Inspired by the experience of ElMadina1 for Arts in social theater
– Ahmed Saleh2
1 Definition of ELMADINA : https://elmadinaarts.com/whoweare
2 Who is Ahmed Saleh: https://elmadinaarts.com/whoweare#ahmedsaleh
When we were working in the Karmouz area in the city of Alexandria, we completed a storytelling workshop for a week with the residents of the area. The theme was “The World is Changing,” which focused on the changing values, human relationships, and the perception of the area across multiple generations. I chose the final performance location in collaboration with the local community and representatives of the neighborhood, next to the main mosque in Karmouz, on Khufu Street. This may seem intimidating at first glance, in a popular area known for violence and some manifestations of religious extremism. However, we had to prove that art is a part of good practices that can coexist alongside the mosque. It wouldn’t be surprising when you know that the mosque’s sheikh was one of the attendees and participants in the storytelling workshop. In fact, he even joined us in reading one of the stories about the Karmouz area from the theater stage.
Belonging to the Margins3
Three presidents, upon assuming power, halted our work directly with decisions that had no personal connection between us. Our cultural work, which is on the margins of authority, never opposed them or even objected to them through social media. Yet, they still halted our work. President Sarkozy, upon assuming power in France, ordered a reduction in the budget for foreign culture, and at that time, we had been working in partnership with the Cultural Center in Alexandria for nine years. In 2016, we signed a contract to fund our work with the US Consulate in Alexandria, and this was beneficial for us. We had planned for this funding to continue for five years based on a very good relationship with the consulate. However, President Trump reduced the foreign budget, resulting in the closure of the consulate in Alexandria based on this decision.
President Sisi, the president of Egypt, ordered a reduction or cancellation of all artistic events taking place in the streets. At that time, our work was thriving in the streets of Egypt and its public spaces from 2011 to 2017. But in a friendly manner, we were asked to stop our work in the streets. Now we don’t work… We don’t narrate our story with the presidents… But our morale remains high, and we know well that we have the ability to survive and then continue again. This was the result of our previous planning and what we have accomplished in the field of cultural and artistic work. From the beginning, we believed that our voices were born to persist.
I belong to the margins, whether they are social, artistic, or cultural. I enjoy the hidden pleasures within them. You can travel the world and dine in the finest places while simultaneously living the life of an outsider, having meals on the street pavement. It’s a place that cares about its social and economic issues, its challenges, and its development, and it engages in collaboration with them. We, or rather the institution I work for, can offer performances and training in any street in Egypt that is interested in social issues and builds community participation. At the same time, we present contemporary artistic performances that pose new challenges at the artistic and receptive levels. We offer shows in different languages and with actors of diverse nationalities. Moreover, we have embarked on artistic adventures by creating exhibitions, preparing spaces, and producing complex works. All of this is made possible and facilitated by the margin. We are not within the system, nor are we part of governments or political authorities, and we are not interested in being so. We voluntarily left that space and willingly embraced the margin. We don’t like to appear in the media, nor do we want to impose our experience on anyone. However, those in power, from within the system and the highest authorities, come to overthrow us and take control of the narrow margin where we used to frolic.
In the field of cultural industries, which are controlled by the state and define their concept in the world of amateurs or professionals, they determine the concepts of professional cultural and artistic work as the exclusive domain of specialists. This is done through unions and complex procedures that enable them to control the product and those who work on it. They also handle funding and production management simultaneously and own most of the exhibition spaces or screens. They determine the artistic concepts in ideas such as message and sophistication, to the latest known creations concerning the purpose of culture and art, or the commercial market and its known populism. They attribute commercial and populist aspects to the ugliness and violence of society itself. At the end of the state’s production and industrial chain, they organize competitions and festivals for all cultural and artistic products, the financial cost of which is often higher than the cost of the product itself, especially in the fields of literature and theater.
3 To Stay, Our Voices Were Born” – Ahmed Saleh. To read the full article in English, click here: Our Voices Persist | International Journal of Middle East Studies | Cambridge Core
On the other hand, our perspective on arts and culture stems from a more liberal point of view, where cultural and artistic work is seen as part of citizens’ rights. It is the right of everyone to be exposed to cultural and artistic training or experiences and to have access to cultural services. The sector of cultural and artistic industries should operate independently in production management, regardless of the sources of funding, whether they come from the state, donations, or others.
