The Year 2022 in Review

“You all are doing a wonderful job and my daughter is always so excited when it is an Al-Bustan day! After dinner each night we share ‘gratefuls,’ and when it’s an Al-Bustan day, that is usually her ‘grateful’!”

—Parent of a student enrolled in Al-Bustan’s School Arab Arts program

It was twenty years ago that Al-Bustan Seeds of Culture came into being as a summer camp for youth, an affirmative, empowering educational experience for children who likely could not avoid the deluge of antagonistic, disparaging discourses about the Arab people pervasive in the popular media of the early 2000s. Today, such negativity has subdued but not yet subsided, while Al-Bustan Seeds of Culture has persisted in its concerted, considerate efforts to not only expose the people of Philadelphia and beyond to Arab arts and culture, but to also involve them in the production of culture at once Arab and American. Students enrolled in our most recent summer camp did not merely sit and receive; they stood and delivered. They coauthored and presented to the delight of teachers, parents, relatives, and friends. Furthermore, the camp welcomed and enrolled several recipients of the Hazami Sayed Summer Camp Scholarship.

Al-Bustan has long taken Arab arts to Philadelphia public schools situated in underserved communities. As a result, hundreds of students, most non-Arab, have learned and produced Arab percussion, visual art, and song. In 2022, we finally fulfilled our aspiration of transitioning such a program from after-school to in-school, enmeshing it into curricular art classes in several Philadelphia public schools.

As concerns over COVID-19 diminished, Al-Bustan Seeds of Culture adjusted its mode of service delivery, offering in-person educational and event programming in most cases, while taking advantage of its newly, well-equipped multimedia room to concurrently or subsequently offer such programs to people interested but unable to attend. Our multimedia room and the expertise of its coordinator have since been made available to the public for the purpose of creating their own multimedia projects, by simply signing up on our website, newly constructed in 2022 and brandishing our handsome new branding! Nevertheless, we continued to offer certain programming remotely, particularly that serving working adults, such as our newly introduced Arabic literature course and continued adult Arabic language courses.

As Al-Bustan continued to offer four or so of each of its established arts offerings a year—exhibited art, movies, musical performances, and literary readings—varied and accomplished as they were, we embarked on an exciting new initiative, Al-Bustan News Service, dedicated to covering the cultural life of Southwest Asian and North African people of Greater Philadelphia. Al-Bustan News Service exemplified one of three goals comprising the organization’s recently minted strategic plan for 2023-2025, namely to “set a cultural agenda that reflects a dynamic Arab identity.”

Left to right: Mariela Shaker and Riyad Nicolas Concert, Moffet Elementary Winter Concert Drummers, Arabic Flashcard Workshop

I believe that dynamic aptly describes Al-Bustan Seeds of Culture, an exceptionally productive, innovative, and concerted arts organization. Such dynamism could not be possible were it not for the unwavering commitment of our distinguished board of directors and our stellar staff, nor without standout contributions from teaching, performing, and presenting artists along with interns, volunteers, and other contributors. Moreover, Al-Bustan’s revitalization in 2022 depended on the magnanimity and support from our funders, public, private, and governmental foundations, funds, and collectives—Bread and Roses Community Fund, the Center for Arab American Philanthropy, the Ford Foundation, Independence Foundation, Independence Public Media Foundation, the Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation, the National Network for Arab American Communities, PA Alliance Foundation, the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, Pennsylvania Voice, the Pew Center for Arts and Heritage, the Philadelphia Cultural Fund, the Samuel F. Fels Fund, the Stockton Rush Bartol Foundation, and the William Penn Foundation.

Abundant gratitude is due to the above funders, as well as to individual donors whose support has long sustained Al-Bustan with care and commitment. Accordingly, we promise to continue growing and serving in 2023. We wish you a safe and splendid New Year and look forward to connecting with you soon.

Dr. Mohannad Ghawanmeh, Executive Director