 8 for regional travel. The jury selected 8 projects based on the program’s evaluation criteria, taking into consideration geographical and travel destination diversity.
Grantees
“Aldar” Space, represented by Razan Zoubi, Palestine / A space for artistic research practices
Destination: Palestine → Italy
Itinerary: Razan Zoubi, co-founder of Aldar, a space dedicated to artistic, cultural, and architectural research, has been invited to serve as the lead curator for the Nazareth pavilion at Countless Cities, the Museum of the Cities of the World 2025 in Sicily, Italy. The city of Nazareth in occupied Palestine, particularly its old city and market, has been selected as one of the world’s marginalized cities. Additionally, Razan will work on producing installations, audiovisual works, video art, texts, and brochures that delve into spatial resistance and the power of the unseen – what is invisible and erased, as well as the role of art and artistic spaces in resisting the settler-colonial agenda and reshaping the narrative of the place, its history, and the anxieties associated with it. Razan will collaborate on these artistic productions with her partner Daher Zeidani.
Amira Karaoud, Tunisia / Photographer and visual anthropologist
Destination: Tunisia → Brazil
Itinerary: Amira is set to participate in an artistic residency in Brazil to produce a project that blends choreography and visual storytelling in collaboration with dancer Danielli Mendes. Amira will trace her journey of reconnecting with her African roots and ancestors while redefining her identity as an African woman. The result of this collaboration will lay the groundwork for a virtual reality dance film, which she will edit in the VR Lab at Malmö University, Sweden, where she will have access to the necessary equipment and technical support, under the guidance of Josepha Wessels, a specialist in virtual reality filmmaking.
Basta Theater, represented by Hussam Ghosheh, Palestine/ Theater Collective
Destination: Palestine → United Kingdom
Itinerary: Basta Theater will travel to London to participate in the Shubbak Festival: A Window on Contemporary Arab Culture 2025, where they will present their theatrical performance “63 Days of Sit-In”. The latter chronicles the struggle of activists from “the movement for a dignified life for people with disabilities”, documenting one of Palestine’s most significant advocacy movements. It tells the story of a 63-day sit-in inside the Palestinian Legislative Council during COVID-19, demanding just and inclusive health insurance for people with disabilities and their families. Alongside the performance, Basta Theater will organize a heritage food-tasting event featuring products from its Basta Land, an initiative supporting Palestinian farmers and producers. The event will also serve as a networking platform, fostering dialogue with cultural and economic solidarity organizations to strengthen international collaboration and expand Basta Theater’s network.
Haron Al-Sallal, Yemen / Artist and cultural activist
Destination: Yemen → Jordan
Itinerary: Haron was invited by Prince Ali Bin Al Hussein Club for the Deaf and Mute in Jordan to conduct two workshops. The first covers cultural management and project writing for deaf artists and activists, while the second focuses on portfolio development, with the presence of a sign language interpreter. These workshops aim to integrate the deaf community in the arts and culture sector and build stronger communication bridges with them. During the residency, Haron will learn sign language, to deepen his understanding of the needs of deaf artists and activists and gain valuable communication and training skills.
Mohamed Elmasry, Egypt / Visual artist
Destination: Egypt → China
Itinerary: Mohamed is set to participate in an artistic residency and workshop at Jingdezhen Ceramic University, China’s only educational institution dedicated to ceramic arts, renowned for its role in talent development and technological innovation in the field. While there, Mohamed will study the history of ceramic techniques and the heritage behind the craft’s evolution. He will also conduct a research study at the university museum, focusing on the transfer of diverse cultural identities from around the world to Jingdezhen and their re-exportation after 500 years of the city’s long-standing monopoly on ceramic production. Additionally, Mohamed will produce a ceramic artwork that blends contemporary and traditional techniques, to be exhibited at Jingdezhen Ceramic University Museum’s permanent collection, alongside another exhibition to be held in Cairo.
Noor Elfaki, Sudan / Writer
Destination: Saudi Arabia → Ghana
Itinerary: Noor is set to participate in the Black Atlantic Residency 2025, organized by the Library of Africa and the African Diaspora, where she will work on completing a short story that reflects the struggles of displaced Sudanese refugees amid the war, exploring themes of fragmentation, identity struggles, and their journey of self-discovery, within a broader framework of solidarity that extends beyond Sudan to all of Africa. The residency will contribute to enhancing Noor’s literary writing skills, allowing her to engage more deeply with themes of war, identity, and solidarity. The story will be published in an anthology alongside works by a select group of African writers.
Sanam, represented by Sandy Chamoun, Lebanon / Music band
Destination: Lebanon → Canada
Itinerary: The band Sanam will present its new album at five music festivals in major Canadian cities, on both the East and West coasts, from Halifax to Vancouver, marking the first tour of this scale by a Lebanese independent band in Canada. In addition, the band will hold meetings with music marketing experts from the distribution company Constellation. Band members Farah Kaddour and Sandy Chamoun will also perform solo sets featuring their respective albums, alongside a joint performance bringing together band members Anthony Sahyoun and Radwan Ghazi Moumneh.
Soukaina Habib Allah, Morocco / Novelist, poet, and artist
Destination: Morocco → Taiwan
Itinerary: Soukaina will be the first Arab poet to participate in the Taipei Poetry Festival in Taiwan, where she will present a poetry reading and a theatrical poetry performance at the Nini Ya Momo theater, in both Arabic and Chinese. Over two days, she will collaborate with Taiwanese theater artist Kai-Lin Huang in intensive rehearsals, under the direction of French theater practitioner Henri Jules Julien. This opportunity marks a significant milestone in Soukaina’s career, allowing her to engage with poets and artists from around the world while bringing her poetry to the stage in a theatrical adaptation and translating her poems into Chinese language.
Jury
Khadija El Bennaoui, Morocco / Producer, international consultant, and curator working at the crossroads of artistic practice, cultural policies, and civil society.
Mohamed Idoumou, Mauritania / Art and culture advisor to the Director General of the National Radio, poet, and member of Culture Resource’s General Assembly.
Reem Shadid, Palestine / Curator and cultural activist.
*Photo from Noor Abed’s (Palestine) video Installation “A Night We Held Between”, during her participation in Rijiksakademie Residency in Netherlands, supported by the Wijhat program 2023.
