The Tiro Association for Arts and the Istanbouli Theater launched training workshops for children and young people at the free Lebanese National Theater, in the city of Tyre, the latter of whom are displaced because of war from border villages and towns in southern Lebanon. The association maintains that it transports children and young people through the Peace Art Bus that was launched in 2018 for mobile shows in the regions, as well as transports them from public schools, where they reside, to the theater. It organizes training workshops in aspects including theater, painting, handicrafts, dolls, storytelling, and film screenings on a daily basis in cooperation with UNIFIL.
The actor, director, and founder of the Lebanese National Theater, Kassem Istanbouli, confirmed “the need for cultural resistance and the importance of implementing training workshops for children and young people in light of these difficult circumstances. This constitutes a means of expression and freedom in order to contribute to confronting the repercussions of war and psychological pressures and their impact on children and young people.”
Moreover, the Tiro Association for Arts (TAA), which is led by youth and volunteers, aims to establish free and independent cultural forums in Lebanon. That is, by renovating Al Hamra and Stars Cinema in Nabatieh and Rivoli Cinema in Tyre, which became the Lebanese National Theater, the first free theater and cinema in Lebanon, as well as Empire Cinema in Tripoli, which became the Lebanese National Theater in that city. TAA also implements artistic training workshops for children, youth, and people with special needs; opens and renovates cultural forums; and organizes festivals, activities, and artistic exhibitions. In addition to this, the association screens artistic and educational movies for children and youth in collaboration with the Swiss DROSOS Foundation and works on maintaining partnerships with international festivals, as well as granting young directors the opportunity to screen their movies and letting people get acquainted with the history of cinema and local and international performances, as well as screening films for the blind and deaf and training workshops for people with special needs. The Lebanese International Theater Festival, the Watch Lebanon in Mobile Cinema Festival, the Tripoli International Theater Festival, the Tyre International Music Festival, the Lebanese International Theater Festival for Storytelling, the Tyre International Fine Arts Festival, the Tyre Cultural Days Festival, the Lebanese International Theater Festival for Women’s Monodrama, the Lebanese International Theater Festival for Contemporary Dance, the Tiro International Arts Festival, and the Tyre International Theater Festival are among the festivals that TAA implements.