Hikayat Wa Fan | Storytelling & Art
Philadelphia | Sun, April 3, 2016 | 1:00-4:30pm
Smith Memorial Playground, East Fairmount Park
Storytelling is an important oral tradition in Arab culture. Hakawati is the storyteller who weaves embellished tales, often improvising in response to an attentive audience. Storytelling permeates throughout everyday life, in homes and in public gatherings for children and adults.
Smith Memorial Playground will be a place where families of all backgrounds can come for an afternoon in April and experience Arab culture through storytelling, art-making, and music.
Storytellers will include Susan Fayad—children’s author of My Grandfather’s Masbaha, Elian Sfeir-Markus—a tri-lingual interpreter/teacher, and Nashid Ali—a storyteller and drummer.
The event is free and open to all. With a series of scheduled activities, people can attend short interactive storytelling sessions in the main house, enjoy Arab rhythms and melodies, and delve into art-making, from geometric patterns and Arabic calligraphy, to making a masbaha (string of beads). Al-Bustan is facilitating these exciting opportunities in an environment of Arabic learning and fun at one of Philadelphia’s greatest places to play.
Al-Bustan Seeds of Culture, an Arab cultural organization dedicated to teaching and presenting Arab culture through the arts and language. “Al-Bustan,”Arabic for “The Garden,” encourages dialogue, respect, understanding, and celebrates diversity.