We do not define artistic and cultural concepts within a traditional framework or cultural identity framework. Instead, it is a profound exploration of human beings, social issues, and various cultural challenges. The forms of artistic and cultural production are not strictly defined (theater, music, singing, etc.), but artists and workers in cultural industries have an open freedom to imagine their work and cultural products and their tools, within reasonable limits. Continuous training, networking, empowerment, and communication should exist between the artist, the community, and other artists across borders to develop their work while respecting universal human rights.
Street training 4
After the January revolution in Egypt, during the period from May 2011 to May 2013, three stages of the “Street Training” program were completed, marking the achievement of the ambitious program for the presence of art in the streets. The city, along with nineteen local partners and two international partners, successfully conducted twelve different workshops in various popular areas of Alexandria. These workshops involved 340 trainees, including artists and residents of the popular neighborhoods. Trainers from Egypt, the Netherlands, Germany, the United States, Italy, France, and Spain participated in these workshops. The workshops showcased fifteen diverse artistic performances and three street exhibitions.5
4 Street Training Guide: https://elmadinaarts.com/archive/training-in-the-street-project-guide
5 Free Art Program: https://elmadinaarts.com/free-art
The best definition of this project is what Helen, the dance and parkour workshop trainer, said:
“Training in the street is not only an opportunity to use art in open spaces, but also to express ourselves and our art in different and vibrant ways. It also involves using the space or the environment around us to express and present new visions that will remain even after the place is transformed, as it will definitely not be the same as it was before.”
Muhab Saber, the project manager, says:
“The Street Training project is not only about organizing artistic activities in a popular area, but it also focuses on the stage of engaging with people within the community before starting any events. This is done by selecting partners from the area, such as a local association or a café, and involving the residents of the neighborhood, including adults, youth, women, and children, in the discussion of events and programs. Through their participation, the final themes that we work on are determined. In this way, the neighborhood and its residents are not just resources or recipients of art and culture, but rather active participants and stakeholders in organizing and accomplishing the events.”
In the area of Gabriel, located in the eastern part of Alexandria, after we finished presenting the final outcome of the interactive theater workshop, an elderly man from the local community told me his evaluation and opinion about what happened.
“The area and its people were in need of something like this, especially the youth. I saw everyone happy and relieved from the pressures of life and the deteriorating political situation – as he expressed it. What happened reduces violence in the area and makes everyone at peace with themselves and tolerant towards others. He also noticed the emergence of talented young men and women from the neighborhood for the first time, whom we didn’t know before.”
This project has contributed as much as possible to creating a neutral environment that brings people together, especially in the midst of intense political polarization after the January 25th Revolution in 2011. The organizers of this project were able to distance themselves from any political or ideological framework in their work. They presented artistic and cultural practices from their perspective, rather than an ideological one. The integration of ordinary, non-specialized people in the production of culture and the arts without any ideological or political bias is what makes it more dynamic and contributes to democratic transformation and understanding citizenship. Stimulating people to be creative, express their issues, reflect on them, and collectively seek solutions is the essence of democracy and citizenship, and it compels them to engage with the broader reality. The project achieved this by encouraging individual participants’ initiatives, without the ability to support and sustain these initiatives, as it was beyond the project’s capabilities. However, this is one of the future goals of the City Foundation, to empower itself to promote initiatives arising from cultural and artistic processes that encompass various development directions, not limited to arts and culture alone. This means, as expressed by Hans, one of the participating trainers in the project, “greater involvement of people in the event itself, which can be achieved with minimal costs by creating things with and for them, creating a language of dialogue between us and the people about the issues that we and they experience, intellectually and in daily life, especially their own problems. This way, all social and political issues can be addressed at all levels.”
“It seems from the very beginning that the ‘Street Training’ project is one of those projects that focuses on development and working with people without expecting a good artistic outcome. The art here is just a gateway to development.” However, the reality of this project is not so. It strives to develop a unique artistic experience in the street. This doesn’t just come from the fact that the project is carried out by an artistic institution with artists and intellectuals, but also from their strong belief that art is a more complex process than others. They strongly believe that if it is established with people, taking into account all the implications of that word, it can give us a good and creative artistic experience and produce satisfactory artistic results.
