Do you believe in freedom of expression? Do you believe expression empowers people? Have you thought of the empowering potential and limitless realms of using youtube, flickr, twitter, wikipedia to create your work of art? The world of expression has changed and we want to empower you to be part of that change

The Arab Digital Expression Foundation (ADEF) is organizing a workshop for 20 young professional Arab artists and techies aged 20 to 30. The workshop will be held in Cairo, Egypt April 25 - 30, 2009. Eligible candidates interested in exploration and exposure to digital techniques in film-making, sound and music, animation and web 2.0 as well as training skills that enhance their own work are encouraged to submit applications.

Accommodation and travel of accepted applicants will be covered by ADEF.

During the five-day workshop, participants will have the opportunity to explore and practice open source software in the different audio-visual media and design with a focus on the role of this emerging worldwide trend that is proving to have tremendous empowering impact.

Key concepts include internet as a peer to peer medium, the internet as an open network where new applications and technologies can be introduced by anyone and the internet as a highly communal space. As the workshop progresses, each participant will be encouraged to use and adapt applications that best suits his or her own ideas and needs.  

Participants will participate in discussions and exercises in digital collaboration and sharing, communication and networking and exploration of the capacities of the internet.  Discussions over art and open source and the meaning of mass collaboration in art, the benefits of open source with elaboration on current experiences and initiatives (Creative Commons, twitter, flickr, wikipedia).

Participants will also have the opportunity to work together and collaborate in artistic works of expression of their choice during the workshop. In that context, participants will take part in  exercises and games to that develop soft skills such as presentation and communication skills that help articulate their work, how to work effectively within a team and how an experiential approach to any work practice can foster creativity.

Believing in the importance of empowering Arab youth who have artistic expression experience, the workshop will work on developing their training and facilitation skills through experiential learning approaches.  

By the end of the workshop, we will select participants to be trainers in our third Arab Digital Expression Summer Camp in July 2009.

Who can apply?

Young professional Arab artists and techies aged 20 to 30 can apply. Candidates should fit the below mentioned criteria, fill out the application form in one of the related four tracks and send the required information to info@arabdigitalexpression.com by March 27, 2009.  Applicants who will be selected to join the workshop will be emailed on 10^th of April, 2009.

The candidate should:

• Have his /her own experience in self expression in any media form, text, blogging, graphic design, animation, digital sound and music, digital film-making.
• Have a strong interest and/or background in one of the workshop fields
• Graphic design
• Animation
• Digital Film-making
• Digital Sound and Music
• Web 2.0
• Have strong leadership skills
• Have an experience and/or interest in working with the youth/children
• Have the ability and /or interest to successfully apply and transfer a training Curriculum
• Be able to conduct training in Arabic
• Be ready to share his/her own experiences
• Aged between 20 and 30 years (exceptions may be discussed)
• Can deal with young people from different Arab nationalities/backgrounds
• Awareness and/or technical skills of digital tools

How to apply?

To apply for this digital expression training of trainers' workshop you need to fulfil the above mentioned criteria and send us by email the following information:

1. The related Application Form attached below(answering all questions!)

2. Your Curriculum Vitae (2 A4 pages max)

3. Recommendation letter/s

4. A recent photo (jpg small size)

5. A scanned copy of your passport where expiry date is clearly visible

Please submit your application and all requirements by email by March 27, 2009 to:

info@arabdigitalexpression.com

Terms and Conditions

• ADEF covers the costs of international and local travel (e.g. travel tickets, visas)
• ADEF covers accommodation and meals for duration of the workshop
• The participants should attend the entire five days training of trainer workshop and be available for the possibility of participating in our July camp (July 13 to Aug 2).
• All participants will receive a certificate of participation at the end of the workshop

Organization

This workshop is organized by:

The Arab Digital Expression Foundation- promoting the use of ICTs by Arab Youth for digital expression and artistic creation: a network of artists and experts supporting and mentoring young talents in the Arab region.

The foundation aims at giving the young Arab generation a free and constructive environment and the opportunity to produce ideas of their own using ICTs in an attempt to improve and add to the content of this world of media. It aims to give children from various Arab countries digital tools to express themselves and discover their identity in both culture and heritage. http://www.arabdigitalexpression.com/