In 2010 a new high school for boys and girls opened in the Sidi neighborhood of Marrakech, not far from the girls’ dormitory, with a vibrant and ambitious group of 500 15-year olds. In May 2011 Tamaas invited poet Anne Waldman, musician Ha-yang Kim, storyteller Halima Hamdane and artist Alystyre Julian to Marrakech to do art workshops with the students for a two-week period, with the contributing presence of local artist Julie Klear. On the strength of how energetic and creative the exchange was for both groups, Tamaas will continue to support artistic workshops between artists from Morocco and elsewhere and the students of the high school and girls’ dormitory.

Tamaas will also contribute to the establishment of a reading library at the high school. Working with the French offices of Libraries Without Borders, Tamaas will purchase a quantity of books in Arabic, Berber, English, Spanish, and French, in a variety of genres including literature, history, art and education. It will be a standard lending library and the students will learn to maintain the library and be responsible for the safeguarding of books.

Tamaas seeks to encourage an already rich cultural environment among students and teachers and to ensure an ongoing arts program for the students.

This post is also available in: French, Arabic