Arts and Culture Palestine Project #66966

Support ASHTAR's main programmes (core fund)

by ASHTAR for Theatre Productions and Training

Project Report | Dec 11, 2025
Because You Stood With Us

By Konrad Suder Chatterjee | Communications Manager and Resource Developer

Dear Supporters,

Writing this report always forces me to pause in the middle of a storm. It is almost surreal to look back and trace everything we have done while living inside a landscape of collapse, grief, and relentless pressure. And yet, when I do look back, what I see is not only the devastation around us, but the insistence on life that you help us maintain. Your solidarity has allowed ASHTAR to keep breathing, to keep teaching, to keep accompanying our communities, and to keep insisting that our cultural and emotional worlds are worth protecting.

Over the past period, we continued our psycho-social work through theatre: those workshops that have become small islands of breath inside a suffocating reality. Through drama, movement, and what we call sport theatre, participants found a way to release what their bodies have been forced to carry. One participant told us that it felt as if something inside them finally loosened, as if they had space to breathe again. It is difficult to describe how essential this is: not only the techniques we use, but the simple experience of being witnessed, held, and allowed to feel.

At the same time, we managed to keep our theatre space in Ramallah open. This may sound administrative or routine, but it is not. Maintaining a cultural home right now, keeping the lights on, keeping the doors open, keeping the atmosphere alive, is an act of resistance. Artists rehearsed here, young people found community here, and local theatre and culture makers continued to create in a space that remains theirs. The survival of this space is possible because of you.

Parallel to all this, we have been working intensely on the renovation of the building in Birzeit, which will become ASHTAR’s full-time Performing Arts Academy in close partnership with the Palestinian Circus School. It feels almost contradictory to be building for the future when the present itself keeps breaking apart. But perhaps this contradiction is precisely what hope looks like here: a refusal to surrender the idea of continuity. This Academy will be a place where young artists train deeply, politically, and creatively in ways that Palestinian life desperately needs.

We also continued to support local artists directly, offering them access to our theatre, rehearsal time, technical support, and the simple but radical resource of space. We organised workshops for aspiring theatre makers, giving young people the chance to develop their craft in a time when almost everything around them tries to limit their imagination.

Our Youth Acting School completed its third year of training - something that still feels miraculous given the pressures around us. The students are preparing for their annual performance and stepping into their final year. Admissions are also opening for the next cohort, each student becoming part of a lineage of artistic resistance that stretches across ASHTAR’s 35 years.

Meanwhile, The Gaza Monologues continued to travel the world. Even as the original writers face repeated displacement and unbearable loss, their words continue to echo globally. We support them as much as possible, financially, emotionally, logistically, and ensure that their voices remain present, loud, and impossible to erase.

Our performances and workshops reached far beyond Palestine. Our production Awalem travelled to audiences in the USA (250 people) and Europe (620 people). Our newest production, the Guernica Gaza: Visions from the Centre of the Earth reached 150 people. Theatre collaborations engaged 360 participants. Workshops in Ireland reached 260 students, and in Portugal our dance and theatre collaborations reached another 200. Across all these activities and others combined, ASHTAR reached 10,045 people - a number that still astonishes us when written out.

All of this happened in a year when ASHTAR’s financial landscape was profoundly disrupted. Since October 2023, several funders withdrew support from Palestinian institutions; some demanded that we return funds; others - despite their insistence - were boycotted by us because their conditions, affiliations, or political positions made continued partnership impossible. The donor landscape changed overnight, revealing how fragile institutional support can be when tied to geopolitical interests rather than human dignity.

And yet, ASHTAR refused conditional funding. We refused to compromise our values or our communities. Your support helped us hold that line.

Looking forward, our aim remains the same: to build ASHTAR into a fully independent, culturally sovereign institution - financially, politically, and artistically. The Performing Arts Academy and Village in Birzeit is part of this vision, as is the continuation of psycho-social interventions and the protection of our theatre space. None of these goals can be achieved without a community that believes in our work, and you are part of that community.

Your contributions do more than fund programmes; they safeguard the emotional, cultural, and imaginative life of Palestinian people. You make it possible for children to rediscover their voices, for young artists to take their first steps, for communities to heal, and for our work to continue with dignity and clarity.

Thank you for walking with us through this storm, for choosing to stand with Palestinian children, artists, and storytellers, and for believing in theatre not just as art, but as an act of resistance, healing, and continuity.

With deep and enduring gratitude,
Konrad Suder Chatterjee
on behalf of the ASHTAR Theatre Team

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Jul 7, 2025
"This was the first time I felt safe to speak my mind." Become a monthly supporter of ASHTAR Theatre

By Konrad Suder Chatterjee | Communications Manager and Resource Developer

Dear Supporters,

In the face of continued devastation: daily killings and woundings in Gaza, mass imprisonment and torture across Palestine, systematic infrastructure destruction, increased restrictions on movement and countless hours wasted in traffic, and ever-increasing Israeli Jewish colonial settler violence resulting in 2 Palestinians killed within the last two weeks, ASHTAR Theatre stands firm in its mission to resist, to connect, and co-create space for continuity and future.

With our never ending gratitude for standing with us, we are in haste to let you know what we have managed to achieve since the last report (to name a few!).

We have managed to maintain our staff and continued our core work despite unprecedented financial and political pressures. This has only been possible thanks to your support and solidarity.

Our wonderful Youth Acting School is now at the end of their third year, with preparations underway to rehearse for the end of year performance scheduled in August to embark on their final fourth year of the school. We are now opening admissions for the new cohort starting from September for another four-year training cycle. These young people will become the next generation of Palestinian storytellers and cultural leaders. You can sponsor a year long education of a young student by donating to this campaign with a note: Youth Acting School.

