Sady Pětatřicátníků 27
30100 Plzeň
Tchéquie
- Arts
- Democracy and community development
- Human rights
- International/Cultural relations
- Research
- Youth and education
NGO ARAFBEST is a voluntary-based organisation. Currently, there are 20 members of our team; most of them are students or graduates of the Department of Middle Eastern Studies of the University of West Bohemia in Pilsen. Our main project is the annual Festival of Arab Culture. Our budget is modest (around 12, 000 Euro per year). The main sponsor and partner of our activities is the University of West Bohemia in Pilsen (80% of the whole budget); in addition, we regularly receive financial support from some Arab embassies based in Prague and from some private firms. We have a strong network of local partners (e.g. Insaan, Czech-Arab Association, Oriental publishing house Dar Ibn Rushd). We have great relations with the Lebanese festival Beirut Animated, too.
NGO ARABFEST promotes the culture of The Middle East, the culture of the
Arab world. By organising different cultural events, we want to
emphasize the fact that Arab culture has a lot to offer. We want to give
a chance for everyone who comes to the events organised by us to form his
or her own opinion on the Arab world with more detailed information,
with (at least a bit) of personal experience. To show that the media
picture is sometimes just a one-sided view. The main aim is to develop
intercultural dialogue not only among different academic fields, but
also among the wider public.
The main activity of NGO ARABFEST is organising the annual Festival of
Arab Culture. The festival usually takes place in Spring in the cities of Pilsen
and Prague. Our team has been preparing the festival every year for
12 years and made it one of the most important cultural events in the
region and the biggest Arab culture-related event in the Czech Republic.
The festival program offers concerts, lectures by Czech and foreign
experts, debates, dance performances, exhibitions, workshops,
competitions, food tastings and much more – all tied to the culture of
the Middle East.
We also organise smaller-scale events, e.g. movie screenings and
discussions, and we take part in organising various exhibition projects
during the year.
We do our work very well. Well, as it is not an occupation for any member of our NGO, it is clear that we fulfill the goals of our organisation just with passion. But the outcomes of the activities, and the feedback from experts and the general public, also show that we do it well. Over the past twelve years we have learned how to organise the event, how to promote it, and how to cooperate; we know our field of study, and we know the Arab world from different perspectives. We can contribute to the ALF Network in the Czech Republic with our experience, share our practices, and broaden the range of activities and kinds of events the Network promotes. We gladly will. Last, but not least, we are definitely a reliable partner.
All of our team share the opinion that being a member of the ALF Network
can bring us only advantages. We could meet new partners, start new
cooperations and new projects. We can get feedback "from outside", from
much more experienced organisations. We would like to be more active
also abroad, to promote our activities in an international context.
Although we do have contacts all around the Arab world with different
organisations, galleries and individuals, we would like to strengthen
our international network. And definitely, we have to and want to get
better at what we are doing. By joining the ALF Network, without any
doubts we can do so.