A five-night mini-cultural festival fostering engagement with Palestine held at The Basement Theatre in June. Each of the five nights will feature a different creative medium including drama, music, dance, and poetry. The idea of the mini-festival is to ignite relationships between artists to build a creative community for future artistic engagement with Palestine.

Tuesday 4th June - The Gaza Monologues - A reading of 15 monologues by young Gazan’s

Wednesday 5th June - The Gaza Music Dialogues - A night of music responding to the Gaza Monologues.

Thursday 6th June - The Gaza Dance Dialogues - An evening of dance and history. Be prepared the join in!

Friday 7th June - The Gaza Poetry Dialogues - A night of poetry responding to the Gaza Monologues

Saturday 8th June - The Gaza Theatre Dialogues - Dramatised readings from two Palestinian plays. ‘Baggage’ by Fateh Azzam and ‘Tales of a City By The Sea’ by Samah Sabawi

The name, The Gaza Dialogues springs directly from the theatre piece The Gaza Monologues which were written and performed through Ashtar Theatre in Palestine in 2010. These 31 monologues were created by teenage actors in Gaza that document life during and after the 2008-2009 bombing of Gaza by Israel. This military campaign killed 926 unarmed civilians in Gaza, including 288 Children.

The Gaza Monologues have been performed by more than 2000 youth, in 18 languages, 80 cities and 40 countries around the globe. Including at Auckland Uni last year by many of the creatives heading this festival.

Proceeds from The Gaza Dialogues will be sent to Ashtar Theatre. This has come as a request to remember that Palestinians must not just survive the horrors they are currently facing, but thrive and continue to make art.