We also launched Nabadat – Heart-Beats, a series of psycho-social theatre workshops and stress-relief activities. These sessions offer safe spaces for communities to process trauma, strengthen resilience, and reconnect through creativity while honing practical tangible acting skills. One of the participants said: "It was more like an inner journey deep into myself… I suddenly felt my voice is not just a tool for speaking, but an extension of everything I feel and a mirror of what’s happening inside me. I left the workshop feeling as light as a butterfly, as if I had shed something heavy or taken a deep breath for the first time in a long while.”

In Amari refugee camp, we concluded a series of psycho-social interventions with vulnerable UNRWA school communities, helping children and teachers develop coping mechanisms in extremely challenging conditions. One of the young school students said: “This was the first time I felt safe to speak my mind.” We are preparing our school-based intervetnions to restart from September 2025.

We remain in close contact with the original Gaza Monologues writers. Many have faced repeated displacement, loss of homes, and unimaginable hardship. We continue to support them with small financial assistance, basic needs, and opportunities to keep their voices alive.

The Gaza Monologues campaign continues to grow. We are now in touch with many new and returning groups reading the texts globally. Notably, the group Te Nel Deserto in Italy recently organised a new series of readings, bringing the total number of countries where the Monologues have been read to 63.

At the same time, with our artistic director Emile Saba, we are developing a new play that explores the complexity and diversity of Palestinian identities - reclaiming our narrative in the face of attempted erasure and fragmentation.

Importantly, this September marks 35 years of ASHTAR’s continued work. As we look ahead, we invite you to become our partner and monthly supporter in making the next collective dream a reality: the renovation of a new building in Birzeit, near Ramallah, which will house a full-time two-year Performing Arts Academy for acting and psycho-social healing. Here we will train a new generation of resilient, creative, and internationally connected theatre makers - rooted in Palestine, reaching the world.

Your continued support makes all of this possible. Thank you for standing with us, for amplifying Palestinian voices, and for believing in theatre as a powerful tool for freedom, healing, and change.

From the bottom of our hearts,
Konrad Suder Chatterjee on behalf of ASHTAR Theatre Team

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Mar 3, 2025
It's hard to decolonise but with your help...

By Konrad Suder Chatterjee | Communications Manager and Resource Developer

As you may well know, since October 2023, the situation in Palestine has deteriorated significantly. The freezing of funds, the withdrawal of major donors, and political restrictions on Palestinian institutions have left many organisations struggling to survive. The cuts to USAID funding and the defunding of UNRWA have further exacerbated an already dire humanitarian catastrophy, impacting schools, mental health services, and cultural initiatives that millions rely on. Despite these immense challenges, ASHTAR Theatre remains steadfast in its mission to use theatre as a tool for resistance, healing, and empowerment.

Thanks to the support of donors like you, we have been able to sustain our work in these extraordinarily difficult times. Over the past quarter, ASHTAR has continued to deliver mental health and psychosocial support (MHPSS) theatre workshops in UNRWA schools across the West Bank and Jerusalem and other organisations. These sessions help children and teachers process trauma and develop coping mechanisms through creative expression.

Given the funding crisis facing UNRWA, these interventions are more vital than ever, ensuring that children have safe spaces to express themselves and are supported in processing the ongoing violence and instability they endure. ASHTAR has also been working to support the original Gaza Monologues writers, all have been displaced, some forced to evacuate, or some have now returned to their home locations, many with their houses reduced to ashes.These artists, who first wrote their testimonies of war as children, now find themselves reliving the same trauma and facing unimaginable conditions. ASHTAR has provided direct support to them, supporting them in having access to basic necessities, creative opportunities, and small financial assistance. The global advocacy campaign of The Gaza Monologues remains as crucial as ever, with readings in over 62 countries amplifying Palestinian voices and ensuring their experiences are not erased from the global narrative.

Despite financial and operational challenges, progress continues towards launching the two-year accredited Performing Arts Academy in Birzeit by ASHTAR Theatre, in partnership with the Palestinian Circus School. This initiative is key to developing the next generation of Palestinian artists and social workers using arts as a therapy method, equipping them with the skills to use theatre as a means of cultural resistance and community empowerment. The academy will serve as a vital space for artistic growth and international exchange, strengthening the cultural fabric of Palestinian society.

The ongoing funding crisis remains one of the greatest threats to ASHTAR and other Palestinian institutions. The freezing of funds by major Western donors, the cessation of USAID support, and the financial collapse of UNRWA have placed immense strain on organisations that provide essential services to communities under occupation. Although ASHTAR has not been in receipt of the USAID assistance, countless organisations which have been dependent on it are now in competition for very scarce resources with organisations like ASHTAR.

ASHTAR, alongside the Palestinian Performing Arts Network (PPAN), has taken a firm stance against neo-colonial funding models that impose restrictive conditions and undermine Palestinian sovereignty. Instead, ASHTAR is committed to building an ethical, solidarity-driven funding model, relying on individual donors and independent foundations that align with its vision of liberation and cultural empowerment.

The support received through GlobalGiving has been instrumental in keeping psychosocial theatre programmes running in UNRWA refugee schools, providing emergency financial relief for displaced Gaza Monologues writers, and maintaining core operational costs.

However, the need remains urgent. Further funding is required to expand psychosocial theatre interventions, continue financial support for displaced cultural workers in Gaza, and complete renovations for the Performing Arts Academy in Birzeit to ensure its successful launch.

Now, more than ever, ASHTAR depends on the solidarity of its supporters to sustain its mission. We encourage all who stand with Palestinian cultural resistance to continue sharing our campaign, following our work, and amplifying Palestinian voices.

Your continued support ensures that ASHTAR remains a space of hope, resilience, and creative safe home for now and the future.

Thank you for standing with us in these critical times.

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