Chairman’s Introduction
On behalf of the entire Board of Trustees, I wish to congratulate the Foundation's staff and our partners on another extraordinary year of significant achievements. This year saw us reinforce our commitment to networking through the successful management of the Performing Arts Network (PAN), which included the disbursement of numerous grants to local organisations. It also witnessed the first Qalandia International Biennial, for which the Culture and Arts Programme played a leading role. The Biennial hosted several visual art exhibitions and events, and welcomed numerous international guests to participate in its rich and varied programme.
In Lebanon, the Selat project, which supports creative work among Palestinian refugees, got off to a great start. In London, the Mosaic Rooms' dynamic programme grew and reinforced its goal of promoting Arab culture with new partnerships through its multiple-format approach.
The Qattan Centre for the Child in Gaza, with its new leadership, continued with its rich programme of activities, placing an emphasis on the long-term development of children's skills and creativity through its numerous clubs. And the Qattan Centre for Educational Research and Development broke new ground by expanding its work to the city of Nazareth, while also doubling the number of participants in its annual Drama in Education Programme. After two years of meticulous preparation, the Walid and Helen Kattan Science Education Project launched with full force several initiatives at schools in Jericho and Bethlehem.
We also appointed Spanish architects Donaire to design our new cultural centre and Palestine office, after a lengthy international architectural competition. This ambitious project poses a number of challenges to our staffing and programming procedures, which we will need to address in order to make the new building the thriving cultural space that we want it to be.
Yet the realities of the regions in which we operate, marked as they are by political and social instability, violence, and greater uncertainties, continue to preoccupy us, forcing us to reappraise our strategies and goals. Thus in the near future we will engage in a major strategic review aimed at developing a new five-year plan. We hope this process will help us define new goals and strategies for a deeply changed and changing reality, capable of absorbing the most challenging difficulties wisely and effectively, both in the way we develop and implement our plans, and in our staffing and governance structures.
Wishing you all a highly successful new year.
Omar Al-Qattan
Chairman of the Board