Performing Arts Summer School (PASS)

General Information
Leading Organisation/Person: 
A.M.Qattan Foundation (Ramallah) - KVS (Royal Flemish Theatre Brussels) - Les Ballets C de la B (dance company Ghent) - initiated by Hildegard De Vuyst (co-ordinator, KVS)
Partners: 
A.M. Qattan Foundation (Ramallah) - Royal Flemish Theatre – KVS (Brussels) - Les Ballets C de la B (Ghent)
Location(s): 
Birzeit
Location(s): 
Brussels
Type of best practice: 
Training / Workshop
Brief description: 

The objective of PASS is to inject the Palestinian stage production with contemporary information regarding theatre performance and choreography, by organizing a long-term workshop trajectory in the OpT and in Belgium, focusing on the next generation of Palestinian performing artists. Participants are young individuals who have given proof of their talent in a wide range of performing arts. Through multidisciplinary workshop with established artists; participants get tools for their own creation and are challenged to take up a role as artists-citizens in their society.
PASS started in August 2007 with 15 participants in an overambitious 3-week workshop, 8 of them were invited for the next workshop (2-weeks April-May 2008). Out of these, 5 were invited to come to Belgium (Oct-Nov 2008) for an intense month of individual and collective workshops, lots of performances, museums’ tours, films, etc. In August 2009 a 4-week workshop - conceived as a mini rehearsal process - resulted in the creation and showing of “In the Park”, which was received with a lot of enthusiasm. But again: ‘production’ is an instrument for understanding the processes underlying contemporary creation.
See: www.seensoon.net “In the Park

Specific Information
Strategic field: 
Cultural Collaborations
Geographical coverage: 
Local
Geographical coverage: 
Euro-Mediterranean
Target Groups: 
Youth
Main Objectives: 

To boost a new generation of Palestinian performing artists so that they can become the motor of future stage production.
Being a motor means to be able to develop an artistic project and to be able to collaborate with others in order to realize this project. We believe that in performing arts and in the process of its creation many civil and civic qualities need to be developed. The theatre is the space where you (as a maker) address the community (as an audience). How do we revitalize the public space that the theatre is? How do we save it from being reduced to entertainment for the few? How do we save it from being instrumentalized for political or educational purposes? And what do these questions mean for people under occupation?”

Main Outcomes: 

PASS is halfway through the initial set-up. Started in 2007, the long-term perspective is defined as a Belgo-Palestinian co-production in 2011, a creation that will be performed internationally. For the moment, there is the performance “In the Park” as a result of PASS # 4 (Birzeit August 2009). There’s a possibility to perform again in the Ramallah Contemporary Dance Festival. But a production/performance is only a ‘tool’ to inform and strengthen individual trajectories.
Ahmad Tubassi is now studying theatre in Oslo, Maher Shawamreh has founded his own dance company, Mohammed Haj Daoud is now a leading actor in Um el Fahem (whereas before he was a stagehand), Farah Saleh is participating (as an intern) in a new creation of Belgian choreographer Alain Platel, and so on. It’s no exaggeration that for a lot of participants PASS has changed their lives.

Funding bodies: 

Funding comes from the regular working budgets of the partners, with additional funding for PASS # 1 from the Flemish Community (Internationa division)
for PASS # 3 from Les Halles de Schaerbeek and the Frenchspeaking Community of Belgium – CGRI (in the framework of Masarat)
for PASS # 4 and # 5 from Anna Lindh Foundation

Contact Information
First name: 
Hildegard
Surname: 
De Vuyst
Phone Number: 
+32-2-210.11.24
Fax Number: 
+32-2-210.11.05
Street Address: 
p/a Arduinkaai 7, 1000 Brussels
City: 
Brussels
Country: 
Belgium
E-mail: 
hildegard.devuyst@kvs.be
Website: 
http://www.kvs.be/palestine