Summer Art Club Project – Tulkarm, The West Bank
Young people in the West Bank town of Tulkarm suffer from the stress of regular Israeli incursions into their homes and into many aspects of their lives. Due to travel restrictions they have extremely limited ability to participate in sports, they cannot enjoy the arts and are unable to express themselves in ways that most people in western countries take for granted. Stress, upset and frustration can be bottled up and lead to long term traumas going into adulthood.
GapArt works in close conjunction with Logica, a Palestinian Private Community Centre whose aim is to reduce tension and aggression in the educational system through sports, debate and the arts. The sports and debating programmes are expanding with excellent results in 22 West Bank schools. GapArt has been asked to assist with the art and performing arts project.
Initially we need volunteers to run a series of workshops for young students based in the Tulkarm area. The pilot scheme has been successful and we were inundated with so many eager participants that our art teachers had to turn people away. Our art programme aims to reduce conflict among children from different backgrounds (towns, villages, and refugee camps) and integrate them through art workshops, sharing their fears, their challenges, their opinions and their dreams.
In our pilot programme we were overwhelmed with enthusiasm and delighted in the results achieved in just a few days. We were also moved by the discussions and language of the students.
We now need volunteers with art skills to run workshops for our numerous eager, budding artists. The aim is to improve their skills, give them a means of expressing themselves and to enjoy art for art’s sake. Volunteers are needed for periods of a week to three months from 1st July – 30 September.
- Minimum duration: 1 week
- Maximum duration: 8 weeks
For further details, see our Palestine country page. Then simply contact us or complete the application form.
