The New Conversations programme encourages artists and arts organizations based in different parts of the world to develop new creative ideas, and exchange knowledge and practice. Originally launched in 2018 as a two-year pilot to increase collaborations between Canadian and British artists with an emphasis on new partnerships, physical exchange and artist mobility, the initiative is now being adapted for the UK artists to exchange with peers in other countries and focuses on supporting remote collaborations in response to the ongoing climate crisis and challenges to arts mobility.
Orient for Film and Theatre Productions is a production company based in Cairo. Founded in 2007, its mission is to develop quality projects in the fields of arts, culture, and entertainment with the involvement of practitioners from Egypt, the Arab world, and beyond. Since its inception, Orient Productions has produced and hosted numerous events showcasing innovative works in these different fields.
Orient Productions encompasses a number of art spaces and projects. Oldest among them is The Temple Independent Theater Company, which has been presenting the artistic work of Egyptian director and playwright Ahmed El Attar to local and international audiences since 1993. Orient also oversees Studio Emad Eddin, a one-of-its-kind initiative providing rehearsal spaces as well as workshops and training programs to independent Egyptian performing artists since 2005.
The two latest additions to the group are Maktabi Creative Office spaces, which provides private offices in the heart of Downtown Cairo for creatives in need of a long-term workspace; and Rawabet Art Space. This emblematic venue, Cairo’s first and oldest independent performance space, was renovated by Orient Productions and revamped into a multipurpose, multidisciplinary art space, and reopened its doors in September 2021.
Most recently, Orient Productions has undertaken the Theatre in Translation – Contemporary European Theatre in Arabic project, which aims to translate eighteen contemporary European dramas into Arabic over a period of three years. The texts, which have all been written from 2010 onwards, will be published both in print and online to allow their dissemination to the widest possible audience across the Arab world.
Orient Productions also provides a variety of services to artists and cultural practitioners including marketing, PR, production, stage management and front of house coordination. Orient Productions takes pride in handling a project’s complete journey from conceptualization to completion with an unremitting attention to detail that ensures high quality, successful events.
Since 2012, Orient Productions has been organizing the annual Downtown Contemporary Arts Festival (D-CAF), the largest international, multidisciplinary arts festival in Egypt.
