Palestinian artists to perform at Edinburgh Fringe
Among the 3352 shows announced at the launch of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe programme on Tuesday is Welcome to the Fringe, Palestine, which looks to celebrate Palestinian art and culture "with freedom and without censorship".
The event last took place in 2015, and thanks to a successful crowdfunding campaign and the tireless work of volunteers, it will return to the world's largest performing arts festival in the summer.
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The mini-festival, taking place in Portobello Town Hall between August 12 and 15, will feature a number of Palestinian artists involved in a wide range of different practices –including music (both traditional and electronic), dancers, a puppet show, poetry, a Scottish-Palestinian musical, an autobiographical one-man show, live art and lecture performances.
The crowd-funding campaign, which has so far raised £37,979, has paid for the artists' travel and visa costs, as well as the fees they will be paid during the festival.
Artists are travelling from all over the world, such as from Lebanon, Jordan, Turkey, the US, Ireland, Holland as well as from within the UK.
Organisers are also hoping to bring across several artists who are currently in Gaza, although there is currently "no clear route" to enable this to happen under Israel's brutal bombardment of the enclave.
One of those currently in Gaza is playwright and director Rafat Al Aydi, from Theatre Day Productions, who has translated his play, titled Ruh al Ruh, into English to be performed at the festival.
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The play was written in one day and one night in Gaza last summer and focuses on a couple trying to come to terms with life under war and occupation.
After the performance, a talk with Al Aydi will then take place if a connection with Gaza can be established.
Other artists in Gaza which organisers are trying to bring over include Lafi, a rap artist from the Jabalia refugee camp, and his sound technician Abdelrahman Nabahin, who is also a visual artist.
'There's joy and warmth in Palestinian art'
Sara Shaarawi, an Egyptian playwright now based in Scotland, is one of the festival's organisers. She was also involved with the festival back in 2015, and hopes this year's event will "give people a chance to feel all the different types of art that Palestinians artists make".
She praised the support from volunteers and those who have donated to the crowdfunder, but stressed more needed to be done to ensure the artists performing at the festival have the best experience.
(Image: Beth Chalmers) Shaarawi (above) said: 'There's a huge amount of donated labour and time and it's been lots of people offering and volunteering their skills, which has been really moving.
'The support is very much coming from the grassroots, which has its challenges and it's hazards, but it's also a beautiful thing to see the arts community come together to make this happen.
'While we're almost there and we're confident, we still need about £15,000 to make this fully happen.'
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Shaarawi said the money would go towards specialist equipment, "to make sure that performers' work is presented in the highest quality we can", as well as on things like community meals to make the hosting of the artists more "special".
'It's about making sure that we can actually properly host this group of people and make sure they're taken care of and that they enjoy their time in Edinburgh," she added.
The filmmaker said that Israel's ongoing assault on Gaza has made it even more necessary for Palestinian artists to have a space at a festival as big as the Fringe.
She said: 'This festival [the Fringe] came to be post-war as a place of healing, as a place of processing and coming together.
'With what's happening in Gaza and Palestine right now and to the Palestinian community all over, it's really important that they have a space in a festival that's on the scale of the Fringe."
Shaarawi added that it was important for art to "reach out to people and humanise stories, especially when enormous violence happens".
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'The narratives, stories and voices you see in Palestinian art, they're such joy and celebration and warmth and hospitality," she continued.
"At this moment it's particularly important with all the challenges and censorship that they've been facing that they feel they are not only welcomed but celebrated."
Shaarawi also said that artists have an "immense responsibility" to support Palestinian artists.
"Our institutions are not stepping up in the way that they could, our Government is not really doing anything about this.
"It's a way for us to reach out and support our colleagues and friends at a time when things are really difficult.
"As governments and countries are lacking in words, it's important for artists to not only look outward, but to reach outward as well."
The Welcome To The Fringe, Palestine festival will take place at Portobello Town Hall between August 12 and 15. More information can be found here.
Click here to donate to the group's fundraiser.
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