This was an essential part of the focus within this project, resulting in diverse artistic experiences that have artistic quality in dance, multimedia, storytelling, theater, and singing. Helen, who was a dance workshop trainer in the open-air, working on training dancers in the street and interacting with everything that exists in the street with the body to create an artistic state based on free dance primarily, tells us about people’s reactions, saying:
“That was something they had never seen before. We presented something entirely new to them. It was natural that not everyone would be pleased, as it is always understood when introducing something new. However, I loved the reactions of the people who would stop and watch out of curiosity or interest. I hope that we have made them see the place differently. After what we did, the park is no longer the same park they always saw.”
It is true that presenting artistic performances in the streets is not entirely new to Alexandria. Various institutions, including the Medinat Foundation, had experimented with such initiatives prior to the January revolution. However, when the revolution occurred with its astonishing street interactions, it motivated artists to work more extensively in the streets. What makes the “Training in the Street” project unique is that it didn’t settle for merely presenting artistic performances in the street; it also involved creating them in the street, in front of people’s eyes. A significant part of the training took place in the streets, with the participation of the residents of the neighborhood where the workshops were held. People, especially the youth, witnessed how artists work, train, and plan their artistic endeavors. This completely changed their perception of art and culture. Previously, they believed that the work of artists was easy and didn’t comprehend the level of effort they put into it. Simultaneously, it gave them a sense that art and culture are not limited to experts alone, but ordinary people can also participate in producing art and shaping culture in their own way. It encouraged them to use these processes in their own lives, making them more enjoyable and striving for improvement.
Part of the training took place inside the studios of elMadina Foundation6, one of their projects, where the studio provided space for training and learning. Annette Haniman describes the studio as follows:
“I believe that elMdina Studio is a wonderful place that brings together professional artists who are also interested in learning. It is also for those who want to try it out, even if only once. I think that Medinat is one of the most vibrant places in the Middle East, and as someone coming from the West, what I see in the Middle East is that it is very difficult to find places like this that work on such projects and rely on experimentation in their work. I say this out of conviction, with utmost appreciation and love, and I hope you accept my compliment with love.”
The other part of the training took place in the street among people. We advised the trainees to work in the street at the beginning of the training as if they were inside the studio, so as not to be affected by the comments of people in the street. We also wanted to give people a chance to understand the situation and then participate in it. It is not natural or obvious for people to accept you at first, especially when it is completely new to them. Therefore, you need to be patient and stimulate discussions about what is happening and answer many questions, such as “What is the goal? What do you benefit from? Why do you support international organizations like this?” We, as a group of project employees, would stand around the training to patiently and clearly answer people’s questions, and the result was that they would fully integrate into the matter afterward and participate in the training, in the preparation with us for the event, and in cleaning up the place. What was amazing is that they would do all of this as volunteers and refuse to receive any monetary compensation for their services, even as a gesture of goodwill. In one of the workshops, they were working on mime and interactive music using the available materials around us. When the training began in front of a café in the Kom Al-Dikka area, eight young people from the neighborhood gathered and started making sarcastic comments about what was happening, and their laughter grew louder. However, the artists’ focus and their ignoring of what the group of young people was doing, as well as their continued work, caused this group to stop mocking and start interacting. What was astonishing is that they entered into a musical challenge with the group of artists and started playing music and performing rhythmic movements resembling hip-hop competitions.
Of course, children were exempt from all of this in all the areas where we worked. They were more energetic than all of us and actively participated in the training and all the events. They were a source of inspiration and happiness for everyone. All these challenges reflect on the work of the artist and contribute to their development and refinement with new experiences,” says Ali Al-Masri, one of the trainees in the workshop on street theater:
6 The City Studio: https://elmadinaarts.com/studio-elmadina
If we talk about working in the street first, street theater, as I have worked on it before, was not like this experience. Interacting with people in this experience was the main and most important aspect. I never imagined doing this, especially during the performance and interacting with the audience, especially children, and the general atmosphere of the audience. It helped me in how to deal with these conditions while carrying out artistic work in the street without losing focus on what I am doing. I benefited a lot from this as an actor.
And I would like to mention what Hans, the trainer of the Revolutionary Clowns workshop, said about the project:
“This is the most important thing that can, and should, happen in Egypt at this current time, given the immense challenges that exist now and will be faced in the future. All art forms must contribute and have a role in this project, and numerous performances must take place in the streets of the city, which are undoubtedly fertile ground for artistic work.”
