RAWABET

Participation | Connectivity | Diversity

Rawabet (Arabic for ‘links’) is a consortium of entities united by the belief that empowering the presence of artists moving from the Arab region would contribute to enriching public life in Europe, and add to the dynamic, vast, and rich cultural scene there. We believe that art practitioners can lead community-engaged art movements and reshape our future models: They are pioneers and innovators who enable us to reflect on the complexity of the world and its challenges, and contribute to the development of cohesive and inclusive critical and creative platforms.
Rawabet aims to activate the links between artists from the Arab region and European artists, and between the institutions and venues operating in non-traditional formats, learning from their experiences and methodologies in engaging audiences and developing sustainable creative frameworks.
Rawabet is a space for experimentation with strategies to enhance connection, engage diverse audiences, and communicate across creative sectors, so that artists from both the Arab region and Europe can have more opportunities to meet and collaborate around shared values.

Rawabet is a transnational creation and circulation collaborative programme implemented over three years, to:

  • Contribute to the accessibility of European cultural spaces for the artists who moved over the last decade from the Arab region by rethinking these spaces as tools for facilitating cooperation, responding to questions about art and social innovation, and developing principles of fairness, solidarity, balance, and sustainability
  • Design and test democratic approaches to cultural production which promote cooperation between artists living in Europe, and contribute to the formulation of more empowering narratives about the role of artists and cultural workers in European societies
  • Contribute to bridging gaps, and enhancing cooperation and exchange between Arab artists, non-Arab artists, and audiences in Europe
  • Offer new ways to facilitate access for European audiences to the Arab art scene in Europe and address refugee and immigrant populations through an artistic lens

Rawabet targets artists and cultural practitioners who have moved to Europe from the Arab world since 2015, with a focus on the countries of the Arab Levant (including all ethnic minorities).and the countries that have been affected by extensive waves of migration and displacement in the last decade, and European artists and cultural organization interested in collaborating and engaging with Rawabet’s themes. In parallel to this, Rawabet targets European audiences and newly arrived Arab and migrant communities that have settled in Europe.

Production Grants
Offering production grants for twelve Performing Arts and Music projects to be developed or implemented throughout 2025 and 2026, each grant valued at 12,000 EURO.

Residency and Exchange Programme
Residency and Exchange programs designed in Corsica / France and in Malmo, Sweden for twenty seven solo or group artists from different artistic fields looking to experiment, network with sector professionals, and have the opportunity to showcase their projects.

Rawabet Festivals
Four festivals designed around themes of migration, mobility and visibility, and implemented in Berlin, Genoa, Oslo, and Brussels. The festivals include a rich and diverse programme of performance art, music, and multidisciplinary creations by new and emerging artists based in Europe, as well as select projects which have participated in the Rawabet Residencies and have received production grants.

Rawabet Publication
An online publication celebrating the model, achievements, and impact of Rawabet, including commissioned essays and contributions from artists, partners and cultural practitioners.

Ettijahat – Independent Culture, Brussels, Belgium / Beirut, Lebanon
GEZMATAZ, Genoa, Italy 
MASAHAT for Arab Culture in Exile, Oslo, Norway 
Transversal Project (TPAB) Malmo, Sweden
VOCE National Center for Musical Creation, Corsica / France
coculture, Berlin, Germany

Meet RAWABET Performing Artists-in-Residence

I am a Palestinian actor, director, and educator from Jenin refugee camp. A former political prisoner, I turned to cultural resistance using theatre. Training at The Freedom Theatre in Jenin and Nordic Black Theatre in Oslo, I went on to join the Nordic Black Theatre’s professional company, performing in Norway, Morocco, Spain, and Poland. Returning to Jenin in 2013, I worked as an actor and educator at The Freedom, later becoming the Artistic Director, which was nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize during my leadership.
Directing and performing in award-winning productions in Palestine, Norway, and around the world, my project And Here I Am has toured over ten countries and continues to be invited to play after eight years.
Other highlights include performing in The Siege touring Palestine, the UK, and the US, and Metro Gaza, which won the MESS Festival 2024 Jury award and has toured Palestine, Tunisia, Iraq, Switzerland, France and Serbia. I am currently part of the team at the award-winning company Artists On The Frontline, working with artists from around the world who use cultural resistance and innovative art forms to respond to an increasingly hostile world.
I grew up in Beirut and moved to Oslo in 2021. I studied geography and filmmaking and have worked in the film industry since 2014. My cultural heritage and experiences have driven me towards projects exploring social issues and sexuality. I’ve worked on award-winning short and feature films and TV series in Lebanon and Norway, primarily in the art department and occasionally as an actor. Frustrated by the vacuous commercial machine, I shifted towards more personal, expressive projects. In 2024, I joined Masahat festival’s grief-tending residency discovering a love for performing and papier mâché. Since then, I've collaborated with other artists, making sculptures for multi-media installations.
Frida Marida is a Transdisciplinary performing artist blending songwriting, costume design, choreography, and activism to create engaging performances aimed at inspiring positive change.

Frida is a proud trans woman who began her career as a drag artist upon arriving in Norway. Over time, she transformed the fantasy of drag into reality, becoming the persona she initially created.

She has performed on various stages and Prides across Norway, was awarded Drag of the Year in 2023, and appeared on a reality show in 2022. Frida’s multidisciplinary musical projects, funded by Kulturdirektoratet in Norway, focus on designing costumes that produce music, bringing her unique campy songs into life.
Mona Abdel-Fadil is an Egyptian-Norwegian multidisciplinary academic and genre-bending comedy performer and writer, with expertise on diversity, cultural stereotypes & racism. Mona has a gift for fusing societal critique with comedy. In A Superiour Guide to Performing an Academic Self, published in ASAP (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2020), Mona highlights the racial, gender, and heteronormative biases of the academy, through a satirical lens. This piece has been adapted for the stage and performed in the US, Austria & Norway. Mona is one of the curators of the exhibit In/visible: Everyday Racism in Norway (2021-) and facilitates workshops for coping with racism through improvised comedy.
I hold a bachelor's degree in chemical engineering and a diploma in culinary arts, with 15+ years of experience in the food and beverage industry. In more recent years, my interest in healing through somatic experiencing (taking form in movement, breathing, role play, art making, or sound making) made its way into my culinary work through what I like to call experimental experience making.

Rawabet is supported by The European Education and Culture Executive Agency within the framework of CREATIVE EUROPE. The views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.