In the Fall of 2006, The ArtReach Foundation® held its first ArtReach Institute in collaboration with the Pan-Mediterranean Women Artists Network (Femme-Art-Méditerranée, or “FAM”), an organization with formal ties to The United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization known as UNESCO.

The goal of all ArtReach Institutes is to introduce the ArtReach Model® and to also begin the selection process of potential candidates who will ultimately become ArtReach regional trainers. Teachers and healthcare professionals from around the world are invited to attend these Institutes to learn ways to help children and adults, traumatized by violence or natural disaster, heal, regain hope, and resume a path of normal growth and development.

In 2006 & 2008, Lebanon and Jordan were chosen as the focal countries for the first ArtReach Institutes. In late 2006, a multi-disciplinary mix of 38 specialized participants from Lebanon, Greece, Jordan, Croatia, and the USA traveled to Rhodes, Greece to attend what became known as ArtReach: Project Lebanon. Then in 2008, these same participants came together again for another week-long series of workshops, this time in Amman, Jordan. That same year, ArtReach held another, and its third, training workshop for Jordanian, Iraqi and Palestinian professionals who worked with local schools, clinics and NGOs.

As individuals and in groups, these professionals devoted their time to experiential exposure to the power of creative expressive arts under the guidance of ArtReach Leadership Teams to accomplish a common goal – to bring healing and hope to the children of their countries.

ArtReach Middle East Institute

In June 2010, ArtReach launched the ArtReach Middle East Institute (AR-MEI) where 80 professionals from the fields of education, psychology, social work and government attended four workshops held in Amman, Jordan.

The AR-MEI focused on psychosocial training in the use of the ArtReach Model® to address the regional children’s needs who suffer the consequences of war, violence and displacement. This Institute was a first step towards bringing an exciting and effective model to scale. ArtReach seeks to ignite a local movement by inspiring others to adopt its Model®. The ArtReach Foundation has now become registered as a local Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) based in Amman. The 2010 AR-MEI Institute was supported by The King Abdullah II Fund for Development, the Jordan Museum, the American Friends of the Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalem, the Olive Tree Initiative and the Jordan National Gallery. The establishment of the AR-MEI was a commitment made by Susan Anderson at the 2008 Clinton Global Initiative.

We invite you to follow our “Project Lebanon” and the “Middle East Institute” experiences through some of the participants.