EL Carnival Theater 7
It is the theater of the future, a theater in which everyone can participate. It is a theater where everyone is considered an artist. It takes into account the environment, cultural and religious diversity, respects local cultures, and upholds universal human rights. This theater helps us express our emotions and enhances our ability to understand reality. It enables us to engage in dialogue with the people around us, encourages social success, and paves the way for positive social change.
El Carnival Theater8 is a new approach that allows for innovation and brings together different art forms in alternative spaces. Anyone can participate in it with any group. It addresses social issues and utilizes cultural diversity to find solutions while supporting gender equality. It targets marginalized and deprived communities, as well as groups with specific identities, whether they are cultural (such as Nubians, Bedouins, newcomers, etc.) As well as age or gender-specific identities (such as women, youth, children, etc.), and it also includes artists, social workers, and psychologists. This is done within a framework of joy and allows for interaction with the surrounding community and celebratory participation of everyone, both performers and spectators. The formation of Carnival Theater began through the Street Carnival project.
7 El Carnival Theater: https://elmadinaarts.com/carnival-theater
8 The Free Art Program: https://elmadinaarts.com/free-art
The Street Carnival9 project emerged within the context and environment of Egypt, where it is difficult to know until the last moment whether the planned performances will actually take place as expected. You may not obtain permission for your activity, and minutes before the show, it can be prohibited. Organizing activities in the streets can be seen as a form of protest, especially in the years following the Arab Spring. Currently, it has become even more challenging due to a sense of discomfort from the authorities towards large gatherings in general. These authorities may not fully appreciate the positive aspects of such cultural activities.
El Madina has previous experience in managing cultural activities in the streets and popular neighborhoods. However, they cannot predict what will happen to this project and whether it will continue or not. That’s why the city has set a six-month period for the presentation, with a contingency plan in place. But in Egypt, nothing can be predicted. There were no real difficulties; on the contrary, the audience welcomed the performances warmly and sang and danced along with the artists.
Artists in Egypt are still receiving traditional training and they are in need of developing their skills in a different way than what traditional institutions provide. In recent years, there have been some innovative artistic projects, but they usually reach an audience accustomed to this style of art presentation. Mixing theatrical performance with dance, acrobatics, clown shows, and music has been instrumental in developing the abilities and skills of the artists. Some trainers and local partners have proposed incorporating other art forms into the performances, such as puppetry and cabaret theater. At the end of the project, many artists had the qualifications to join other artistic projects, and indeed, a few of them were contacted to work with others after the publicity of the street carnival. This experience has grown the artists’ ability to work under challenging conditions in the streets. 10
Presenting shows in the street has never been an easy task, as it involves the presence of crowds that security forces fear losing control over, especially after the 2011 revolution. However, when “Street Carnival” was presented, it proved to create a space for joy. For a certain period of time, both young and old, people from all walks of life, were able to enjoy themselves while simultaneously witnessing how it addressed various challenging social issues. Their happy faces were evident through the hundreds of photos and videos captured during and after the show. Most of the performances took place in poor and marginalized neighborhoods where artistic activities are rarely held, serving as a way to tell people that public spaces can belong to them. It also made the artists more confident and certain that the street is their stage. 11
We believe that the centralization of arts and culture in Egypt is the main challenge that affects various factors such as encouraging and providing cultural products in marginalized areas, creating a cultural market for artists outside the capital, and confronting restrictions on freedom of expression. Decision-makers do not recognize these challenges, and even when they do, security concerns and complex procedures hinder logistical and artistic processes,
9 The book “Carnival Theory”: https://elmadinaarts.com/archive/carnival-theory
10 The training manual for Carnival Theater: https://elmadinaarts.com/archive/tgct
11 Corinne Grassi (France) – The Theory of Carnival book: https://elmadinaarts.com/archive/carnival-theory
especially when discussing sensitive topics such as minority rights and gender disparities. However, art has the ability to catalyze the process of change. Arts and cultural expression are the soft power of nonviolent resistance, conflict transformation, and peacebuilding. Providing artistic work in marginalized areas is one of the fundamental cultural rights. However, street artists face numerous challenges, whether from decision-makers or the society itself. Therefore, the Street Carnival project contributes to meeting the needs of artists who want to play an influential role in increasing awareness of citizenship and civic participation. Due to the lack of communication channels between artists and the public, and the absence of clear ways to work during this sensitive period in Egypt’s history, Street Carnival provides creative ways to bridge the gap between artists and the public and spread joy.
