20 June–17 July 2021

Shubbak 2021 invited audiences to witness the creativity, responsiveness and imaginative power of Arab artists to speak to our times. The festival programme reflected our fundamental desire to connect to people and ideas across borders in an unsettled world.

Taking place within the Covid 19 pandemic, the festival offered new perspectives on how we can come together again. Asking how historical events and personal experiences shape our existence. 

Shubbak 2021 wove multiple threads between people, locations and ideas. It opened a space where personal histories met political engagement, where identities were re-thought in the light of histories and inequities, and where tentative and hopeful steps can be taken towards new shared futures.

Browse the archived website festival programme in the PDF below. Or contact us for more information.

Read reflections on the 2021 Festival

2021 Festival Programme PDF (24Mb)

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"The festival's scope is ambitious... with expressions from varied regions and a thriving, vibrant diaspora"

Metro