The communities Seenaryo works with across Lebanon, Jordan and Palestine’s West Bank have lived for many years with the reality of destruction, displacement and deprivation of basic services, including education. But the past 6 months since Israel’s invasion of Gaza have seen reverberations across the region leading to further displacement, tens of thousands of children across the West Bank and Lebanon out of school, and a dramatically intensified mental health crisis.

Will you help us train a new generation of  leaders through theatre and play, equipping young people as catalysts for change when it is most needed in their communities?

Why the need for a creative approach to leadership training?

“The training gave me the self-belief to speak out, the self-belief to be myself, to know who I am, where I want to work and what I want to do with my life.” THEATRE LEADERSHIP TRAINEE, LEBANON

The World Health Organisation has found overwhelming evidence connecting the arts to improved health and wellbeing. Yet access to the arts or to play in Lebanon, Jordan and Palestine is severely limited – generally a preserve of the educated elite.

In a region facing war, spiralling unemployment and mass emigration, it is more important than ever for communities to have access to spaces of collective, creative expression. 

Seenaryo's Theatre Leadership Training is building a generation of theatre facilitators, peacebuilding advocates and creative leaders who go on to careers in the arts, education, social work and business. Our training:

• increases wellbeing and self-confidence (98% of trainees felt better able to articulate their feelings after the training)
• supports professional development (100% of youth and women who took the training in 2023 felt more confident applying for jobs in theatre and education)
• facilitates dialogue between communities (25% increase in those who interact more with people from other backgrounds)

Read our 2023 Impact Report here.

What is Seenaryo’s Theatre Leadership Training and how does it address the most pressing challenges facing the Arab region?

“My journey with Seenaryo transformed my career and set me on a new path.” SEBA NASER, THEATRE FACILITATOR, JORDAN

One in three of Seenaryo’s team of 100+ freelance facilitators started out as Seenaryo theatre participants, coming from some of the least-served communities in the region.

Seba Naser was a participant in Seenaryo’s first ever youth theatre production in Jordan. After the play, she took our Theatre Leadership Training and has become one of our most experienced facilitators, regularly directing children’s theatre shows with communities across Jordan. Using the skills learnt during the training, Seba also co-founded her own theatre company, Art Vision.

Meaningful participation is at the core of everything Seenaryo does and our Theatre Leadership Training allows not only for the participants in our theatre projects to actively participate in the creative process - breaking apart the hierarchies that usually exist between actors and directors - but for the most promising participants to eventually become the director themselves. This allows our work to be truly locally-led by and for the marginalised communities we serve. 

The training won Seenaryo the top Arts prize at the 2023 Charity Awards, with the judging panel praising our "participant-turned-trainer" model for ensuring that skills and learning are continually cascaded to new people. Awards judge Sarah Ellis said “the transferring of skills and learning is strong and creates a holistic approach.”

As opportunities for young people to thrive rapidly diminish - the UN puts youth unemployment at a staggering 48% in Lebanon and 42% in Jordan - Seenaryo aims to rapidly scale access to the arts and creative expression for the communities most affected by the conflict and devastation across the region. 

With your support, we can train women and youth facing conflict in Southern Lebanon and Palestine’s West Bank to become creative leaders in their communities. 

Who are Seenaryo?

In 2015, our founders headed to Lebanon’s Shatila refugee camp to make theatre with a group of children. The participants developed stories about dinosaurs, drought and an astronomer’s daughter… and Seenaryo came to life. Since that summer we have reached 135,000 people from 3 to 70 years old. Through theatre and play, we support children, youth, women and teachers to create, collaborate & catalyse social change in Lebanon, Jordan and Palestine.

www.seenaryo.org | www.seenaryoplaykit.org
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Every pound you donate makes a huge difference. Here are some ways you can support our campaign:

Donate here: Give anything from £5 to £5,000 online through this page.

There may be a better way for you to donate: Would you rather give by cash, cheque, or CAF? Would you like to give to Seenaryo in smaller, more manageable amounts by giving monthly? Or do you live in the USA, Lebanon, or Jordan? Learn how you can give here.

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