This summer we have an amazingly talented team of teachers who will surely create an engaging and fun camp experience for all!
Ibtisam, a Palestinian-American, is a writer, poet, and educator. After earning her bachelor’s degree from Birzeit University in the West Bank, Ibtisam moved to New York in 1986, where she interned with The Nation. Later, she obtained Masters in Journalism and Human Development and Family Studies from the University of Missouri-Columbia. Her memoir, Tasting the Sky: A Palestenian Childhood, deals with growing up with war and occupation. Released in 2007 by Farrar, Straus and Giroux, her book was named by Booklist as one of the top ten biographies for youth and was listed as an American Library Association Notable, and in 2008 won the International Reading Association’s Best Non-Fiction Book Award for Children and Young Adults, and the best Arab-American Book Award for Children and Young Adults. Ibtisam’s work has been published by Simon and Schuster, Pocket Books, Random House, Scholastic, Weekly Reader Corporation, and elsewhere. Some of her poetry in Arabic and English can be found at UniVerse and Meena. She is the founder of the Write Your Life seminars, “where people take the time to explore their life stories, and to turn various elements into literature and art — poems, letters, essays, paintings, songs, plays, short stories, or humor pieces.” Al-Bustan is honored to be featuring Ibtisam Barakat at Camp this summer. She will be working with young and teen campers during the third week, on July 22 and 23.
Hanna, an Arab-Israeli, is a violinist trained in both Western classical and Arabic classical music styles. He teaches violin and workshops on Arab music in various educational settings. As the music director of the Arabesque Music Ensemble, Khoury has led nationwide tours performing traditional Arabic music in major venues and universities. Hanna performs frequently with cello player Ohad Bar David and Intercultural Journey. Recent performances include concerts with the Philadelphia Symphony Orchestra. As principal violinist of the West East Divan Orchestra Workshop under the direction of Daniel Barenboim, Hanna has performed numerous tours with world-class artists and musicians, including cellist Yo-Yo Ma. He has also collaborated with members of the Staatskapelle Berlin for concerts in Malta and Israel. He currently performs with the Harrsiburg Symphony and Lancaster Symphony. Hanna recently toured with Lebanese superstar Fairuz and played lead violin with Iraqi singer Kazem Al-Saher, and grammy winner Youssu NDour. Hanna is the recipient of the America Israel Scholarship and Qattan Foundation Award. He graduated Magna Cum-Laude with departmental honors from UCLA with Bachelors in Economics and Music Performance, and obtained his Masters degree in Music from Temple University. Hanna will teach Music during the first week of Al-Bustan Camp.
Hafez is an accomplished master percussionist, fluent in both Arab and Latin rhythms. Born in Venezuela of Syrian heritage, he grew up in Syria until the age of 16 years. He began playing the doumbek at the age of seven years, made his first stage performance at nine years, and went on to study with master Syrian percussionist Hady Jazan, winning the regional percussion competitions in Syria for five consecutive years. In Venezuela he studied percussion at the TMV Institute for Music in Valencia, where he also taught middle and high school students for several years a variety of percussion styles blending Arab and Latino music. Since his residency in Philadelphia, he continues his passion in playing Arab percussion, singing maqam, and performing with a variety of musicians. Mr. Kotain has been a guest percussionist with Al-Bustan the past three years.
Justin is a Doctoral Candidate in the University of Maryland’s Theatre and Performance Studies Department. He holds a Master’s Degree in Theatre Arts from Villanova University and a Bachelor’s Degree in Communications from Eastern University. As a professional actor he has appeared in film, television, and theatre. Thanks to a grant from the Austrian Academic Exchange Service he has most recently been conducting dissertation research in Vienna, where he has spent significant time observing the established and independent theatre/performance scenes including a community-based program dedicated to providing art education to the city’s Turkish immigrant population. As a theatre instructor and director Justin has worked at University of Maryland, Eastern University, Radnor Township, Burn Brae Performing Arts Day Camp, and Media Theatre. He is the Artistic Director of an independent theatre company that is dedicated to using theatre in order to foster cross-cultural exchange and collaboration. He is also a visual artist and displays his work in local galleries. Justin will teach Drama during the second and third weeks of Al-Bustan Camp.
