Written by Piney Kesting
Photographs courtesy of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts

CAROL PRATT

Headlining the three-week festival’s opening with Byzantine, Muslim and Arab songs, children of the Joqat al-Farah (“Choir of Joy”) filled the Eisenhower Theater with their voices.

s the lights dimmed and the crowd hushed, not a seat was empty in the Opera House of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C. Honored guests included officials of the Obama administration, the secretarygeneral of the Arab League, ambassadors, cultural ministers and diplomats from 22 Arab nations. As Arab music began to play, the doors of the hall opened and 140 children of the Al-Farah Choir of Damascus, Syria ran singing down the aisles. Dressed in long, colorful robes, they waved red and green scarves above their heads and spilled onto the stage to provide an exuberant opening for “Arabesque: Arts of the Arab World,” the three-week festival of arts and culture that brought 800 performers from all 22 Arab nations to the United States capital.

“I found myself tearing up when these children performed,” confesses James Zogby, president of the Washington, D.C.- based Arab American Institute. “I never expected to see the day when every single Arab country would be represented in America’s premier institution for the performing arts.”

Oman’s ambassador to the United States, Hunaina Sultan Al-Mughairy, echoes Zogby. “I don’t think one can overestimate the positive impact of this event, which celebrates Arab culture, being held in the United States.”

After the Al-Farah Choir’s songs, the rest of the opening-night program delighted the audience with a classical performance by the Qatar Philharmonic Orchestra and a performance by contemporary Lebanese composer Marcel Khalifé and his sons. There was a preview of Debbie Allen’s “Oman…O Man!” commissioned especially for “Arabesque,” and the finale came from the keepers of one of the world’s oldest musical traditions, the Moroccan Master Musicians of Jajouka. In all, the February 23 opening was a “mezza”—a sampler—of the musical cultures that would reverberate throughout the center until March 15.

CAROL PRATT

The Caracalla Dance Theatre, founded in 1968 in Lebanon, blended traditional costumes, an original score and modern choreography in “Knights of the Moon.”

“When people talk about the Middle East, they tend to think of one ‘Arab culture,’” comments Nail Al-Jubeir, director of information and congressional affairs at the Royal Embassy of Saudi Arabia. Admitting that he himself had never heard of Syria’s Al-Farah Choir, Al-Jubeir emphasizes that the festival exposed not only westerners but also Arabs themselves to this diversity. “Isn’t it ironic that the performers had to come to Washington for us to get to know each other?” he adds, laughing.

The seeds for “Arabesque” were planted more than four years ago. “I believe the arts create peace and provide a window onto understanding people,” says Michael Kaiser, president of the Kennedy Center. He explains that since 2004, the Center has sponsored festivals focused on France, China and Japan; for 2009, he says, he wanted a larger festival focused on regions about which Americans have little cultural knowledge. “In the Arab world, we know only about politics and oil,” Kaiser comments. “We have no knowledge of Arabs as human beings. I felt it was important for us to dispel this ignorance, and also to show the immense beauty that has been created by Arab people throughout the centuries.”

CAROL PRATT

K’Naan (left) grew up in Mogadishu during the Somali civil war. Grandson of a renowned Somali poet, he brought his high-energy hope and protest to “Arabesque.”

Kaiser is the first to admit how little he himself knew about Arab cultures before the “Arabesque” project. “I knew what I read in the newspapers,” he explains, adding that the past four years have taken him and his small staff on a “remarkable and challenging journey.”

For the festival’s 21 days, visitors found an open passport to the Arab world—no visas required. There were daily performances on several of the Center’s nine stages; discussions of Arab literature with more than 30 authors; Arab films; an exhibition of 40 wedding dresses from all of the 22 Arab nations; contemporary art exhibits; shopping in “The Souk” (“Marketplace”) and learning about the Islamic world’s contributions to science in the “Exploratorium.”

