The members of the Forum for Arts and culture in the southern Triangle region, held their second meeting at ‘Al Asfahani ‘center in Qalansua, as part of a program to organize artistic talents and creative capacities in the field of Arts and culture in the region. This meeting is the second of a series of workshops which will be held in the Triangle region and at Tishreen’s center. These sessions were directed by the organizational consultant ‘ Mr. Fathi Marshood ‘, who works with the group to develop the  vision and objectives of the Forum.The meeting generated a prolific discussion that reinforced the participants’ sense of commitment to the idea of an organized forum for arts & culture in the Triangle.

During the discussion , a number of ideas and proposals surfaced regarding  the identity of the forum and its future work, as well as an analysis of the marginalization of artistic and cultural talents in the overall social discourse of the Triangle region. The aim of these deliberations is to determine the most successful strategies to consolidate a stronger presence of Artists in Arab Palestinian Society, and hence facilitate the transition of the triangle from mere ‘ cultural and artistic consumption ‘  to ‘ artistic production”’.

The members of the Forum came to multiple conclusions to guide this vision of cultural and artistic production. Most importantly, the forum agreed that there was a need to produce artwork which reflected the reality of the local communities. In order to create an alternative cultural identity for the region, art works must speak to a wider segment of society and must be capable of interacting with societies current predicaments. The participants agreed unanimously that Art is an essential and important tool to invoke the social consciousness and awareness of our community to particular causes and phenomena, however, artistic expression remains a mean of provoking social mobility , without carrying the responsibility of direct social change.

More importantly, the members of the Forum expressed their understanding of the character of our society, which suffers from several political and idealogical constraints that limit the freedom of self expression. Social restriction that cripple our ability to use art as a tool of expression, must be met with a  concentrated focus on promoting “social justice”, by pushing for artistic and creative freedom, importantly by supporting the role of women in the field of artistic creativity, as they face more severe restrictions.

One of the tasks assigned to artistic production is to establish a culture of dialogue and acceptance of the other , and contribute to building bridges between the different social strata.

In the absence of necessary frameworks in the region to empower artists and promote their work, the members have emphasized the need to develop cadres of artistic talents in the region, as well as providing spaces for new and marginalized artists to rise with their talents, while also encouraging more renown artists from the region to join local collective initiatives.

It is expected for the forum to reconvene in the near future over several sessions to complete all organizational aspects , in  parallel to the preparation of ideas for activities that will start a new cultural revival throughout the southern triangle  to include all fields of artistsic creativity .

The Forum seeks to develop a short and long term action plan within Tishreen’s project to promote local artistic production as a goal to be achieved in order to enrich the cultural and artistic life of the region.