Summer Art School
The Summer Art School aims to fill the gaps in art education in Palestine by firstly, expanding young Palestinian artists’ knowledge of current trends in contemporary arts and secondly, providing a space for the critical debate of conceptual issues in contemporary arts. The Sakakini Centre’s Summer Art School is timely: With Israeli-imposed restrictions on travel abroad, young Palestinian artists now have the opportunity to develop their talents in a local setting, & in their native language. 

The 2003 Summer Art School, run by both local and visiting Diaspora artists including Hussni Radwan, Emily Jacir, Khaled Hourani, Sliman Mansour, Tayseer Barakat, Ziyad Dajani and Vera Tamari, gave 10 Palestinian art students and 5 independent Palestinian artists a brief introduction to the history of art and art techniques. 

The 2004 Summer Art School addressed critical issues in contemporary art history, while centering on five conceptual themes -identity, space, time, place, and irony - in late 20th century art, with illustrations of works by contemporary Palestinian and Arab artists. Dr. Tina Sherwell, a local arts scholar, published a booklet covering the contents of the 2004 Summer Art School; this booklet was translated into Arabic, distributed to the 15 participants (Fine Arts students at Najah University from Nablus, Jenin, Qalqilya and Tuklarem), and shared with artists and institutions across Palestine.  The Summer Art School will continue in 2005 & 2006, with a practice oriented addition.