Maraheb was launched in 2010 as a pilot program to provide financial support to Arab artists living inside or outside the Arab world who want to take part in an artistic residency program, in the fields of theatre, dance, literature, music and cultural management, within the Arab region. The aims of the program are to provide an opportunity to develop new artistic projects and new works through the collaborations between artists from various Arab countries, and to support the administrative and technical capabilities of independent Arab cultural organizations.The grants range between 1000 and 4000 USD or the equivalent in Arab currencies.
Maraheb winners for 2011:
1. Khayam Allami of Iraq received support of US 2200 for a two-month residency in Cairo, Egypt to establish an experimental Arabic music group and develop and produce new music. The residency period will be divided into two phases, the first for composing, research, experimenting and rehearsal followed by a tour in Amman, Beirut, Cairo and Alexandria, and the second to record in a studio in Cairo. The co-hosting organization is Ekaa Productions regional office in Cairo
2- Houssam El Boukeili, an Egyptian/Lebanese resident of Cairo, received support of US 2700 to conduct a one-month residency in Lebanon to hold an art exhibition and do research. In addition to researching and documenting the wars in Lebanon in the archives of Umam Center for Documentation and Research for his own research library, he will hold an exhibition of his work and be interviewed.
3- Shorouq Harb of Palestine received US 2000 in support to conduct a one-month residency in Jordan to present her project ‘’ Art Territory,’’ an independent on-line site for bringing together artists, researchers and critics to discuss and share their thoughts, ideas and practices regarding artistic issues and visual art in Middle East and Arab Region. The co-hosting organization Makan will organize the main event presenting the project in Jordan, and will invite Jordanian writers and artists to discussions and encourage them to contribute and participate in the ‘’Art Territory’’ website.
4- Reem Hassan of Egypt received residency support of US 2000 to conduct a three week residency in Yemen, co-hosted by KAWN atelier and foundation for culture and visual art development. She will hold a workshop with young visual artists to study a number of digital programs and apply them to artistic projects, performances and an exhibition, to create a new environment and concept for exhibition of sculpture and photography, and as an experiment in the use of computer programs in creating multimedia work and presentations. Work in the residency will be used to for performances/shows.
5- Mohamed Idoumu, of Mauritania received support of USD 3500 to do a residence for six weeks in the field of cultural management in Cairo, Egypt, co-hosted by Culture Resource, to gain professional experience and skills by assisting in the preparations for the annual Cultural Management Workshop, and attending the workshop, in order to develop a cultural management workshop program in Mauritania.
6. Abdullah El Kafri of Syria received US 900 in support of a one-month residency in Egypt co-hosted by the El Gouna Writer’s Residency to work in parallel on a theater script in English and Arabic, to end the residency with two completed scripts in two different languages.
Jury committee:Sahar El Mougy (Egypt), Khaled Hourani (Palestine), Khadija El Bennaoui (Morocco), Hooda El Shawa (Kuwait/Bahrain) and Ezzeddine Gannoun (Tunis).