The Archive of the Higher Institute of Dramatic Arts Initiative

Ettijahat – Independent Culture is pleased to announce the launch of the first stage of The Archive of the Higher Institute of Dramatic Arts initiative, which is an independent cultural initiative that aims to collect official documents and audiovisual materials and produce filmed testimonies by founders and graduates of the Higher Institute of Dramatic Arts in Damascus. By doing so, the initiative would create an archive that portrays the circumstances surrounding the Institute’s creation in 1977 and its journey until today. The first stage of the initiative covers the period between 1977 and 1992.

This initiative, designed by Professor Mayada Hussein and Director Omar AbuSaada, with the participation of a team of researchers, aims to collect, reorganize and digitize the available documents about the Institute to protect them from damage and make them digitally accessible. It also seeks to provide materials for artists, researchers, students and cultural practitioners which can be tackled from different cultural, social and political perspectives, as well as to revive these documents and transform them into a participatory space accessible to the audience.

The website includes visual materials and photographs documenting milestones in the Higher Institute of Dramatic Arts journey, as well as testimonies by several founders and studies prepared by some graduates from the Theatrical Criticism and Studies Department. All the materials presented on the website are available under the Creative Commons license.

Please click here to visit the website and view its different resources in Arabic and English. To contact the initiative team, please send an email to info@hidaarchive.com.

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Speaking about the initiative, Professor Mayada Hussein said: “Our motive was not to document the experience of the Higher Institute of Dramatic Arts in Damascus, specifically its foundational stage, which elicits nostalgia for a unique stage of our cultural life, although this is a great feat in itself. Rather, our purpose was to monitor, analyze, collect and, more importantly, protect documents from that era, with a view to reviving our individual and collective memories. Indeed, by reviving these memories, we can perhaps transform documentation from being a simple act of exhumation and storage of old information into an intellectual effort that raises questions and encourages discussions about the present and the future based on the past. Therefore, our decision to document gives rise to the following question: How can we transform our effort to document a certain era into a catalyst for constant and renewed dialogue? In that sense, documentation is a conscious choice influenced by cultural, social and political factors; to document this experience is to give it legitimacy.”

Director Omar AbuSaada also stated: “When we started working on the archive project, it felt like meeting a close friend after years of being apart. I revisited the Institute where I studied through photographs, plays filmed on VHS and academic research. Just as the Institute had encouraged me to pose my first questions about the world of theater, this undertaking once again stirred my imagination, as each photograph contains a story waiting to be retold. The archive offers scientific materials for research and analysis, while also representing artistic materials promoting creativity and innovation.”

In this context, Ettijahat’s Executive Director Abdullah Al Kafri said: “In the first few decades after its establishment, the Higher Institute of Dramatic Arts in Damascus played a central and pioneering role on the independent cultural scene in Syria and the Arab region. It was a unique space created and supervised by several experts who were keen on developing a cultural project that would constitute a refuge and a gateway from something different – an exceptional space in the heart of independent cultural life. The efforts undertaken by this initiative represent a starting point for learning about this experience and reflecting on its role from the perspective of some of its founders and academic staff. It is also an opportunity to understand the artistic and intellectual knowledge shared with the Institute’s graduates, who became main pillars in the field of independent creative practices in Syria and abroad.”

The website includes visual materials and photographs documenting milestones in the Higher Institute of Dramatic Arts journey, as well as testimonies by several founders and studies prepared by some graduates from the Theatrical Criticism and Studies Department. All the materials presented on the website are available under the Creative Commons license.

Please click here to visit the website and view its different resources in Arabic and English. To contact the initiative team, please send an email to info@hidaarchive.com.