Marina Barham: A Voice for Theatre and Culture in Palestine: LAAF 2024
Marina Barham: A Voice for Theatre and Culture in Palestine: LAAF 2024
Thursday 18 July 2024
6-7pm
UNITY 2
Marina Barham, General Director of Al-Harah Theatre in Bethlehem Palestine, brings a voice from the theatre and performing arts sector in Palestine through the story of Al Harah Theatre and its work in the West Bank.
Marina will be speaking at the festival about the current situation in Palestine and the role of theatre in helping children, young people and the community overcome trauma. She hopes it will provide an opportunity for Liverpool audiences to hear firsthand from a Palestinian activist in the cultural sector and to support the establishment of new partnerships and collaborations.
Marina Barham
Marina Barham is co-founder and General Director of Al-Harah Theatre and has been an active cultural operator in Palestine, the Middle East and Europe since 1998. She was President of the Palestinian Performing Arts Network from 2019-2021, a Board member and Global Connector 2021 of the International Network for Contemporary Performing Arts (IETM) and a Fellow of ISPA & Salzburg Global Seminar.
As a cultural management trainer, since 2006, Marina has worked with Al Mawred Resource, Tamasi Collective and the Goethe Institute. She also has been speaking at international conferences, festivals and events. Alongside producing theatre productions, for the last 23 years, she has managed international, regional and local tours and Euro Med Projects, and curated Palestine International Theatre Festival for Children and Youth, Yalla Yalla Street Festival and Bethlehem Site-Specific Theatre Festival in Palestine.
Al-Harah Theatre
Al-Harah Theatre believes that theatre has the potential to change the lives of those who make it and those who watch it. It creates compelling work for children, young people and adults that is challenging, yet moving, accessible and always honest. It tours locally, regionally and internationally, reaching refugee camps, villages, cities and especially marginalised areas.
In addition, Al-Harah Performing Arts Training Center (PARC) runs artistic exchanges and training programmes for children and young people, as well as ‘train the trainer’ programmes in drama and theater, and technical workshops for the performing arts. In the last 19 years, Al Harah has reached almost 600,000 children and adults and produced 90 productions for children and for adults.