Haven For Artists
Haven for Artists (HFA) is a cultural feminist organization based in Beirut, Lebanon. Working at the intersection of art and activism, Haven is a physical and digital platform supporting cultural works and knowledge production rooted in intersectional feminism, gender and racial justice, and decolonial practices.
Founded in 2011 by artists and activists, Haven began as a mobile body that hosted festivals, performances, artist residencies, shelter programs, and exhibitions promoting local and regional artists. Growing into an art house, Haven is a safe space to expand and sustain freedom of expression and the equitable exchange of knowledge, tools, and skills for unrepresented and marginalized communities.
Our experiences living and growing as an entity in Lebanon radically shaped our practice as a collective. It became clear to us that decoloniality is both the aim and the methodology through which we can acquire our personal and collective freedoms. In times of upheaval, after the august 4 blast, and during the zionist entity’s last war on Lebanon, Haven acted as a shelter, a food and aid distribution center, and a fundraising platform.
Its online space, as well as its workshops and small scale publications like the zine, were an invitation to raise the voice against occupation and genocide, in support of the people’s resistance in all its shape, wether it was on the ground, in arts and culture, or within ourselves. And so for the past 5 years, this thought process shaped our projects, how we work, our boycott and organizing efforts, and our identity as a cultural platform.