December 29, 2020
Al-Bustan began as a seed of an idea. I was grappling with creating home in America and staying rooted in my Arab heritage and Arabic language, while giving the tools and place for my boys to navigate both worlds.
Born in Lebanon, I grew up in Kuwait where I studied English since kindergarten at the American School of Kuwait. I spoke mostly English with my peers, and Arabic at home with my parents and family friends. I became an “accidental” immigrant to America in that I came for college without the intention of settling here. Then as the years passed, I began to see this country as home and aspired that my boys, who were born in New York City and Philadelphia, would be equally comfortable with their Arab heritage and place of birth. I also realized that what they had at home wasn’t enough, that they would benefit from being part of a community of families, educators, and mentors, within a nurturing environment infused with the Arabic language and culture.
After working in several architecture firms, I decided to take time off in 2001 to find a better balance between work and motherhood. My years of training and practice in architecture grounded me in multi-disciplinary skills that gave me the confidence to delve into a new area of work. With enough drive and passion for the mission in creating Al-Bustan, I made the plunge. I have learned much along the way.
As I reflect on the past 18 years, there are many people who have shaped the development of Al-Bustan: the first people to set out on this journey with me as board members (Jennifer Hartt and Susan Abulhawa), the first Arabic teachers (Fadwa Kashkash and Gordon Witty), the first funders (Allen Hilles Fund and Mosaic Foundation), the first camp location (Morris Arboretum and the unwavering support of Public Programs Director Robert Gutowski), the first camp counselor (Ahlam Yassin), the first full-time staff member (Nahid Elgadi)… and so, so many more people to acknowledge and thank for contributing to the growth of Al-Bustan.
In the last couple days before I leave the organization in the very capable hands of the next Executive Director Mohannad Ghawanmeh, I’m compelled to share a few concluding thoughts.
Al-Bustan began with a focus on youth and education, retaining artists from various disciplines with experience in teaching. Beyond the annual summer camp, we held weekend classes in art, music, drama, and Arabic at The Rotunda and UPenn’s Greenfield Intercultural Center in West Philadelphia. We reached out to families of Arab and non-Arab heritage. We gradually cultivated relationships with public and independent schools and began to offer in and after-school arts instruction, some on a weekly basis, others as a series of workshops. These early years of the organization were focused on building partnerships and leveraging our limited resources so we could reach more students. We were intent on providing curricular content that was thematically grounded and innovative in its inclusion of Arab culture and history, past and present. The early 2000s was also a time of making the case for the value of Arab arts and of language, cultural assets that had not always been received positively, nor had been made a priority among the Arab American community. Small and geographically dispersed, comprised of recent immigrants and first/second generation Arabs of varied socio/economic/religious backgrounds and allegiances—this was the Arab American community of Philadelphia that Al-Bustan could serve.
Eventually we realized that to retain highly skilled artists we also needed to provide them a space in which to immerse themselves in their art forms as practitioners, as well as teachers. This meant producing artistic presentations that would attract an audience beyond that of educational settings. We wanted to create forums where anyone interested in Arab arts could attend and experience exemplary performances up close. It was during Hanna Khoury’s tenure as Music Director from 2010 to 2017 that Al-Bustan blossomed in its music programming, establishing Al-Bustan Takht Ensemble and hosting five to six renowned artists each year–collaborating with singers, instrumentalists, poets, and visual artists, while also commissioning artists to produce new works. This period was exhilarating on many levels and pushed us to continually aim for excellence in artistic talent and in execution of arts programming.
While venues in Philadelphia and other cities were our stages for public presentations and workshops, we kept our overhead low by basing Al-Bustan’s administrative functions in my home in West Philadelphia. This also allowed me to be present for the needs of my boys through their teen years. The garden in our house served as an outdoor conference room and a place of quiet and solitude when the number of people at desks indoors reached capacity. Contrasting with this private home setting was the grandeur of larger spaces, such as Trinity Center for Urban Life (our “second home” as we used to call it), the Goodhart Hall at Bryn Mawr College, and the Freer Gallery concert hall in DC. Our team would regularly haul equipment and materials to different venues, having mastered the art of quickly setting up a space for our events. Hence, everything would have to be brought back to home base, sometimes with help from my family and sometimes by me alone–just one of the many tasks that’s part of running a homegrown non-profit.
