An experienced arts manager, curator and policy maker, Fatin Farhat is the founding director of the Palestine Observatory for Cultural Policy, where she curates and manages projects that foster community participation through the arts.
Fatin has overseen a broad spectrum of cultural initiatives and artistic programs from street festivals to municipal policy. Currently she is working on her Ph.D. from Hildesheim University (Germany) and examining the potential that grassroots initiatives and the local government can play in fostering community engagement and cultural development in Palestine. Fatin is currently developing a new art and community program – In Our Houses – in Kobar village in the West Bank, where the inhabitants become curators, organizing and presenting shows in the village’s houses and gardens.
Passionately interested in community-based art, Fatin wanted to engage in projects that involve the Arabic community in the US. In the climate of Islamophobia and racism, she was interested in exploring art as a form of resistance and resilience for marginalized communities. She believes the gap between the US and her home region is widening and that artistic cooperation is a powerful and vital instrument to foster deeper understanding.
