RestART with BSR - BSR_S06E14 - Ep1_Al-Bustan Seeds of Culture
Today on the podcast, as part of our 8-part summer series collaboration with Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance’s “RE-START Initiative”, we touch base with Al-Bustan: Seeds of Culture to understand how the organization has fared during the pandemic. Here is our interview with Mohannad Ghawanmeh, Executive Director of Al-Bustan Seeds of Culture.
Rooted in Arab arts and language, Al-Bustan Seeds of Culture offers artistic and educational programming that enriches cross-cultural understanding and celebrates diversity.
“Al-Bustan,” Arabic for “The Garden,” serves youth and adults of all ethnic, religious, and socio-economic backgrounds, while supporting the pursuit and affirmation of Arab American cultural identity and playing a constructive civic role within broader American society.
Mohannad Ghawanmeh: Executive Director
Mohannad is a scholar, cineaste, educator, and culturist intimately at large. A teacher of communication and media for twenty-five years, Mohannad’s instruction has centered on the cinema, for which he has also written, produced, acted, consulted, programmed, and curated. He is co-founder of the Twin Cities Arab Film Festival produced by Mizna. Mohannad curated the first editions of the Arab American National Museum’s film festival and the Minneapolis/St. Paul Italian Film Festival, as well as the series Melnitz Movies at University of California, Los Angeles. Mohannad is well awarded and published, having earned in 2020 his PhD from UCLA in Cinema and Media Studies. His research of the cinema decidedly examines such intersecting fields as governmentality, migration, nativity, religion, theater, music, literature, industrialization, and modernity typically in the mold of cultural history. Born to Palestinian refugees and an immigrant to the United States, Mohannad has also lived in Egypt, Japan, Jordan, and Saudi Arabia. Mohannad thrives on conjoining education and cultural production, connecting people and places, enriching and inspiring.
To contact Mohannad please email: mg@albustanseeds.org
Learn more about RestART!
RestART: The Arts are Back!
https://phillyfunguide.com/editorial/restart-the-arts-are-back