The following lines will shed light on the methodology used in the Street Carnival project in various contexts. After five years of work in street theater and arts in public and marginalized spaces, we realized that the first rule is to make the community fall in love with the targeted group (the minority) by highlighting the challenges they face and promoting their culture. For the Nubians, we worked on encouraging the community to understand the essence of their culture first. We approached Nubian culture from the perspective of Nubian values that we need to present as solutions to the challenges facing the entire Egyptian society, not just the Nubian community. We chose this approach because addressing the problems of Nubian marginalization or the constraints imposed on them might create a gap between what we need to encourage and the real needs of the community and the common challenges. Currently, the main common challenge in Egypt is sexual harassment against women, which the Nubian women also face outside their local community due to their different skin color or attire. The project highlights the value of treating women in Nubian culture, where there is no discrimination based on gender or honor crimes, reflecting the openness and tolerance of Nubian culture. This demonstrates that Egypt has solutions to the challenges facing society, which can come from our local culture. It helps break stereotypes and eliminate preconceived judgments against any of the different cultures, strengthening the idea of accepting the other and coexistence. This methodology can be applied to various minority groups, such as refugees, Bedouins, and religious minorities. 12
Robin Oudi’s speech 13
We, the artists from Morocco, consider the Alexandria City for Performing and Digital Arts as a great Egyptian institution. We got to know them through their short artistic residency in Casablanca. On the first day of their artistic residency, nobody knew what the outcome would be in terms of interaction with the representatives of the city and the enclosed theater in Casablanca, under the supervision of the Roots Foundation. The actors and leaders were eager to make every effort to interact with each other and give their best. The performance day was on November 1, 2015, and it was an extremely exhausting day. It rained throughout the day, and I discussed the weather conditions with Ahmed Saleh, the artistic director of the Street Carnival. We firmly believed that the rain would stop for the carnival events to start. Some artists expressed concern about the adverse weather’s impact on their health, but I assured them that the rain would completely stop, and nobody would get sick. It was impossible for the Egyptians to come specifically to perform the show and have it canceled due to rain. Those were my final words to them.
12 Muhab Saber (Egypt) – Book: “Carnival Theory”:https://elmadinaarts.com/archive/carnival-theory
13 singer and the manager of the band “The Minority Globe.”: https://www.facebook.com/AssociationTheMinorityGlobe
Finally, the day of the performance arrived, and the actors went out in the rain to scout the Street Carnival venues. Just as they were about to start, heavy rain poured down. However, I remained optimistic and was confident that the carnival should begin regardless of the rain. After a few minutes, at the perfect time, the rain stopped, and the show began instantly. The artists performed under unfavorable weather conditions, and they truly deserve all the appreciation. They also changed the location of the performance from United Nations Square to Nevada Square, and they faced all kinds of harassment from photographers and journalists who encroached on the designated space for these artists.
The second part of the performance started after a two-hour break in the same square, but in a different area. The artists put forth their utmost effort, and the audience applauded them. Dalia Samir was the most popular among the artists, as she had the ability to take everyone into her pure artistic world. The rest of the artists, such as Hisham Beldoui, Manal Amalou, Sakina Ben Chikroun, and Sandus Sumit, were also very good, as well as the musicians who accompanied them. The director and trainer, Hassani Al-Mukhlis, the director of the Persecuted Theater in Casablanca, played an important role in the Street Carnival project, and he excelled in translating for the carnival performers who did not speak Arabic. The experience was a new discovery for us, despite our full knowledge of the Egyptians’ exceptional ability in acting and theatrical performance. However, reality exceeded all our expectations, and we learned much more than we had hoped to learn in a short period. We are delighted to collaborate with El Madina through other projects in the future.
El Madina has been a school for us in Casablanca during their short visit, and we hope to learn more from them in the near future. In life, the more we learn, the more we can take control of our destiny. Humans are the only animals capable of storing knowledge, making them the greatest creatures because they never stop learning and possess multiple skills.
