In 2017, Liverpool Arab Arts Festival partnered with Amal Foundation to develop Young LAAF, a personal development and participation programme to engage young people, aged 14-25, to develop their own Young Arab Arts Festival.
Liverpool Arab Arts Festival holds a ten day festival each year, providing an opportunity to celebrate Arab art and culture. The festival welcomes artists and performers from across the MENA region, exploring Arab culture through music, performance, literature, film, conversation and more.
Young LAAF held special events throughout the annual festival. These included My ID, a spoken word event, followed by a Q&A to discuss identity for Arab young people in Liverpool today. The event explored Arabic text through performance and original works from young Arab people in Liverpool. It also featured a performance by Amina Atiq, a Yemeni published poet and member of Writing on the Wall’s young writers group who uses her words to educate.
Ramadan Nights was a special event at Calderstones School aiming to increase the awareness and understanding of Ramadan by using Arab arts to explore the rituals and traditions. For this event, the Young LAAF group commissioned master calligrapher Moustafa Hassan, and the Liverpool Lantern Company who create amazing light creations big and small to work with 60 pupils.
An award-winning photographer Leila Romaya, worked with a group of young people to create an exhibition that premiered at this event.
Read about 2017’s Young LAAF events here in Art in Liverpool and in YM Liverpool