Tremain has led workshops for youth and adults in the Philadelphia area for over fifteen years. She has worked as a Artist-in-Residence at Westtown School, Penn Alexander School, the Jubilee School, and the University City Arts League. Tremain’s creative work in encaustic painting has gained a significant amount of attention in the art world. Four of her pieces are included in the permanent collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, and numerous works are in private collections and galleries. Featured in several art books and journals, her paintings have been reviewed extensively by national publications, including the Chicago Tribune, L.A. Times, and Philadelphia Inquirer. Tremain will teach Art during the second and third weeks of Al-Bustan Camp.
Michele, a Philadelphia native, is an Elementary Science teacher at Penn Alexander School in West Philadelphia. She previously taught 3rd and 5th grades in the School District of Philadelphia. She received her undergraduate degree in Elementary Education from East Stroudsburg University, and recently obtained her masters in Integrated Science from the University of Pennsylvania. Some of the highlights of her science teaching career include starting school community gardens; designing a curriculum on the Physics of Playgrounds which led to a playground built by the Philadelphia Eagles; and securing a grant from Home Depot Trees to Succeed, which led to planting 46 trees on Penn Alexander School grounds. Michele is looking forward to her first summer teaching at Al-Bustan Camp, where she will teach Science during the first week of camp.
Laurel graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Cross-Cultural Relations from Bard College at Simon’s Rock. While at college she was a member of the dance concert team and taught and choreographed group and solo dances for several performances. She has taken classes in modern, jazz, tap, belly dance, salsa, Sufi and fusion styles of dance, as well as dance theory. She also studied classical Indian dance while visiting in India for a semester. This fall Laurel will pursue a Masters in Cultural Studies focusing on modern art and politics, either at NYU or American University of Beirut. She is excited this summer to explore traditional Iraqi folk music and dances with her students, while for the rest of the camp day she will be a senior counselor — a role she had at Al-Bustan Camp in 2008.
Katherine, an Egyptian American, is an educator and artist who makes paintings, drawings, and short videos. As a result of her mixed heritage experiences, she sees herself and the world from more than one point of view. Katherine has degrees in Psychology and Fine Arts from Boston College and Massachusetts College of Art, respectively, and has taught art to youth abroad and to adults with special needs. In addition to her own painting, she has collaborated on making video installations; editing a feature length documentary about children with HIV worldwide; developing youth media projects that connect audiences in the U.S. to youth in Palestine; and co-running an artists’ collective. Katherine exhibits her work in galleries and alternative spaces, and is interested in seeking new ways of exhibiting that cross geographic and cultural divides. She looks forward to working with youth this summer.
Pam graduated with a Bachelors degree in Television, Radio, and Film from Syracuse University’s S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications where she concentrated in documentary writing and production. Pam is currently working toward a master’s degree in social work at Bryn Mawr College’s Graduate School of Social Work and Social Research. For the past year she has been working at Juvenile Law Center in Philadelphia with a group of youth who have been through the juvenile justice system to create a youth-led system reform advocacy campaign. The youth are using different forms of media and expression to engage both lawmakers and citizens in their campaign. Pam plans to continue to use film and other forms of media in her efforts to achieve social justice.
Brahim holds a MA in Applied Foreign Languages (Arabic, English and French) and Business Studies from Bordeaux III University in France and a bilingual teacher’s diploma from Ouarzazate Teacher Training School in Morocco. After completing his graduate studies he worked as a primary school teacher in different areas of Morocco for ten years, and taught English part time to students in Cinema and Audiovisual Production Management at the University in Ouarzazate. He also taught Arabic to American Peace Corp Volunteers and French students. Brahim has experience in community organizing and social work, especially in the fields of education, adult literacy, school libraries, kindergartens, scout camps, cross-cultural programming and vocational training. He enjoys spending his free time reading, writing, translating, and volunteering.
Sally, an Egyptian-American, is an educator with several years of experience teaching young children in Egypt and the U.S. She obtained her Bachelors degree in Psychology from UCLA and Masters of Science in Education at the University of Pennsylvania’s Graduate School of Education, and will be pursuing her PhD in Education at Rutgers University in fall ’09. She was an elementary teacher at the Great Valley School District for two years. Sally has worked with Al-Bustan for several years, as Arabic, poetry and story-writing teacher, camp manager, and curriculum consultant.
