WASHINGTON, DC: For three weeks in Washington, DC, tens of thousands of Americans visited the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts for the Arabesque Festival and experienced the richness of the arts and the diversity of Arab culture. This unprecedented celebration of music, dance, theater, film, literature, art, photos, sculpture, cuisine, design, mosaics, crafts, fashion and even a souk (market) selling arts and crafts made in Arab countries, brought a taste of the Arab world to American audiences.
Alicia Adams, the Kennedy Center s vice president of international programming, said, We have presented many international festivals at the Kennedy Center over the years, but I particularly wanted to showcase the beauty and humanity of Arab culture. I believe the arts are the best tool that we have to share common ground.
Negotiating the politics and logistics of Arabesque was a monumental task that took more than five years. The festival, presented in cooperation with the League of Arab States, brought more than 800 artists from 22 Arab countries to the city. Amr Moussa, secretary general of the Arab League, noted that never before have artists from all 22 Arab countries been represented under one roof in one festival.
The numbers are staggering: 800 artists and 800 visas; 40 performing groups; eight exhibitions; six film directors; 26 writers; simultaneous performances in five theaters; 300 volunteers; two tons of cargo; 47 wedding dresses; 400 pieces of terra cotta pottery; phone conversations across ten time zones; 2,900 hotel room nights; and 175 stage technicians.
The festival created the opportunity for Americans to see, hear and taste the flavors of Arab culture. It also gave us the opportunity to face any cultural stereotypes we may have, shatter them and then give new definition to being Arab. The focus throughout the 21 days was on telling real stories about real people. Palestinian film director George Ibrahim said, We come with our own stories. We came here to speak to the people.
Khaled Mattawa, president of the Radius of Arab American Writers, was a consultant to the festival. He hopes that those who attended the performances walked away with a broader, truer understanding of a society, but also with a renewed reverence for the essential, universal act of creation, for the full humanity of a person – accentuated and multiplied by their arts.
Some of the theatrical works reflected the conflicts that have plagued the region but, says Adams, It s more the human aspect of it, the human cost. What happens to lovers when they ve been separated? What happens when somebody dies? These works look at the psychological and philosophical questions.
Lebanese visual artist Lara Baladi viewed the festival as an important first step. It said: Catch up with us. We re Arab. We re artists. She hopes that the festival helped create a bridge that still needs to be created.
I visited the Kennedy Center several times during the festival and was particularly struck by the number of families with young children – some sitting on the floor of the large halls – having a family picnic before a performance. They were young and old, male and female, Americans of Arab descent and of other ethnic backgrounds.
While the atmosphere was festive, there seemed to be an unspoken understanding that something significant was taking place – and we were participating.
For too long in the United States, news from the Middle East has centred on conflicts and violence. As a result, Arabs have become the one-dimensional characters seen on TV news reports and in newspaper photos.
But Arabesque changed that. The smiling faces of the 140 Syrian children who make up the Choir Al Farah, founded by Father Elias Zehlawi in the Our Lady of Damascus church in Damascus, for example, melted hearts with their performance. We felt their pride and in turn, we took pride in their being here.
Ultimately, the festival was about respect. For 21 days, one of the pre-eminent cultural institutions in the United States celebrated the cultures of peoples that we Americans do not know well. In so doing, they showed the respect and humility that is too often missing from official US government policies.
Something significant happened here. Those of us lucky enough to participate in it will not soon forget it.
Susan Koscisis communications director at Search for Common Ground. This article was written for the Common Ground News Service (CGNews).
