Capacity building is incredibly important in order to sustain the performing arts sector. For the technical aspect of the craft, there are always developments in techniques and equipment which constantly creates major room for improvement. Also, having capable, knowledgeable technicians relieves a big burden from the artist, giving them more space to be creative and innovative. This is why we believe it’s necessary to invest in capacity building.
The main aim of the “Lighting for Theatre” project was to develop the capacity of light technicians and designers through a 5 day training workshop, targeting Rawabet Art Space’s technical crew in addition to light technicians and designers from across the arts and culture sector in Egypt. The 20 participants – mainly between the ages of 25 to 35 years old – gained the know-how and got to work with the best equipment in the market.
Alaa Minawi (Beirut – 1982) is a Dutch-Lebanese-Palestinian artist based in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. His work ranges between performing arts and installations. Alaa started his career in 2006 as a light designer & Scenographer. In 2010, he started creating his own installations that were mainly presented in public spaces. In 2016, Alaa started his artistic research about belonging and its relationship to physical spaces. This lead to a series of performances all under the same name; “2048”.
In his practice, Alaa tries to explore the possibilities of merging installation and performing arts. He also tries to involve the audience, not only as active participants, but rather as an integral element in the structure of the performance, for that Alaa diminishes the role of the performer and highlights the presence of the spectator. Subjects like belonging, presence, absence, arab-futurism, wars, traumas, and healing were tackled within Alaa Minawi’s works.
Alaa has a BA in Communication Arts from the Lebanese American University (LAU 2008) & and MA in Fine Arts from Hogeschool voor De Kunsten Utrecht (HKU 2018). He obtained a certificate from Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts London (RADA) to train light designers.
He is a teacher at Hogeschool voor De Kunsten Amsterdam (AHK / University Amsterdam) and a lecturer in Hogeschool voor De Kunsten Utrecht (HKU / University Utrecht).
