Iranian Solidarity Statement
There are moments in history when silence becomes a position.
Today, we stand with the people of Iran — artists, students, families, dreamers — whose lives are being systematically erased by violence and repression.
This is not about borders, governments, or ideologies.
This is about human beings.
Humanity knows no borders.
Grief knows no nationality.
Dignity does not belong to the state, it belongs to the people.
Aviva Arts is listening.
We listen to the voices of Iranians who are asking the world not to look away.
We listen, and we are answering with solidarity.
We believe in culture as resistance.
We understand art as generational memory.
We practice collective presence as protection.
To the people of Iran: you are not alone.
Your lives matter.
Your voices are heard.
We stand with you
Now and always.
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Artistic Producer
Palestinian-American multidisciplinary artist, Amal Bisharat works across theater, music, and storytelling as a director, producer, writer, and performer. She is Artistic Director and Co-founder of Meem Collective م and creator of Mornings in Jenin: The Musical. Her practice engages cultural memory, resistance, and diasporic experience as lived and ongoing realities.
Welcoming New Team Members
We’re deeply grateful to our generous donors and to the California Arts Council for making this moment possible. Their continued support allows Aviva Arts to grow sustainably, expand our programming, and invest in the people who bring our mission to life.
We’re excited to welcome new members into our team, whose work is informed by lived and diasporic connections to the MENA region, contributing to Aviva Arts’ commitment to cultural memory, care, and collective practice.
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Marketing Associate
Born in São Paulo, Brazil, with roots in Armenia, Lebanon, Syria, and Portugal, Carol Hovaguimian works at the intersection of art, communication, and care. With a background spanning fashion design, business, and marketing, she brings a multidisciplinary approach to storytelling, collaboration, and purpose-driven community building.
Up Next!
NEXT EDITION
DECOLONIZING THE HEART
More information coming soon!
Looking for resources and assistance navigating what’s happening at the federal level? Theatre Communications Group has a highly valuable resource list to help.
Welcome to Aviva Arts, an arts and wellness hub for innovative cultural practice. We value personal relationships and champion innovative models of connection that build bridges of empathy for today's world.
“The theater of epic vision, purpose, recovery, repair, and care needs new rituals. We don’t need to be entertained. We need to gather. ”
–Peter Sellars, World Theatre Day
We do this by:
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CONVENING
Facilitating community gatherings such as webinars, dialogues and in-person retreats which align artistic inspiration with the natural world.
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CREATING
Producing performance experiences that interrogate form, center underrepresented bodies and endeavor to respond to the prompt: what is the artist’s role in society now?
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CO-LEARNING
Facilitating liberatory public workshops through a social justice lens.
“As our activities are shared digitally to the internet, we also consider the legacy of colonization embedded within technological structures. This includes the equipment and high speed internet which are not available in many indigenous communities. The technologies that are central to much of the art we make also leave a significant carbon footprint, contributing to changing climates that disproportionately affect indigenous and marginalized peoples worldwide. We invite you to join us in acknowledging all this, as well as our shared responsibility to consider our roles in reconciliation and decolonization.”-Based on Adrienne Wong of SpiderWebShow and from Dr. H “Herukhuti” Sharif Williams from CUNY Racial Justice and Performance Conference.
