Global Initiative on Culture and Society

Arab Arts and Culture Forum: Vision, Inspiration, and Big Ideas

Washington, DC. The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, March 12, 2009
With the support of Shafik Gabr and the ARTOC Group

This half-day dialogue was organized as a public humanities component of the Kennedy Center's Arabesque: Arts of the Arab World Festival. The forum brought together policymakers, leaders from the business world and the civil society, artists, scholars, media professionals, entrepreneurs, and philanthropists interested in Arab Arts, Culture, and US-Arab World relations.

The Forum was introduced by Alicia Adams, Vice-President for Performing Arts at the Kennedy Center and Member of the Advisory Council of the Aspen Institute Global Initiative on Culture and Society.

The opening session dealt with the role of artists as agents of change and focused on current perspectives, sources of inspiration, and forces shaping cultural development in the Arab World. It was moderated by Ambassador Cynthia Schneider, Georgetown University & Brookings Institution, and featured Anan Ameri, Director, Arab American Museum; Simon El Habre, Filmmaker; Iman Al Hindawi, Deputy General Director, Royal Opera House Muscat; Mohammed Saeed Harib, Founder and Producer of FREEJ; and Ahdaf Soueif, Egyptian writer, novelist, and commentator.

The second and concluding session was a conversation between Walter Isaacson, President and CEO of the Aspen Institute, Her Majesty Queen Noor, and James Zogby, President of the Arab American Institute. They discussed opportunities and challenges in the development of Arab arts and culture, and the need for strategic cultural diplomacy actions aimed at building bridges of understanding among diverse groups inside and outside Arab nations.