OUR WORK

Mutual Understanding and Awareness

We work to inform, educate, engage and inspire dialogue, understanding and cooperation between Danes and Palestinians. This happens through our communication work, the transnational collaborations, the volunteer program, the residencies at our Guest House in Ramallah, and the many other visits to the house.

With our communication work, we aim at sharing constructive, creative and diverse stories about Palestine and Denmark, the work of partners, and our programs. Our stories are created by our partners, by young and upcoming as well as professional writers, graphic designers, filmmakers, photographers etc. Danes and Palestinians.

All our programs involve Palestinian-Danish transnational cooperation, co-creation and production of art and culture just as we reach diverse audiences in both countries and beyond. The mutuality has been a core value of the Danish House in Palestine since its initiation, and it will continue.

For the last decade, Danes have joined our volunteer program. They come to work with learning and creativity, health and rehabilitation or human rights in one of our Palestinian host organisations in East Jerusalem and the West Bank.

Our collaboration with Danish folk high schools is growing. We assist in organising educational visits to East Jerusalem and the West Bank. The focus can be on culture, art and history, discussing politics, media and freedom of speech.

The doors of The Danish House in Palestine are always open. We welcome you all with the latest up-to-date briefings. We can connect you with people and unique sources of information.

Civil Society in Palestine

Palestine has a strong and vibrant civil society that fights for creativity, cultural expression and freedom. It is also a sector under massive pressure from various forces and dynamics. We will support our partners’ efforts towards an enabling environment contributing to freedom of expression and cultural life in Palestine.

Spaces for artistic expressions

Our work is based on the belief that art reflects the world we live in. It makes injustice and falsehood clear. Art can be transformative, and as an artist, you are free game. There are powers, which will seek to silence you, critics, who may scrutinise your work, just as the public might turn a blind eye. We will work with researched-based, curated, inter-disciplinary co-productions, and experiment with cultural participation and audience development. Target audiences will be in Palestine and in Denmark as well as other countries in Northern Europe.
We are exploring three topics for coming period: The shared history of Palestinians and Europeans; the power of poetry; and climate change and the history of Palestine.

Design, culture and economic opportunities

The ambition with this program is to enhance the economic opportunities for young Palestinians in the cultural and creative industries. The creative sector is also a platform for the renewal of cultural heritage, and the program contribute to the reinforcement and promotion of Palestinian culture as part of fostering national identity.

The program is drawing on the traditions and practices of the Danish film industry. One of the oldest film industries in the world. We are supporting the development of a strong community of powerful, daring and independent filmmakers. The partners to the program include Filmlab: Palestine, Aarhus Film Workshop together with a pool of recognised Danish film makers and professionals.

With the program, we are also bringing together design tendencies in Palestine and Nordic approaches to creative pedagogy, design and branding. Nordic design and brand specialists will collaborate with Palestinian colleagues, and young Palestinian students will be exposed to new approaches to branding and design.

Children, young people, learning and creativity

This program is about creating learning processes which set the creativity of young girls and boys free. It is about finding your own voice as a young person.

Palestine and Denmark share a tradition for children’s literature. Together with partners, we build on these traditions, and translate and publish Danish and Palestinian literature for children and young people. We work to develop critical readers and the next generation of writers.

The program has particular focus on the Palestinian communities in ‘Area C’, and communities in Jenin, Tulkarm, Silwan, East Jerusalem and Hebron area H2. We will support community-based flexible safe spaces where young girls and boys can create and participate in culture including drama, circus, music, sports, and dance.

Program partners include Tamer Institute for Community Education, the Danish publisher, Dalgaard & Jensen, Palestinian Circus School, Al Hara Theatre, The Freedom Theatre, Dar-Qandeel for Art and Culture, Al Bustan Association, the Danish theatre group Opgang 2 among others.