Al-Balad’s Long Standing Mission that Has underpinned our work since 2005 is to reinforce vital relationships between art, culture, and community at the local, regional, and international levels.
We strive to achieve our mission based on the following guiding principles:
Accessibility
We attempt to fulfill this commitment through offering most of our events for free or at a low-cost and traveling with our events into various communities across Jordan to reach the widest audience possible. We do our best to accommodate audiences from all over Jordan and the world. We also view Art as a creative commons, meaning that it needs to be integrated into our daily lives and habits and be made available to everyone, not only an elite artistic community. This is best exemplified by Baladk Street Arts and our ability to host a wide range of events catering for diverse interests in many different locales. Al Balad Theatre also works to ensure that its spaces and activities are accessible to people with disabilities.
Inclusion
We believe deeply in the principle that Art is for All People regardless of background, social and/or financial status, place of residence, or gender. We strongly promote the right of art and culture for all. We strive to deliver our projects to the widest range of audiences possible and include their voices and opinions in the creative and discernment process. We do this by facilitating the majority of our events as a collaborative process. We are constantly seeking dialogues within our community which reinforces our belief that there is an inherent value to each person’s experience that cannot be undercut or underestimated. We seek to make our audiences not only benefactors of our work, but active actors in whatever projects inspire them. Our projects transcend just the realm of theatrical performances, but music events, dance showcases, community storytelling nights, public art displays and so much more as we strive to facilitate a variety of projects so artists of all kinds can express themselves and their art forms.
Community
All of our events rely on the participation and involvement of our community members. Each event is for the people, by the people of Jordan. We have a robust volunteer network that allows everyone to get involved with Al-Balad Theater in a way that they are most inspired by. Our events work to stitch the community together rather than breaking it down. We prioritize fostering connections between individuals and creating networks for collaboration between storytellers, artists of all mediums, and direct interaction between the art being presented and our audiences. Through this, we have built a strong family of passionate individuals that are able to collaborate with each other and us as a theater to imagine and implement all of our major events. We are proud of our roots of Al-Balad Theater within a variety of communities from across Jordan’s Governorates as well as marginalized communities, particularly Jordan’s refugee populations.
Advocacy
The work of Al-Balad Theatre is also guided by the belief in the necessity of cultural exchange among societies and individuals to sustain healthy, conscious growth, and human responsibility towards the arts and humanity. We believe that Art is a powerful tool for empowerment and storytelling is at the pinnacle of social change and reform. Through working with communities across Jordan, we seek to advocate for their human rights by having their stories witnessed and heard. We work to facilitate people reclaiming their city (through Baladk Street and Urban Arts), reclaiming their voice and narrating their story (Hakaya), and giving artists the space to experiment and create despite any restrictive norms.