“Arabesque” is “an idea that’s been a long time coming,” says Alicia Adams, vice president of the Kennedy Center’s international programming and “Arabesque” curator. After 9/11, she explains, the Kennedy Center kept waiting for the political situation to improve. Arguing that perhaps the best time to act is when things are at their worst, Kaiser’s first step was to reach out to the Arab nation ambassadors in Washington and to the League of Arab States.

“This has been a long and fruitful relationship,” comments Dr. Hussein Hassouna, the League of Arab States’ ambassador to the US. Ambassadors from Arab countries gave the project unanimous early support, he says. Bader bin Saeed, head of the media

Above: Lining up before show time, some of the 4000 who filled the Millennium Stage wait to hear the free concert by hip-hop artist K’Naan. Below: “Brides of the Arab World” exhibited more than 40 masterpiece wedding dresses from all 22 member nations of the League of Arab States. CAROL PRATT(2)

For its part, the League of Arab States served as the liaison between Kaiser and the Arab diplomatic community, and League secretary-general Amre Moussa signed the sponsoring agreement between the Kennedy Center and the Arab League.

While Adams wore out her passport traveling to more than 15 countries as she scoured the region for artists, performers and co-sponsors, Kaiser reached out to the leaders of Arab organizations that, like the Kennedy Center, promote the arts. In 2007, the League of Arab States helped arrange a two-day workshop in Cairo, taught by Kaiser, for Arab arts managers. (See sidebar below, “Exporting Expertise, Importing Art”) Some 140 arts leaders from 17 Arab countries attended.

During the workshop, George Ibrahim, director of the Al-Kasaba Theatre and Cinematheque in the West Bank city of Ramallah, invited Kaiser to view firsthand the challenges in promoting arts in Palestine. Kaiser visited Ramallah twice. “I have developed a great affection for Arab culture over these past few years,” he explains. “I spend a lot of time in Palestine, and I feel very much at home there.”

MARGOT SCHULMAN French exhibit designer Adrien Gardère used architectural motifs associated with the Arab world to frame exhibits including “Breaking the Veils: Women Artists From the Islamic World.”

At “Arabesque,” Al-Kasaba performed “Alive from Palestine: Stories Under Occupation,” both times to full houses and standing ovations. Ibrahim explains that the play is quietly powerful because each of the five actors has written a monologue based on his or her own real-life story. It changes the way the audience looks at Palestinians, he says: “We are not ‘news,’ we are human beings like you.” Ibrahim feels that “Arabesque” will be a success if people come not to reinforce stereotypes “but to open their hearts.”

MARGOT SCHULMAN A 3-D film highlighting Arab contributions to science played in the Exploratorium.

For her part, Adams discovered as she traveled that despite—or at times perhaps because of—the fraught climate between Washington and the Arab countries, “everybody was delighted to have an opportunity to tell a different story and to put a new face on the region.” Finding the right mix between traditional and contemporary performances and art for the exhibits was essential. “Generally, I try to focus on the contemporary, because I think it’s very important for our audiences to see living, breathing countries of the 21st century,” she explains.

Once the performers were selected, festival coordinator Gilda Almeida and her two-person staff stepped up to arrange entry visas, air tickets, ground transport, hotels, chaperones, translators, identification badges, insurance, instrument transport, contracts and security—for all 800 performers. “People come and buy tickets to the events and they have no idea how much work went into this,” she exclaims. “But that’s the magic!”

Add to that effort the exhibits and the market: Two tons of cargo shipped in, including more than 60 delicately handcrafted wooden mashrabiyyah screens from Egypt, the 40 wedding dresses and designer Azza Fahmy’s jewelry collection. “It’s like pushing a hundred elephants every day at the same time,” jokes Almeida. “But when you see the looks on the artists’ faces, and realize how important it is to them, somehow you make it happen!”

