Staff and Board, 2011, from left: Samaher Abu Sarqia, Miriam Abu Hsein, Sahar Jamal, Raja masalha, Osnat Bar-Or
Al-Bir (The Well) – Cultivating Culture and Community organization seeks to create a welcoming environment that nurtures, encourages and presents the voices and activities of Palestinian women within Israel, and broadens the spectrum of activity and influence of women within the community and the society at large. In Addition, Al-Bir creates a space for the story and experience of the Palestinian People and cultivates the community and culture based on the Palestinian history and heritage. Revitalizing the concept of the ‘Well’ and establishing a contemporary meeting place where women’s culture and qualities are valued and formulated, Al-Bir is a unique model of a cultural community center that strengthens a deprived community by its own human resources and brings change to Arab society, where it is not common for women to be active in the public sphere.
Al-Bir has been active since 2003 and is run by a group of professional Palestinian women from the fields of urban and social services planning, group facilitation, law, education, languages, art and community work. The activity at Al-Bir center is composed of three main areas: Motherhood – from the Domestic to the Public Sphere Project; Art Project which includes workshops for artists that lead them to a series of art workshops within schools and welfare institutions, and Cultural Activities area that includes films, cultural events, exhibitions and workshops such as art, sexuality, women health, children safety, yoga, entrepreneurship and more.
Osnat Bar-Or 