As part of the Ecosystem Strengthening Pilot Program (ESP), the third in-person meeting of the independent cultural organizations participating in the program took place at the MMAG Foundation in Amman from 13 to 17 September 2026. The program brings together 11 organizations, including Mawred. Attending the meeting were nine partner organizations alongside Mawred: Zakham – INTERFERENCE (Tunisia), Sakiya (Palestine), Cimatheque (Egypt), MedeArts (Jordan), Filmlab (Palestine), Think Tanger (Morocco), Collectif Kahraba (Lebanon), Khashabi Theater (Palestine), and Wekalet Behna (Egypt).
This was the final in-person meeting of the three-year pilot program, launched in 2023. It was facilitated by cultural expert Fatin Farhat (Palestine), who has accompanied the initiative from the start and continues to guide and document its process.
During the meeting, the partner organizations reflected on the experience and its achievements, assessed its progress, and revisited expectations for its future. The partners also developed the program’s implementation plan for 2027, identifying two main areas of work. The first focuses on developing projects that benefit the cultural ecosystem in the Arab region, while exploring possible directions for the pilot program’s future and sustainability. The second involves producing a publication that documents the experience and creatively captures and shares the learning and insights generated throughout the process.
Reflecting on the experience as a whole, the group noted that the accumulation of practices and collective dialogue had contributed to a clearer understanding of its vision. Over the course of the program, the ESP core group demonstrated its ability to embrace differences while continuing to engage meaningfully in the process, reaffirming its capacity to sustain. As such, the partner organizations expressed a shared sense of belonging to the space created by the program and underscored the importance of resuming the experience beyond the pilot framework, affirming their commitment to continued collaboration and solidarity in working towards this goal.
On the sidelines of the meeting, the group visited Al Balad Theater and met its team, and attended a musical performance at Metro Amman. Mawred also organized a networking event at the MMAG Foundation, bringing together partner organizations with artists and cultural actors from Mawred’s network in Jordan.
