CAC 8th Annual Arab American Heritage Month Celebration

April 1- 24, 2021

A Virtual Cultural Celebration Without Borders

Schedule:

  • Arab- American Communities- Introduction and Facts – Presentation and Discussion April 1 @ 3-4:30 pm
  • Children Book Event with Lamis Al Solaim – April 3 @ 1-2:30 pm
  • Calligraphy Workshopwith Hajj Wafaa – April 5 @ 3-4:30 pm
  • Discussion & Presentation About Ancient Nubia with Rita Freed- April 7 @ 3-4:30 pm
  • Book Reading Event with Hala Alyan – April 9 @6:30- 8:30 pm
  • Heritage Month Featured Online Concert – April 10 @ 7-8 pm
  • Music Workshop with Layth Sidiq – April 11 @1:- 2:30 pm
  • Presentation and Discussion about Arabic Language – April 12 @3-4:30 pm
  • Heritage Month Closing Online Concert- “We Are the Children” Featuring CAC Children Choir and BPS Students Accompanied by Arab American Artists- April 24 @ 1-2 pm

To Attend Please Click Here to Register and Receive the links for the Online Events

Read Details Below 

Arab Communities Introduction & facts

April 1, 2021  @ 3-4:30 pm 

Introduction and facts about the Arab- American communities in New England

Join us for our Introduction to Arab Heritage Month and learn about Arab communities and the different countries we come from!

To Attend Please Click Here to Register and receive the event link 

April 3, 2021 @ 1-2:30 pm

Join us for a Book Reading and Discussion with Author Lamis Solaim

To Attend Please Click Here to Register and receive the event link 

To Purchase the Book Please Click Here: $15/copy

Click Here to Purchase

All Proceed go to support CAC and its mission!

Lamis Solaim, PhD, CPsychol, AFBPsS is the program director of MGH/Alfaisal Child Mental Health training program. She is a Child Psychologist and a Lecturer (part-time) at the Harvard Medical School. Dr. Solaim works to address the need for Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services in the Middle East. Her hope is to address the need for a comprehensive multi-level system of care through capacity building and research efforts, collaborating with experts in the field to propose and implement efficient and cost-effective interventions.Dr. Solaim received her Bachelor’s degree in psychology from Saudi Arabia’s King Saud University, an M.A. in applied child development (clinical/developmental concentration) from Tufts University, and a completed her Ph.D. in psychology from the United Kingdom’s Royal Holloway University of London. Her doctoral dissertation was published in a major scientific journals due to its pioneering observations on the intersection between religion, mental illness, and help seeking behaviors.

Calligraphy

April 5, 2021 @ 3-4:30 pm

Join us in a Calligraphy Workshop with Iraqi American Artist Hajj Wafaa to learn about the Arabic Calligraphy, its schools, and designs.

To Attend Please Click Here to Register and receive the event link 

Hajj Wafaa was born and raised in Iraq. At the age of 12, I became interested in learning calligraphy, aspiring to write the words or verses of the Holy Book, the Quran, and its stanzas. Since then, I was trained by some of the best calligraphers in my region, such as Jasim Hamood Al-Najafi, and Adnan Al-Kazaz an inspired by the Great Master Hamid Al-Aamidi. Thanks to their tutelage, I have become a master in many styles of traditional scripts such as Naskh, Diwani, Jili-diwani, Kufic, Thuluth. In 1998, I moved to the US. I earned my AAS in graphic and web design in 2008 from Sanford-Brown College (Katherine Gibbs College previously), Boston. To read more about Hajj Wafaa, please Click here

April 7, 2021 @ 3-4:30 pm

Discussion and Presentation about Ancient Nubia With Rita Freed

To Attend Please Click Here to Register and receive the event link 

Rita Freed, a specialist in Egyptian and Nubian Art, received her B.A. in Ancient Near Eastern Archaeology and Biblical Studies from Wellesley College and her M. A. and Ph. D. in Egyptian and Ancient Near Eastern Art and Archaeology from the Institute of Fine Arts, New York University. She rose to Associate Professor of Art at the University of Memphis and founding Director of the Institute of Egyptian Art and Archaeology before coming to the MFA, Boston, to head the Department of Ancient Egyptian, Nubian and Near Eastern Art, and she is now the John F. Cogan, Jr. and Mary L. Cornille Chair Emerita of that Department. She is alsoAdjunct Professor of Art at Wellesley College.  The exhibitions she has curated and co-curated include Egypt’s Golden Age, A Divine Tour of Ancient Egypt, Ramesses the Great, Pharaohs of the Sun, The Secrets of Tomb 10A and Ancient Nubia Now and she has authored numerous books and articles.