REGIS VOGT Above: Poet Suheir Hammad performed “An Evening of Breaking Poems” as part of the festival’s literary program. Below: Egyptian jewelry designer Azza Fahmy brought her blend of tradition and innovation to the exhibit hall. MARGOT SCHULMAN

The difficulty with exhibits that involve 22 countries, explains “Arabesque” exhibit designer Adrien Gardère, is finding “a common thread that emphasizes the legacy and the roots that link the artists.” In the case of the Kennedy Center, which is neither a museum nor an exhibition hall, “you want the exhibits to enhance the performing arts and to capture the attention of a public that has come primarily for the performances,” he says. In less than eight months, Gardère produced exhibits that used Islamic architectural elements and proved as fascinating and provocative as the artworks themselves.

Visitors entering the Kennedy Center were captivated by a row of traditional wedding dresses in the “Brides of the Arab World” exhibit. Upstairs, Egyptian sound engineer Alaa El Kashef ’s “Soundscape: Souk” evoked a busy Cairo street. Nearby, the exhibit of Azza Fahmy’s jewelry, a blend of traditional and modern design, was displayed nestled in stacks of unglazed clay pots. Women’s art from throughout the Middle East appeared in a room constructed of mashrabiyyah windows—the traditional turned-wood screens that allow in exterior light while preserving interior privacy. In the Exploratorium, visitors lay back and watched a 3-D film on the golden age of Islam, projected onto the ceiling.

By the end of the festival’s first week, ticket sales for “Arabesque” stood 33 percent above the Kennedy Center’s projections. Every performance was either sold out or nearly so. The daily free performances drew overflow crowds that waited in line sometimes more than an hour; in particular, Somalian hip-hop artist K’naan drew a standing-room-only audience of more than 4000 fans.

Caracalla, Lebanon’s first and most prominent dance theater, was among those performing to full houses. Director Ivan Caracalla called “Arabesque” “a turning point. This is a history-making event which will open up a new dimension, both for Arabs and the American public.”

CAROL PRATT Jordan-based fusion ensemble “RUM – Tareq Al Nasser Musical Group” has offered up its explorations of Arab and western sounds to audiences in more than 40 countries.

Ethnomusicologist Kay Campbell, who in 1997 co-founded the annual Massachusetts-based Arabic Music Retreat, is more cautious. She questions whether “Arabesque” can singlehandedly reinvigorate an East–West creative fusion that was beginning to flourish before 9/11. “Miracles happen in quiet connections that people make when the spotlight isn’t on,” notes Campbell. She adds that the numerous Arab and Arab–American cultural festivals that began more than 20 years ago (see sidebar below, “Building Bridges”) remain critical to the ongoing effort in the US to build bridges among cultures. “The Kennedy Center festival is important because it serves up the arts of the Arab world on a silver platter, which, in a way, gives the culture credibility,” says Campbell. Her hope is that, with the Kennedy Center’s imprimatur, the success of “Arabesque” will encourage other presenters to bring Arab culture to American audiences nationwide.

MARGOT SCHULMAN On the opening night of “Arabesque,” Andreas S. Wiser conducted the Qatar Philharmonic.

David Hamod, president and CEO of the National US–Arab Chamber of Commerce, agrees. “‘Arabesque’ represents a beginning, not an end,” he says. “The next step is to ‘take the show on the road’ to communities around the United States.

CAROL PRATT From the Comoros Islands off east Africa, singer/songwriter Nawal blended Indian, Persian and Arab traditions with east African Bantu polyphonies. She is the first woman musician from the islands to give performances in public.

Kaiser notes that “Arabesque” is indeed just the first of many steps. “We will be bringing Arab culture here forever,” he affirms. Kaiser explains that large festivals attract much more attention from both the public and the press. “We are not just trying to educate those who come: We are also trying to educate those who don’t. This is an important part of our strategy,” he notes.

