Ramallah - (A.M. Qattan Foundation):
On Thursday 20th June 2019, the Educational Research and Development Programme (ERDP) at the A.M. Qattan Foundation launched a series of workshops entitled “Stories: a Journey in Imagination… a Journey by Hand” designed for children, teenagers and teachers. The workshops take place from 20th - 27th June, at the headquarters of the foundation in Ramallah.
The first workshop, entitled “Story as Drama… Characters as Portraits” was led by Wasim Kurdi, Director of ERDP, and focussed on the importance of the arts through discussing different forms of artistic expression. The workshop took as an example the film “Alike”, which examines the ways in which the arts can allow children to engage in self-expression through art in the face of social profiling, which pressures children into one way of learning that encourages uniformity and does not allow for difference.
The workshop, which was attended by fifteen children between the ages of twelve and fifteen, analysed the 18th century painting “Military Manoeuvres” by Irish artist Richard Thomas Moynan (1856-1906), and used characters from the painting to create another collective dramatic moment as a group painting which was later turned into a mural. The expressions of the characters in that moment were used to create a portrait of each of the characters.
“Stories: a Journey in Imagination… a Journey by Hand” is comprised of six workshops. “Story as Drama… Characters as Portraits” was presented by Kurdi to children and teachers separately; “Story as Stage Performance” was conducted by Eid Aziz for children; “Stories and the Making of Wooden Creatures” by Lubna Taha for children; “The Story as a Landscape and a Surrounding Environment” was presented by Ra’fat Asad for children; and lastly “From Novel to Script” was presented by Dima Saqfalhait for young people.