المشاريع

Projects

Building culture, memory, and creative space beyond the classroom.

Image courtesy of Little Palestine Project

Ongoing

Rise Little Palestine

انهض يا فلسطين الصغيرة

Art in the streets. Movement in the neighborhood. Space to breathe.

Rise Little Palestine is a community-led arts initiative based on Harlem Avenue and home to the first dedicated art studio and music space on Chicago's Southwest Side. The project cultivates Little Palestine as an emerging hub of art, music, and movement by providing tools, space, and opportunity for local youth and artists to pursue creative aspirations while staying connected to their ancestral lands.

Impact

Painted 4 large-scale murals
Founding of Street Dabka
Launched community podcast Gaza Il 'Aza
Houses Thawra Dabka, a girls-only dabke group
Preparing to launch a Children's Choir
Provided live painting services to over 30 community organizations and student groups
Gotten over 500 people to paint and express themselves in the last 12 months
First puppet show and theatre performance on Southwest Side
Provides creative opportunities and internships to locals
Cultivated up-and-coming visual artists, performers, and dancers

Focus

Public ArtYouthMusicDanceCommunity

Related Programs

Street Dabka Children's Choir

Ongoing

Art from the Heart

فن من القلب

Holding grief. Moving through feeling. Creating together.

Art from the Heart is a research-informed art and somatic movement project using visual art and embodied practice as collective healing. Grounded in Palestinian lived experience, the project creates space to process frustration, anger, grief, and resilience through shared creation — informed by the legacy of the Nakba and ongoing catastrophe.

Impact

Facilitated healing circles
Produced collective artworks
Integrated somatic practices
Published research findings

Focus

Healing ArtsSomatic PracticeCollective Memory

Ongoing

Anqaa'

عنقاء

Replanting Levantine dress traditions into the present.

Anqaa' is a research-driven design and visual culture project investigating how Levantine dress traditions were interrupted by globalization and Western imperialism. The project asks: How would Levantine clothing look today if its traditions had not been interrupted? Through speculative design and research, Anqaa' establishes a contemporary fashion grammar rooted in Levantine knowledge systems.

Impact

Published design research
Created speculative garments
Documented traditional techniques
Presented at cultural institutions

Focus

Design ResearchVisual CultureFashion

Ongoing

The Art of Living Film Series

سلسلة أفلام فن الحياة

Creating when everything feels impossible.

The Art of Living Film Series began after October 7th, when filmmaker Hamza experienced complete creative paralysis. Turning inward and outward, Hamza and his friend Ahmad began documenting how Palestinian artists in Ramallah continue to create, survive, and remain human amid rupture. The series presents artists not as symbols, but as complex people navigating grief, humor, resistance, and imagination.

Impact

Documented Palestinian artists
Screened at cultural venues
Amplified artist voices
Created archival footage
Official Selection - Drunken Film Festival Bradford 2025

Focus

Documentary FilmStorytellingArt as Intervention

Related Programs

How to Tell a Story

A Living Ecosystem

Projects and Programs Together

Our projects and programs work together as a living cultural ecosystem. Projects create murals, films, archives, and community infrastructure. Programs provide the ongoing learning experiences that sustain and grow from these initiatives.

Join a Project

Our projects are community-driven and always welcoming new collaborators. Whether you are an artist, a researcher, a volunteer, or someone who simply wants to contribute — there is a place for you.