About my Palestine / Israel Project

    In the summer of 2003, while on tour in Israel, I initiated discussions concerning my idea to launch a series of artistic collaborations between Palestinian and Israeli artists. I would like to produce exhibits and concerts on both sides of the 'line' and travel to other venues in the Middle East and within the USA. It is my intention to gather the kind of media support that would give necessary visibility to this project in Israel and Palestine; and in the world in general. My goal is to put my efforts into changing the world perception of what is possible between these two peoples. This requires counteracting the prevailing notions presented in most of the official media.

I'm happy to say that this project is gathering support in Israel and Palestine. This summer I spent over two weeks in Palestine. I gave master classes at the Palestine National conservatory, and traveled to Bethlehem and Ramallah. I visited several refugee camps and performed in one of them with Ramsey Hussain's musicians from Europe. I'm now preparing an in depth article on this subject and plan to do an interview on my experiences for KPFA radio, Berkeley CA.

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© Matthew Owens, 2004