PRESS RELEASES

Palestinian National Theater Brings to Jerusalem Unique Art Exhibit Resulting from Cooperation between U.S. Consulate General and Palestinian Ministry of Culture

For Immediate Release

April 10, 2008

Jerusalem

After opening to critical acclaim in Ramallah last month, a special art exhibit opened today to an enthusiastic Jerusalem audience at the Palestinian National Theater – al Hakawati.  The exhibit features pieces by twelve Palestinian women artists that were created during a month-long workshop led by Arab-American artist Helen Zughaib and sponsored jointly by the U.S. Consulate General in Jerusalem and the Palestinian Ministry of Culture. 

Consul for Press and Cultural Affairs, Micaela Schweitzer-Bluhm thanked Hakawati Director Jamal Gosheh for bringing the artwork to Jerusalem and expressed satisfaction that Jerusalem audiences would now be able to view the exhibit. 

During the month-long workshop, the artists who came from Jerusalem, Ramallah, Jenin, Nablus, Hebron and Salfeet, worked with Ms. Zughaib to expand their artist techniques and subjects.  Ms. Zughaib also met with numerous young artists in the West Bank, conducting workshops at Birzeit University, the Palestinian Technical College for Women, Al-Tireh UNRWA College, the Young Artists Forum and the International Center of Bethlehem.  She also made a visit to the Birzeit Ethnographic and Art Museum where she met with Director Vera Tamari and other Palestinian art experts to discuss opportunities for collaboration with American museums and ways of promoting art education in the Palestinian Territories.

For more information please contact the U.S. Consulate’s Press Office at 02-622-6908 or 02-622-6909 or Assistant Information Officer Christina Higgins at 054-678-8501.