“In the east, in days gone by, when the hazards of travel were many and the comforts were few, travelers often banded together in caravans for protection. Stopping places for the caravans were called caravanserais…and they were a place to sit around a fire at night and exchange stories…In the day, travelers…might see each other only as silhouettes wavering in the heat haze. At night, under the starry sky, they could come together again…to the travelers, the caravanserais were a cheerful source of news, companionship and entertainment.” Nawab Pasnak
Caravanserai: A place where cultures meet is a new cultural engagement program launched by Arts Midwest on behalf of the U.S. Regional Arts Organizations with support from the Doris Duke Foundation for Islamic Art. This groundbreaking initiative intends to open and expand the dialogue between American communities and contemporary Muslim societies using the arts as a point of entry.
Caravanserai envisions new pathways for Americans to experience the diverse artistic expressions and cultures of Muslim societies through a series of community-based performing and media-arts programs that feature art and artists from Muslim cultures. The goals of Caravanserai are to:
Caravanserai will launch in the 2011/2012 programming season. Five U.S. communities have been selected to host a series of deeply contextualized performing arts and film residency-tours arranged by Caravanserai featuring the art and artists of Pakistan.
Over the course of the pilot year of programming, these organziations will:
Questions?
Please contact Adam Perry (adam@artsmidwest.org or 612.238.8013) or Stephen Manuszak (stephen@artsmidwest.org or 612.238.8016) with any questions about Caravanserai: A place where cultures meet.