Coming into its seventh year, the biennial, multi-artform Shubbak Festival is returning to London this week for its latest edition from June 23-July 9 with a program of Arab art, film, music, theater, dance and literature.
As the UK’s largest biennial multi-art form festival of Arab culture, it aims to bring together new and established artists to showcase the depth and beauty of art across the Arab peninsula.
In addition, for the first time in its history, this year’s festival has been programmed by two women from the community. The Festival is directed by joint CEOs Alia Alzougbi and Taghrid Choucair Vizoso.
Keep scrolling to learn about one or two of the upcoming events during the festival:
- As part of Shubbak Festival, nine Disabled and non-disabled artists and producers from Jordan and Palestine will be visiting as delegates. Supported by the British Council, this delegation is a development of a British Council-funded leadership training programme, Sync Arabi that took place in Jordan earlier this year and was co-run by Shubbak and Art 2 Heart – Palestine and Sync Leadership.
Shubbak Festival features several of the Sync Arabi alumni, most notably presenting Art & Disability Under Siege. Hosting a rousing virtual discussion between four disabled artists and cultural practitioners, this panel will share insights and conversations into not only surviving, but thriving amidst what can feel like impossible circumstances.
- Sharihan Hadweh, Sync Arabi alum, makes her UK debut. In Sharihan Hadweh & Manal Awad event: the blind comedian Sherihan Hadweh teamed up with comedian and actress Manal Awad for an interlaced live and virtual evening of explosive wit, showcasing not just female characters in comedy, but also disability representations.
- In collaboration with the Poetry Translation Centre, Shubbak Festival presents an intimate stroll with Sudanese poet Al-Saddiq Al-Raddi as he recites poetry from Queensway to the site of what was until recently the Saqi Bookshop, a landmark of Arabic literature. His latest poetry collection, A Friend’s Kitchen, began as musings to his family in the aftermath of his arrival in London, where he has lived in exile since 2012.
- Pathogen of War, directed by award-winning filmmaker and BAFTA nominee Yasmin Fedda, is an interactive dystopian experience. This work transports spectators to a hypothetical near future, examining the perils of antibiotic resistance and blending genuine scientific history, politics, and performance art into a truly unforgettable spectacle.
