Journalist Leonore Schick reported to Associated Press (AP) about the 3rd annual Celebrating Syria Festival which was held in various locations across Manchester between 2 and 9 November 2019. Leonore reported on the main events that happened in the first two days of the festival. Thank you Leonore and AP for covering part of the festival
Alaraby TV showed a report on the Celebrating Syria Festival 2019 on Tuesday 12th November and at the end of that report it interviewed RR's Manager Dr Haytham Alhamwi. Dr Alhamwi spoke about the idea of the festival and the response of the British audience to the festival. Thank you for Shababeek programme for this coverage.
We are so thrilled to announce that Rethink Rebuild Society is the winner of Manchester Culture Awards 2019 within the category of Promotion of Equality and Diversity. The ceremony, which took place at Manchester Central Convention Complex on Saturday 9 November 2019, aimed to celebrate and profile the fantastic arts and cultural activity in the city.
Souk Al-Hamidiyah was the final activity in Celebrating Syria Festival 2019. It took place on 9 November 2019 in Birch Community Centre. Named after the famous souk in Damascus, Souk Al-Hamidiyah Day was meant to be a day for family entertainment with damascene flavour.
On 8 November 2019, we had a workshop to teach Dabke to Mancunian community in Rethink Rebuild Society centre in Longsight. Dabke is a native Levantine folk dance performed by the Lebanese, Jordanians, Syrians, Palestinians and Iraqis (and, of course, on the Island of Crete, think Zorba the Greek!).
Piece by Piece - Syrian Mosaic Art is a workshop by the artist Khalda Alkhmri took place on Friday 8 November 2019. During the workshop Khalda talked about Syrian mosaic, its history and its significance as one of the oldest and most authentic crafts still known and practiced in Damascus.
Sarmada is a charming performance of a mixture of musical story telling by Alia a Zougbi took place on 7 November in N.I.A.M.O.S Radical Art & Music Cultural Centre theatre.
Armenian Infusion: Aleppo Cuisine is a cooking workshop took place on 7 November 2019 in Rethink Rebuild Society Centre in Longsight. It was a rare opportunity to taste the impact of history on gastronomy.
On Wednesday 6 November, we had the London Syrian Ensemble (the best Syrian band in the UK!) to perform some classical and some new Syrian and oriental music with a huge emotional range and depth. The London Syrian Ensemble is a collective of some of the Damascus Conservatoire’s finest musicians, now based in the UK.
On Wednesday 6 November, we had the pleasure of exploring the beautiful art of Arabic calligraphy, as part of the Celebrating Syria: A Festival of Arts and Culture 2019. Syrian calligraphist Abdullah Al-Anezi led a workshop on the art of Arabic calligraphy at Longsight Library.
