By Ruba Hattar
Nawras is a non-profit organization in Berlin, founded in 2017, that seeks to ensure the continuity of emigrated art and culture.
"The presence of emigrant artists in Germany has grown to such an extent that it can no longer be seen as mere coincidence. Many combined factors have drawn emigrant expats to this place, whether by force or voluntarily (voluntarily taking on a different meaning in this context)."
"As a hub for independent culture has been growing in this time and place, emigrants have beyond doubt the fate to partake in this experience. It is no longer possible to ignore their presence and their share in this hub to begin a dialogue with the hosting community."
The idea of establishing this group came through recognizing this moment in time and place as an opportunity to meet the needs of artists. This desire especially sprung out of the personal experiences of the members of the group as Syrian and German artists residing in Berlin that understand precisely the vacuum that needs to be filled. The group's main priority is to support emigrated artists in their new experience in Germany.
We do not wish to foster the approach of mere curiosity or the inquire/acquire approach that have often been directed at emigrated artists in their new space. We seek to break the stereotype of what is an “emigrant” in general and an “artist” in particular and to facilitate the opportunities that enable the artists to present themselves on an artistic and human level.
Nawras is a space for establishing partnerships and a channel for networking based on mutual understanding and equality. They encourage the presentation of emigrants' cultural productions in its diversity to a German and international audience with professionalism towards the represented artists.
For this reason, it is crucial to provide a suitable environment for emigrated artists to help them pursue their artistic work without having to engage in specific agendas or themes away from their personal artistic projects.
Current activities include; One Language Theater Laboratory held at the Deutsches Theater Berlin. One Language theater lab aims in its practical methodology to collectively experiment with creative alternatives to subtitling and exploring different possibilities when using multiple languages on stage.
Nawras collaborates with other entities that support Levant artists in their homelands and the Diaspora such Etijahat., whom they collaborated with on one of the Sanad zoom talk series about arts and artists’ issues and Laboratory of the Arts initiative, as well as Culture Resource entity to support various innovative art projects.
