Articles "Launching
the Academy of Art with a Bid"
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Published January 2007
By Dr. Maria C. Khoury, Project Director
A significant cultural achievement was celebrated in
Palestine on Dec 7, 2006 with the launching of the
project to establish the International Academy of
Art Palestine to be a distinctive higher education
institution aiming to grant Bachelor of Arts degrees
and eventually Master of Arts degrees seeking to
educate the artists of tomorrow. The Palestinian
Association for Contemporary Art (PACA) collaborates
with the Oslo National Academy of Arts (KHIO) on
establishing this unique art institution funded
solely for three years by the Royal Norwegian
Foreign Ministry in their efforts to support
institution building and capacity building during
these critical times.
The International Academy of Art Palestine is the
brainchild of the Norwegian artist Henrik Placht who
initially met with Palestinian leading artists
Suleiman Mansour, Nabil Anani, Tayseer Barakat,
Khaled Hourani and Sameer Salameh who have dreamed
of such a space for artists for over thirty years.
This ambitious project is being carried out amidst
harsh circumstances that Palestinians live daily yet
seeing in art a tool to resist injustices and
oppression.
The academy project seeks accreditation from the
Ministry of Higher Education and will start teaching
the first set of eight to twelve students September
2007 promoting the highest level of art lectures and
studio practice. The application deadline for fall
entrance is March 15, 2007. Students will be
evaluated by a steering committee in April during
what will become the Annual Spring Art Workshop to
recruit incoming talent. The International Academy
of Art Palestine will take a new positioning in the
global art world by offering the local population
and the international community new images of
Palestine and Palestinians. Contemporary visual arts
will be used as a means to help maintain the
collective Palestinian memory, history, and
identity.
Funds for sustainability are most critical and the
academy of art seeks networking on a local and
international level to gain the partners it needs
for long term success. A fundraising initiative
started at the launch with a bid of $10,000 seeking
a donor to name the only “white cube room” in
Ramallah at the current location of the
International Academy of Art Palestine in the house
of the renown historian Aref Al Aref also known as
Gallery 79, behind the Arab Bank in Al
Bireh-Ramallah. Contact director@artacademy.ps for
more information and to make a silent bid for the
white cube room to carry your name or name of a
loved one. The bid is currently at twenty thousand
going once…going twice…waiting to hear from you….
Support the International Academy of Art Palestine
Project and make a bid today!
Tel: +972 2 29 7601 Fax: +972 2 295 1849
