Stichting Caravane Earth

Netherlands (Kingdom of the)

Contact: 0097433861993
Postal address: Herengracht 420 1017BZ Amsterdam
Geographic Coverage of NGO’s expertise: Qatar

URL: https://caravane.earth/

Year of creation: 2018

Main areas of work related to the Convention:

Our ongoing support of artisans, artists, educators, craftspeople and other creatives takes a multitude of forms, including our creative residencies, our workshops and classes, our crafts fairs, Safe Theatre, our publications, or our pioneering regenerative agricultural activities. Through these initiatives we have built a cross-cultural network for knowledge exchange that fosters the revival and safeguarding of tradition and heritage, illustrating its contemporary relevance and lived value for ecology, society and culture. A few of our many activities in this space are detailed further below: (1) We have established several craft studios at our flagship project in Doha, Heenat Salma Farm, where we host residencies, host workshops, public programs, and events and conduct product development. • Al Sadu studio: a permanent studio space for our growing community of 51 Sadu weavers at Heenat Salma Farm. The studio has become a space of community, collaboration and education. • Textile Studio: we create both interiors and wearable textiles out of natural fibres. The studio has a fibre processing zone, which includes carding, spinning and natural dyeing. • Sewing Atelier and Embroidery Studio: Our in-house tailor and embroiderer take the textiles that are handmade on the farm, and craft them into either upholstery or beautiful, wearable garments: for use on the farm, and for sale to the public. We are developing an educational and vocational programme on the artistry of hand embroidery, sewing and pattern-making. • Woodworks and Joinery Studio: Our three in-house wood carvers and four carpenters work on carpentry, woodcarving and local product development. All of Heenat Salma’s wood-based architectural work and other wood-based craft products are made here. The carpentry also provides custom orders for clients. We are currently developing a woodworking program for children and adults. (2) We regularly participate in local and regional exhibitions promoting cultural heritage and tourism, demonstrating our expertise in the curation and delivery of programs, exhibitions, and activations. Notable local, regional and international exhibitions include: • Arabian Travel Market (ATM), Dubai (2024): Our participation was marked by a pavilion that reflected Heenat Salma’s aesthetic, showcasing handcrafted artisanal products from both local and international craftspeople. The pavilion featured a team from our artisan community who conducted workshops on traditional crafts and cultural activities including botanical arts, calligraphy, incense and kohl making, and Sadu weaving, fostering a deeper appreciation for these time -honored traditions. • Souk Al Wakra Ramadan Bazar, Al Wakra (2024): We meticulously curated the setup, utilizing natural materials such as bamboo and handcrafted textiles. We gathered artisans and vendors from across Doha, providing them with a platform to showcase their exquisite products. In addition, we organized traditional craft workshops for children and adults. The bazaar was further enlivened by musical performances, with traditional instruments and storytelling circles for children, creating a rich tapestry of cultural expressions that celebrated our shared heritage • London Craft Week (2023): We showcased Sadu Qatari traditional textiles at the London Craft Fair, in a week-long exhibition called “Sadu: The Art of Qatari Craftsmanship”. Here, we had live demonstrations with our master weaver, and screened the documentary, “The Majlis. A Journey to Qatar”. We also held a symposium to discuss the value and traditional techniques of Sadu textiles. • Venice Biennale (2021): Through the Majlis Exhibition here, we demonstrated our ability to lead and manage complex projects with a wide range of international stakeholders. The Majlis structure was constructed by Colombian bamboo builders, and the textile cover woven by a Moroccan women’s cooperative in the Atlas Mountains. The Majlis was then assembled in Venice, where it hosted cultural activations throughout the Biennale.

Objectives

Caravane Earth is an international foundation dedicated to social, cultural, and ecological transformation globally. We collaborate with a dynamic network of partners within Qatar and internationally to seed, practice, promote and scale systemic solutions to the global challenges we face. Our activities are designed not only to mitigate these challenges, but to render harmony at every level of society. To optimise our impact, we orient towards humankind’s essential needs for food and water, shelter, clothing and creative expression. In building systems to meet these needs in a sustainable and regenerative way we focus on root cause, reviving and upscaling traditional, community-centric, decentralised models of development that are aligned with ecological principles and ethical values, and that support cultural diversity and craftsmanship. Heenat Salma farm is our Doha-based flagship project where we have successfully transformed a 50-hectare local conventional farm into a permaculture Centre of Excellence that contributes to a local, regenerative and organic food supply in Qatar. Heenat Salma is also a nourishing, community-centric space for gathering and hospitality, where many of our international projects are developed. To date, we have hosted more than 170,000 visitors, both local to Qatar and international. At Heenat Salma, alongside a growing number of national and international fora, we host creative residencies, develop traditional architectural projects, create ethical marketplaces and craft-based exhibitions, run educational programs and vocational trainings, cultural exchange programs, and build value-chain oriented initiatives—each enhancing the other’s impact. We also create a diverse range of multimedia content across our areas of thematic focus. Safeguarding intangible cultural heritage is a vital part of our mission, and integral to our broader objectives. By protecting and promoting traditional knowledge, skills, and practices, we enhance social, cultural, and ecological resilience.

Cooperation

The Foundation aims to build craft communities and revive their traditional value chains in such a way that these practices become a source of meaningful and respectable livelihoods for these community members, and that the craft practices are revived and sustained. Through our ongoing programmatic activities over the last five years, we have built a diverse and dynamic community of 98 Qatari artisans, 56 of whom are women. They include Sadu Bedouin weavers, stone masons, ceramic artisans, textile weavers, geometry artists, paper makers, embroiderers, watercolourists, gypsum carvers, wood carvers, woodworkers, a bladesmith, leathermakers, palm weavers, a bisht maker and calligraphers. All of these artisans consider themselves a part of the Caravane Earth craft community. We actively promote and commission work from these artisans, connecting them to market opportunities in a growing variety of ways. To date, we have commissioned over 300 products from these artisans. We are now seeing some of the children of these artisans also wishing to practice their parents’ craft, and wishing to work with us to create products. In 2019 we began a collaborative project with the Ain Leuh Women's Cooperative in Morocco. Our collaboration led to their traditional, handcrafted textiles being used in the Venice Majlis exhibition. Besides prototype products, high end designs such as the Shepherds Rug, the Majlis Textiles and the Textiles for the Nomadic Tents were created for Caravane Earth Foundation. Through the Majlis project, many new audiences learned about the beautiful work of the Ain Leuh Women Weavers’ Cooperative from Morocco. Furthermore, in 2018, we established ‘Safe Theatre’ as a platform to encourage environmental, cultural, social and heritage transformation through theatre and storytelling. Through this platform, we have begun to engage with storytellers, creative writers, animators, actors, directors, poets and theatre enthusiasts, and have created ten theatre performances at Heenat Salma. These theatre performances have all been unified by their cultural, social and ecological significance. Eventually, we envisage Safe Theatre being offered in communities across the world.