Responding to crisis through theatre & play

Aim: Help us build a crisis fund to address the ongoing upheaval across the region.

Seenaryo has spent a decade creating opportunities in the Arab region through theatre and play, operating in fragile and crisis-affected communities across Lebanon, Jordan, Palestine and Syria. However, in 2025 the region faces unprecedented upheaval: our participants face war, occupation, hunger, economic collapse and political division which threaten to erase hope for a generation. Amid uncertainty and injustice, people need spaces to heal, express, learn and lead more than ever: spaces to begin building the future they want to see. 

Seenaryo is ready to begin its most ambitious chapter yet. We've spent ten years building partnerships, trust, and a powerful methodology that puts agency and creativity in the hands of our participants. Now, we’re poised to expand our reach. With your support, we will bring our work to new communities across the region.

Will you support communities across the Arab region? 

Why are we choosing to expand our reach now? 

“There’s a lot of chaos in my life, but in theatre there’s freedom and stability. I take this freedom and stability into my life.” Ahmed, Jordan

At Seenaryo, one of our core values is an agile and innovative response to the changing needs of our communities. Much of our work over the past decade has responded directly to regional crises: from the Syrian refugee crisis, to the Beirut port blast, and Israel’s recent war in Lebanon. As communities face chaos and uncertainty, we have used our unique tools of theatre and play to give them the time, space and tools to heal and deal with their difficult circumstances.

The last 20 months have seen unimaginable challenges across our countries of operation. Palestine is suffering the impacts of an ever-expanding war and occupation, Lebanon is threatened with a return to conflict even as it tries to rebuild after six years of war and economic collapse, Jordan is struggling with high unemployment and regional tensions, and Syria faces the monumental task of carving out its future after 54 years of Assad rule left a country in tatters.

It has become clear to us that our tools are urgently needed in responding to the needs of people across the region. Our Syrian participants in Lebanon and Jordan have spoken about wanting to take theatre back to their villages in Syria, using creativity and expression to heal from over a decade of destruction. As Najah, a Syrian women’s theatre participant living in Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley told us the day after the fall of the Assad regime: “Once I’m fully trained with Seenaryo, I want to go back to my village and lead theatre with my community there.” Teachers we are working with in Gaza have expressed their hunger for tools to support their students’ learning and wellbeing, in spite of the daily bombardment, displacement and hunger that they are subjected to by Israel. 

As communities face further chaos and instability, we are ready to extend our reach to support people across the region. But we need your help to do it.

What we are planning to do? 

As we look ahead to our next chapter, as well as deepening our impact across Lebanon and Jordan, we plan to build a sustainable long-term presence in Palestine, Syria and Egypt. The ongoing catastrophe in Palestine compels us to carefully consider how we can best support children, educators, and families — both as they attempt to return home and as they seek safety in new environments. It is vital that we provide spaces where they can feel safe, supported, and secure, allowing them to heal and process. Meanwhile in Syria, as sanctions are lifted and the scale of community work needed there becomes clear, we are considering how and where to strategically, impactfully and cost-effectively support local people to rebuild.

If we can gather enough funds, our immediate plans include:

• Train early-years educators in Gaza through an online programme starting this summer, equipping them to bring psychological support and play-based learning into temporary learning spaces. This two-year project marks the beginning of a sustained effort to integrate play and theatre into education for children in Palestine.
• Launch the next stage of Ibn Battuta Travels, a six-part theatre epic co-created by hundreds of community participants across the UK, Lebanon, Jordan, Palestine, Egypt and Syria. This large-scale cultural production allows people across the region to raise their voices and have their stories heard, as they explore their own journeys of displacement.
• Embed our work in formal education structures in Lebanon and Jordan by partnering with the Ministries of Education. These collaborations will allow us to scale our impact through national training programmes and curriculum integration, ensuring that play-based and theatre-led learning reaches more classrooms across both countries.
• Introduce arts to children in under-served regions of Syria by delivering children’s theatre and training local young adults as theatre facilitators.

Experience over our first decade of work has shown that in these years of upheaval in the region, the most effective funds are flexible ones that allow us to respond in the most appropriate way to unfolding crises. With this fundraising campaign we aim to build a Resilience Fund which will allow us to support local groups across five countries as and when needs arise.

We are planning our expansion as governments scale back development aid and international solidarity is waning. The support of our individual network of donors has never been as important as it is today.

Impact report here. 

Who are Seenaryo?

Participatory theatre and play can transform an individual’s sense of agency. They gain the power to shape their own narrative and expand what is possible, individually but also through collective action. Working in Lebanon, Jordan, Palestine, Syria and the UK, Seenaryo uses theatre and play to support people to heal, lead and learn. We co-create performances with under-served communities, train future leaders and transform classrooms through play. Reaching over 175,000 children, youth and women since 2015, Seenaryo won the Resilience in Action Award at HundrED 2024, the Arts, Culture & Heritage prize at the 2023 UK Charity Awards and was one of Expo 2020 Dubai’s 120 Global Innovators.

www.seenaryo.org | www.seenaryoplaykit.org

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Funding method

Keep what you raise – this project will receive all pledges made by 1st August 2025 at 1:58pm