Founded 2002
EGYPTIAN CENTRE FOR CULTURE AND ARTS
Why ECCA?
Because the value of cultural diversity to the human community, like the value of biological diversity to continued life on this planet, cannot be underestimated. As the world shrinks, dominant ideologies, religions and cultural expressions overwhelm the margins and we lose essential elements of the creative process: our appreciation of difference, our freedom to choose, to experiment and to dream of alternatives. ECCA aims to record and present traditional music and musicians in Egypt as vibrant and renewable cultural resources that bridge Mediterranean and sub-Saharan African cultures. ECCA further encourages efforts to re-awaken the multi-layered complexity of Egyptian culture of music and arts, to return the music to the critical role it has played in the daily life and imagination of the Egyptian people, to counter the trend to isolate it from its original communities, to share this rich resource with the world community and, by presenting it in new contexts to encourage perception of this music as a resource for creativity.
Sonic Immersion
"Discover the raw energy of traditional rituals, presented as a living heritage that continues to evolve within our walls."
TO ENCOURAGE
TO ENCOURAGE THE DIVERSITY, SPECIFICITY AND VIBRANCY OF EGYPT CULTURAL SCENE AS A STRATEGY TO COUNTER CULTURAL UNIFORMITY, CONSUMERISM AND AN INCREASING INTOLERANCE FOR THE MARGINAL.
TO PARTICIPATE
TO PARTICIPATE IN SAFEGUARDING EGYPTIAN CULTURAL MEMORY BY RESEARCHING AND DOCUMENTING ITS INTANGIBLE CULTURAL HERITAGE AND BY ENCOURAGING THE RE-ESTABLISHMENT OF POPULAR TRADITIONS AND SOCIAL FESTIVALS.
TO CONTRIBUTE
DIALOGUE AMONG PEOPLE FROM DIFFERENT CULTURES THROUGH AN INTENSE PROCESS OF ARTISTIC PRODUCTION.
The Commitment