“Twenty years from now, people will look back at this event and say, ‘I remember going to that,’” comments Arab American Institute president Zogby. “Good seeds have been planted, and they will grow.”

he Kennedy Center probably has one of the largest arts-education departments of any performing-arts center in the United States. We spend $25 million a year on arts education, out of a $150-million budget,” says Darrell M. Ayers, vice president of education at the Kennedy Center. ”Arabesque” has given quite a boost to the Center’s ability to offer educators resources about the Arab world. According to Ayers, teacher workshops conducted in conjunction with the festival all sold out. Renowned musician and composer Simon Shaheen led two sessions that introduced teachers to Arab music, and Zeina Seikaly, director of educational outreach at the Center for Contemporary Studies at Georgetown University, guided three sessions titled “Taste of the Arab World,” each focused on the cuisine of a different country. Ayers explains that “the objective is for all of these resources to be used long after the festival is over.”

ILAN MIZRAHI “We can’t be a national leader without being an international player,” says Kennedy Center president Michael Kaiser.

The part of the Kennedy Center’s education department that looks outside the US is the International Arts Management Program, initiated in 2001 by Kennedy Center president Michael Kaiser when he stepped up to the post. “We can’t be a national leader without being an international player,” he comments.

One aspect of the international program is a nine-month fellowship that exposes 10 curators and directors of museums and performing- arts programs abroad to the methods of successful US arts organizations. There are seminars with senior Kennedy Center staff, three-month practical work rotations at the Kennedy Center and a weekly strategic planning seminar with Kaiser.

For Mohammed Abdallah, a program coordinator at the Mawred Foundation, a non-profit cultural organization in Cairo, the fellowship was “an excellent opportunity to be exposed to the American model of running arts organizations.” Abdallah spent two work rotations helping the Kennedy Center with “Arabesque.”

Last year, the Center launched a subsequent, four-week international summer fellowship program with four of that year’s 10 fellows, from Egypt, Kuwait, Lebanon and Palestine. This year, the summer program will include eight from Arab League countries.

Kaiser devotes much of his time to teaching arts leaders in the US and around the world how to improve their organizations. “If you say we need to use the arts to learn about other people, you can’t then add ‘but not the Arab people,’” says Kaiser. “There is tremendous value to be gained from Arab and American arts leaders working together. We hope to be teaching in the Arab world forever, and we hope American artists will find a home working in the Arab world as well.”

n March 13, 500 Girl Scouts from the Washington, D.C. area were in the audience for the world premiere of Oman...O Man! Written and choreographed for “Arabesque” by Emmy Award winner Debbie Allen, the production features 37 young dancers from Los Angeles, Washington, D.C. and Oman who discover each others’ cultures through dance and music.

“One of the goals of the Girl Scouts is to make our girls citizens of a multi-cultural, international world,” explains Sabrina McMillan, co-service unit manager for Girl Scout Unit 42-1. “Leadership training, especially for this generation, needs to focus on problems among people.”

RUBY ONG Zoe Sinkford; Ambassador to the United States from Oman Hunaina Sultan Al-Mughairy; Madison Harris; Sultan Qaboos Cultural Center Deputy Director Mubarak Al-Busaidi; and Angela Marsh-Coen.

In 2008, McMillan’s troop held a Muslim–Christian dialogue and invited 80 Muslim Girl Scouts to their Thinking Day that year. When she learned about “Arabesque” and the Allen production, she decided that focusing on Oman for their 2009 Thinking Day festival would be “a natural follow-up to the 2008 dialogue.”

More than 100 Girl Scouts from 22 local troops took part in the February 13th festival. The Sultan Qaboos Cultural Center in Washington donated frankincense and bookmarks, and tables displayed the Omani flag and traditional dress and food, as well as information on Girl Scouts in Oman.

“It was very rewarding to see firsthand the girls’ interest in Oman and how it was expanding their horizons and increasing their understanding of the world,” comments Omani ambassador Hunaina Sultan Al-Mughairy, who visited the festival.

“This event, and attending ‘Arabesque,’ helps prepare the scouts to be international citizens,” explains McMillan.

Piney Kesting is a Boston-based free-lance writer and consultant. Inspired by her first visit to Lebanon many years ago, she has been exploring and writing about the Middle East ever since. Published internationally, she is a frequent contributor to Saudi Aramco World.