DSM participated in “Women in Action” conference at Erbil between 25-27 November 2011

Diyarbakır Arts Center participated in “Women in Action” conference that took place in Erbil between 25-27 November 2011. The conference is organized by Artrole, a UK-based culture and arts organization that aims at creating bridges between UK and the Middle East.

Artrole was founded by Kirkuk born artist and curator Adalet Garmiany in 2004, and recently opened its official Arbil office. With an approach to establish cooperations and relations between middle eastern countries and the others, Artrole initiated many exhibitions and artist exchange programs in the past years. Artrole’s “Women in Action” conference is organized in relation to 25 November International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women, and was a pioneering activity that was also supported by local institutions. The conference represented a first step for international networking and communication between different women organizations and activists with an emphasis on participants from the region.

The conference program reflected diversity with panels and workshops as well as exhibitions and film screenings. The participants with different backgrounds such as women artists, scholars and cultural managers came from a variety of countries including Syria, Palestine, Iraq, Kurdistan Regional Government, U.S.A, The Netherlands, Turkey and Germany, opened up new discussions on the relevance of arts and culture in issues regarding women’s social life. The participance of individuals and organizations working in the area of women rights activism in the region enriched the discussions in certain matters that concern immediacy in Iraq and Iraq-Kurdistan, also seeking an answer to the question about how arts and culture might be relevant to these matters. One of the interesting suggestions were creating “mobile art teams” that are inspired by social support teams working in villages for providing solutions and healthcare support for women.

DSM crew shared information on the different dimensions of perception of women in Turkey during the program as well as making a presentation on the projects held by DSM in Diyarbakır. DSM particularly met individuals and organizations for short-term regional cooperation, and keeps on contributing to communication between civil society actors and arts and culture organizations in Erbil and its neighboring cities, and in Diyarbakır.