freeDimensional will attend the YATF Informal Meeting in Alexandria

In late October, I will be heading to Egypt to attend the Informal Meeting organized by the Young Arab Theater Fund. freeDimensional was invited to participate in this annual meeting of independent cultural spaces and operators from the Arabic speaking region and beyond.

According to the YAFT website, "The Informal Meeting of independent cultural spaces and operators in the Arabic speaking region is a project initiated by the Young Arab Theatre Fund (YATF) aiming at creating mobility circuits and stimulating touring possibilities for contemporary artistic creations in the region." The Informal Meeting, which is being organized in partnership with the Jesuit Cultural Center this year, is a space for cultural operators to dialogue on topics relevant to their existence such as funding, management, legal framework and mobility. This is the third Informal Meeting organized by YAFT.

This is an exciting opportunity for the fD network which has deepened and widened its engagement of art spaces and social justice issues by engaging new partners in the Arab world such as Artkhana, Al-Riwaq Gallery, and Makan House, and addressing critical issues such as economic migration and social inclusion.

Attending the Informal Meeting will also provide an interesting counterpoint to the Emerging Art Space Support Initiative retreat, hosted by fD and the Breuninger Foundation this summer on Wasan Island, Canada. The Wasan retreat was an opportunity for new art spaces from around the world was to exchange ideas, build connections, and co-create knowledge relevant to sustaining and deepening their engagement of community issues. After organizing the EASSI retreat, I'm very eager to see how another organization sets up a meeting with some overlapping goals.

I look forward to updating you as I learn more about the Informal Meeting agenda and participants.