As we grew more facile in programming at a multitude of spaces (in 2016 we counted 25 venues in Philadelphia where we had programmed events to date), we were able to serve a diverse constituency in the Northeast, Kensington, Feltonville, Center City, West Philly, and other neighborhoods. Almost all of our funding went towards programming and staffing, steadily building our organizational capacity with every passing year. Our institutional support grew over time, as institutional funders recognized the excellence and uniqueness of Al-Bustan’s contributions to the arts and culture sector. Quaker foundations were the earliest funders, in addition to local, state, and federal government arts agencies which then led to support from private foundations, local and national–all listed on our website. I’m most grateful for the trust and confidence that our funders, partners, and individual donors have placed in Al-Bustan, having recognized our potential and the urgency in furthering our mission. Each conversation, each grant application, each grant report (painstakingly completed) has contributed to our learning, to our gaining confidence, to building a track record, to consistent documentation of our work and its impact, and imagining the next initiative.
2016-18 resulted in another burst of artistic growth. Planning and fundraising efforts fell into place and enabled us to implement two multi-faceted projects: An Immigrant Alphabet and (DIS)PLACED: Philadelphia. We integrated our educational and presenting arms with targeted community outreach, which led us to produce two major public art installations a month apart during Fall 2017. The multi-disciplinary and public nature of these projects was especially meaningful for me, merging my past experience in community development, design, and public space. In working with artists in collaborative and expansive ways, and engaging with recent immigrant, refugee, and displaced communities, we were able to cultivate community relationships in supportive ways, amplifying their narratives through public art and civic engagement. We then took what we had learned back into schools and educational forums.
Our team’s public engagements and the insights we gained in the process, encouraged us to actively pursue moving the organization out of its home-based office to a publically accessible space in West Philly. The move was part of the Board of Directors plan for positioning the organization to thrive independent of its Founding Director. After multiple efforts, we were fortunate to secure a storefront location on Lancaster Avenue that provides us both an admin office and a flex space for programming events, workshops, and exhibits. Although our Hub doesn’t have a garden, we’ve been creative in using the wide sidewalk in front, which has naturally become an extension of our indoor space. During the 3.5 months after we moved in December 2019, our doors were open to anyone wishing to view art in the gallery; to chat with our staff; to enjoy a concert, film screening, poetry open mic, or lunch gathering; or to browse the children’s library of Arabic books and games. It was these daily and weekly inspiring encounters that excited and invigorated our team… until COVID-19 and the shutdown in mid-March, which put a pause on all programming and use of the Hub.
Fortunately, we had moved before the pandemic, with some time to cultivate relationships with civic associations and partners along Lancaster Avenue. It took a month after the shutdown for our team to re-evaluate our work and begin to pivot in what we could offer in virtual spaces, building on the digital education tools we had invested in creating over the prior ten years. At the same time, I felt ready for a change to explore a new chapter of my life. This burgeoning organization had grown to young adulthood and was poised to spread its wings further with new leadership. I’m grateful that the Board selected Mohannad Ghawanmeh, that he was able to relocate to Philly in November, and that we had these two months to overlap and ensure a smooth transition.
This broad arc of my journey doesn’t capture all the trials and tribulations experienced over the 18 years. Most important is to express how much I truly appreciate all of the current and past board members, staff, educators, teaching artists, guest artists, school administrators, community partners, donors, funders, and especially the students and their families and audience members, whom I’m honored to have met, worked side by side to, learned from, and grown with… ALF SHUKR – A THOUSAND THANKS!
— Hazami Sayed, Founding Executive Director (you can reach me at hazamisayed-at-gmail.com)
