Atelier of Alexandria is a very dynamic Egyptian NGO originally founded in 1935 as a meeting point for the Alexandrian artistic scene. It moved to its present premises in 1969, and took the name of Atelier of the Artists and Writers of the City of Alexandria. The President, Dr. Mohamed Rafik Khalil
mrafikkhalil@yahoo.com, is assisted by a Vice-President, Dr. Muhammad Salim. The in-house operations are managed by Moataz El Safty
mmmoataz@hotmail.com , Coordinator of the Artistic Programming, Jilal Ibrahim, Secretary, and Ahmad Saad, responsible of the technical and logistic issues.
The Atelier is mostly funded by the subscriptions of its nearly 1000 members. It also rents its premises (halls and working studios), at very affordable prices, for exhibitions and artists in residence.
Mission & Objectives
L'Atelier aims at connecting artists from different horizons, at making it possible for artists from different fields and nationalities to share their experiences. The very dynamic team of this famous venue on the Egyptian artistic scene also strives to make the arts more accessible to the general public. They have organised several events including exhibitions, workshops, seminars, talks. They have been chosen to host part of the Alexandria Biennale of Arts in 2005, which was a great recognition of their cultural role.
Main Projects/Activities
Since 1969, the Atelier has hosted many cultural events, both regional and international, with a wide variety of activities in the fine arts, poetry, music, history lectures as well as seminars.
The Atelier of Alexandria is one of the most vital and active resources for contemporary culture and art in Egypt; its members represent the top intellectuals and thinkers. The Atelier is active in all of the modern movements in art and culture, giving many workshops and supporting established and emerging talents.
This is an example of the most recent activities of the Atelier. AAW international youth salon, AAW international workshop, AAW Artists residency programs.
AAW became as a partner with
ZINC-ECM de la friche belle de mai,
as a member of
BJCEM The International Association of the Biennial of Young Artists from Europe and the Mediterranean (la Biennale des Jeunes Créateurs d'Europe et de la Méditerranée)
as a member of Egyptian network in
ALF Anna Lindh Foundation for culture dialogue between Europe - Mediterranean.