Nuqat In.Dig.Go Kids Program Instructor
The IN-DIG-GO program was launched in 2017 as collaboration between Nuqat and Zain telecommunications. As part of the teaching team, I helped design and teach the curriculum for the garden and production programs, which were taught to 36 children between the ages of 6 and 11. Among the modules I led:
Production
- Genre & Style
- Character & Concept
- Story & Scene
Garden
- Journaling Sensing the Garden
Exploring the garden through the five senses.
Teaching the students how to document their experience in the garden through text and visuals.
- Yoga & Meditation Becoming the Garden
Understanding the space of the garden through imagination and meditation. We utilized a number of techniques from the Bihar School that creatively introduced students to the focusing and calming effects of breathing, movement and visualization.
- Storytelling Bringing the Garden to Life
Finding characters in the garden and constructing their narratives through the narrative arch of exposition - growing tension - climax - declining tension - resolution.
The curriculum is based on the 4 C’s – creativity, collaboration, communication and critical thinking. Split into three phases – discovery, skill development and production – the program aimed at strengthening the participants’ sense of curiosity, expanding their knowledge, and developing their creative and collaborative abilities.
Spring Sessions Hearing Historical Voices
At The Spring Sessions (an independent art education initiative) in Amman, Jordan (June 2014) I taught a workshop on narrative, research and performance. Using the life and work of the poet 'Arar, participants and I collectively wrote and directed a performance that was presented to the public at the historic King Ghazi hotel on June 27 2014 (where the oft-exiled poet was though to have stayed in the early 20th century). Through the use of poetry and a dialogue between 'Arar and his biographer, we recreated the poet's tumultuous relationship to his identity, the women in his life and the bottle.
To read more about 'Arar, you can access "Nationalist Voices in Jordan: the Street and the State" by Betty S. Johnson
Creative Writing Reality Meets Fiction
An 8-week workshop for looking at how our personal voices as writers develop in response to our environments. We focus on writing and reading fiction, studying voice, style, character, setting, dialogue, and plot. We will write both independently and as a group, taking inspiration from a variety of authors and meeting with guest speakers to discuss publishing our work.
The main question we will concern ourselves with is: How can I create a fictional world that is both authentic and engaging?
at q8bookstore (Winter 2014) and the Creative Space Beirut (Fall 2013)
American University of Kuwait Non-Fiction Writing
In Fall 2014 I guided a group of ~8 AUK students through a series of writing exercises and reading discussions to help each of them gain confidence in their personal writing voice.The workshop was designed to stimulate new content and ideas for the Fikir student journal. Authors we read include: Susan Abulhawa, Ernest Hemingway, James Baldwin, Joan Didion, Lydia Davis, Simon Rich and Sophia Al Maria. I created a series of fast-paced writing exercises that would lead to the uncovering of some of the contradictions embedded in the participants' daily lives and Kuwaiti society.
Creative Minds for Social Good Making Videos for Social Change
As part of the Creative Minds for Social Good workshop's aim to create engaging social video campaigns, I presented 5 Approaches for Social Video Campaigns for conceiving interesting premises (email me for more examples).
I worked closely with the group tackling gender-based violence, mentoring them through their successful grant application process.
Nuqat Creative Writing for Social Media
Offered in 2015 and 2017, this course helped inspire participants to write social media captions that were creative, strategic, and engaging. Made up of mini-presentations and collaborative exercises, this course was highly participatory and dynamic. Read more here.
Tarot Workshop The Evolution of the Human Psyche
Tarot reading has long been viewed as an esoteric practice, reserved for performative prophets waving their hands over a crystal ball. Often those who are offered tarot readings will respond with an anxious or belittling response, citing their “fear” of knowing the future or their “disbelief” of the practice. Truth be told, Tarot has nothing to do with reading the future, and began merely as a parlor game in the Renaissance. That being said, Carl Jung found profound capabilities for the use of the
tarot in the healing of the psyche.
This two-part workshop was conducted in both June 2017 and July 2018, covering tarot history, minor and major arcana, and different card spreads. Participants gave each other readings and delved deep into tarot archetypes and symbols.