Book Reading Event with Hala Alyan

(Canceled and a New Date will be Announced) 

Book Reading and Discussion with Hala Alyan and her New Book “The Arsonists City”

To Attend Please Click Here to Register and receive the event link 

Hala Alyan, is a Palestinian American writer and clinical psychologist whose work has appeared in The New Yorker, The New York Times, Guernica and elsewhere. Her poetry collections have won the Arab American Book Award and the Crab Orchard Series, and her debut novel won the Dayton Literary Peace Prize. Her second novel, THE ARSONISTS’ CITY, will be published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt in March 2021.

April 10, 2021 at 7-8 pm

Online Music Concert Featuring

CAC Children Choir- Under Direction of Alma Richeh

Alma Richeh & Fadi Saba Vocals and Keyboards Duet. 

‘Qawsaan’ Layth Sidiq & Naseem Alatrash 

Souq El-Jum3a – Bahloul | Sou7a | El Arkitekt @souq.eljum3a

Audio Engineer Thaer Badr

Video and Visual Director Yara Awad

Concert will be Streamed Live on CAC YouTube Channel cacboston – YouTube

To Attend Please Click Here to Register and receive the event link 

Husband Birthday Meal Ideas Photo Collage
layth sidiq-violin
April 11, 2021 at 1-2:30 pm
Music Workshop with Layth Sidiq- International Award- Winning Violinst, Composer and Educator- Director of the Center for Arabic Culture Youth Orchestra

Title: Kamanja: a brief history of the Arabic Violin.

To Attend Please Click Here to Register and receive the event link 

Description: in this workshop you’ll be introduced to the history of the Arabic violin, from its ancient ancestors to the moment it was introduced to the Takht ensemble, culminating in its role in contemporary music today. The workshop will include audio and video examples as well as live demonstrations.

Layth Sidiq Layth Sidiq is an award-winning violinist, composer and educator who has toured the world and performed with major artists such as Simon Shaheen, Danilo Perez, Javier Limon, Jack Dejohnette, Tigran Hamasyan and others and performed in venues like the London Jazz Festival, Boston Symphony Hall,  WOMEX Expo, Montreal Jazz Festival, Carnegie Hall and more. Layth is featured on multiple award-winning albums and his first record Son of Tigris was premiered at the Montreal Jazz Festival in 2016. To read more about Layth, please click this link Layth Sidiq, Violin and Orchestra Director – Center for Arabic Culture (cacboston.org)
April 12, 2021 at 3 – 4:30 pm
Lecture about Arabic Language
Guest Speaker: Ikram Easton, Center for Arabic Culture Curriculum Director and Arabic Language Lecturer at Boston College.
To Attend Please Click Here to Register and receive the event link 
Ikram Easton, For more than two decades, Ikram Easton has been actively involved in the field of education in different capacities both in US and abroad. She holds a Professional Educator’s Teaching License in English, ESL and Arabic from North Carolina State Board of Education and a Master Educator Teaching License (English, ESL, Arabic) from the state of Indiana and the State of Iowa. She is currently a Lecturer of Arabic at Boston College. She is a strong advocate of integrating technology in the world language classrooms. To read more about Ms Easton, please click this link Ikram Easton. M.S.Ed. – CAC Curriculum Director – Center for Arabic Culture (cacboston.org)
Ikram Easton-speaker
April 24, 2021
1-2 pm
Heritage Month Closing Online Concert  
“We Are the Children”
Featuring CAC Children Choir and BPS Students Accompanied by Arab American Artists
“Online Concert Celebrating Humanity, Diversity and Peace”
Concert will be Streamed Live on CAC YouTube Channel cacboston – YouTube
To Attend Please Click Here to Register and receive the event link 

CAC Heritage Month is Free to the Public- Donate to Support our Mission