is a dynamic, Fez-based network of artists from Morocco and other African countries. It offers an international platform to these artists to discuss, explore and combine the potentials of art in a modern world.
On its fourth edition in January 2019, the Fez Gathering will explore the role and challenges of the arts with social responsibility in Morocco and in the Arab world.
Morocco’s development is inseparable from that of other countries, especially those around the Euro-Mediterranean and North African regions. Knowing that the arts alone may not ensure social change, but can act as valuable and often overlooked catalysts to accelerate change through advocacy and activism, our focus in 2018 was the relationship between Arts and Africa.
In the 2019 Fez Gathering, we will to continue to develop the much-needed space for artists, intellectuals and the public’s participation from inside and outside Morocco. The emphasis will be the relationship between the arts and social responsibility, this time in the modern Arab world. We seek to encourage interaction, reflection, exchange and networking, creating visions and solutions to those challenges the Arab world faces today.
What can the arts and new forms of expression bring to explorations of social responsibility?
What role are the arts playing today in Arab societies as they grapple with current challenges and issues of social responsibility?
Could these new forms of expression influence and lead to new social and governmental policies?
How can artists contribute to a society in which diversity leads to unity?
For centuries, Fez has bridged economic, intellectual, cultural, social and spiritual differences between the “East” and “West,” as well as between “North” and “South.” The city of Fez in Morocco is a UNESCO world heritage site. It is the home of Al-Qarawayyin, the oldest functioning university in the world. It was the spiritual homeland of intellectuals such as Leo Africanus, Ibn Khaldun and Ibn Battuta. In present times, annual international cultural events such as the Fez Festival of Sacred Music and the Fez Festival of Sufi Culture, as well as the presence of new thinkers, idealists, modern artists and innovative artisans, are new milestones in the important cultural role of Fez in the region.
