22700 Miles to Support Nine Artistic Projects’ Mobility Between Europeans Cities Within the First Cycle of 2025 Zad: Miles for Connection
Ettijahat—Independent Culture announces the grantees of the second round of the Zad: Miles for Connection programme in 2025. Zad is a support framework designed to promote mobility and communication for artists from the Arab region living in Europe. Its main objective is to develop their artistic and professional path. Additionally, Zad assists artists in reaching and engaging with different audiences, all while enhancing their contributions to public life within the cities and countries where they reside and work.
The jury selected nine art projects, from categories of visual arts to music and performing arts. The artists will travel 22700 miles across Europe, presenting their work in new spaces and meeting audiences they have never met before.
Zad continues to accept applications from artists throughout the year. The next application review dates are on July 1, 2025 and October 16, 2025. Jury committees will evaluate all applications received before these dates.
The names of the programme's jury members will be announced at the end of the second cycle this year.
Supported Projects
Anas Younes – Syrian Theatre Director | 1050 miles between Groningen, Netherlands and Glarus, Switzerland
Anas will participate in the DIWAN — Culture for New Perspectives to develop his performance "On Anger and Fatigue" and present it to an audience in Glarus, Switzerland. The performance includes artistic research that employs the lecture-performance narrative style, combining contemporary artistic performance with traditional storytelling. The project seeks to examine the concept of parrhesia (the ability to speak candidly) and the unexpressed feelings of anger and fatigue, especially in the context of recent global crises.
Broua – Tunisian-European Musical Group | 2700 miles between multiple European cities and Manchester, England
Broua is participating in Manchester Folk Festival as a trio comprising Wissem Ziadi (violin and vocals), Tarek Maaroufi (guitar, percussion and backing vocals), and Frank Normand (flute and clarinet). The band is showcasing their album "Free Man," a musical project that blends traditional Tunisian rhythms with modern sonic experiments, telling stories of freedom, identity, and the challenges faced by people in society, offering a contemplative and interactive musical experience.
Manar Imam – Egyptian Filmmaker | 2350 miles between Drăgășani, Romania and Amantea, Italy
Manar will be screening her first short film, "The Try," at the Kino Guarimba Film Festival in Amantea, Italy. The film takes us on a complex emotional journey exploring the director's mixed emotions. She will also participate in a workshop to develop her new film, in addition to working with a group of emerging filmmakers to shoot a short film at the festival and screen it for the public.
Marah Haj – Palestinian Performing Artist | 3000 miles between Antwerp, Belgium and multiple European cities
Marah will be participating with her performance, “Language: no broblem” at the Shubbak Festival in London and the Santarcangelo Festival in Italy. Her performance explores the complexities of multilingualism in the face of systems of oppression. It takes us on a journey through the main character's story intertwined with the stories of her family members living under occupation, revealing the multiple layers of pressure, violence, and domination that one language can exert over another, illustrating the transformation and adaptation of language under systemic control.
Shadi Alaiek – Syrian Performing Artist | 2250 miles between Ghent, Belgium and Lisbon, Portugal
Shadi will present his performance "Letter to My Mother" at the 3rd EUFÉMIA Festival in Lisbon. The performance addresses themes of immigration, Arab society, and the idealised image of man and masculinity, exploring the impact of these concepts on individual and collective identity. The theme intertwines fear, critiquing tradition, supporting freedom of expression, and working with social stereotypes of the Arab man, highlighting the personal artistic story as a universal experience.
Tewa Barnosa – Libyan Multimedia Artist | 2650 miles between Amsterdam, Netherlands and multiple European cities
In collaboration with Cypriot artist Antonia Kattou, Tewa presents “In Yesterday’s Forecasts”, a performance interweaving histories rooted in the poetic legacies of ancient and contemporary Libya. Investigating ecological mass extraction and genocidal violence in a performance narrated across three timelines, this evolving body of work blends fact and fiction, memory and myths with archival sound and imagery that draws the narration of spoken words and Bedouin poetry, in sonic dialogue with the ancient tradition of millstone grinding.
Thyme – Syrian-German Musical Duo | 1600 miles between The Hague, Netherlands and Mühlhausen, Germany
The musical duo Thyme will perform a musical evening and workshop during the Clarinet and Friends Festival in Mühlhausen, Germany. During the concert, the duo will perform a selection of their personal works, all of which blend different musical styles that reflect the musicians' diverse backgrounds, including maqam, jazz, and classical.
Yaa Samar! Multinational Dance Theatre | 2700 miles between several European cities and Bordeaux, France
Yaa Samar! will participate in an artist residency in Dirac, France, and then present “Gathering” in Bordeaux. Directed by Palestinian director Samar Haddad King and developed with the help of several artists from over eight different cultures, the performance tells the fictional story of a town under siege and the struggle of one woman to recover her fragmented memories.
Zenloop Productions – Film Production Group | 2400 miles between Stockholm, Sweden and Marseille, France
Yaser Kassab and Rima Alhamedd will present their film "Chasing the Dazzling Light" at the Aflam Film Festival in Marseille, France. The film is a personal cinematic experience in which Yaser, the director, explores ways to overcome the distance separating him from his family in Syria through a joint project aimed at bridging the gap between two different worlds and creating a new space for dialogue and communication. The film explores a creative journey that seeks to bridge generational gaps and unite them amidst the experiences of exile.
For more details about the Zad Program, click here. To read the frequently asked questions and view the application form, click here. You can also join the open question session, which will be held on June 10, 2025, at 3:00 PM Western European Time, by clicking here. During this session, we will answer your questions about the nature of support and the application process for the programme.
This edition of the Zad: Miles for Connection programme is being launched with support from the Allianz Foundation.
