ArtsAction Group is an international community-based collective committed to facilitating arts initiatives with children and youth in conflict-affected environments. Through respect, open dialogue, and long-term cooperation, we work with local partners to create, produce, and share these experiences with a broader global audience.
Established in October 2013 with offices in the US and UK, ArtsAction Group is the culmination of decades’ experience living and working in conflict-affected environments across four continents.
"We actively seek partnerships within the communities we serve as well as with other regional, national, and international organizations engaged in the arts and the fostering of human dignity."
Mohamed Sleiman Labat is a Sahrawi multidisciplinary artist, filmmaker, writer & translator. Born and raised in the Sahrawi refugee camps southwest Algeria. He now runs Motif Art Studio; a small art space built entirely from discarded materials following destructive floods that hit the refugee camps in Tindouf in 2015. His art draws upon the past and present life of the Sahrawi people. He has been exploring these interconnected topics through different art practices including films, writing and community-based art.
Mohamed Sleiman Labat
Ann Holt, PhD
Patchogue Arts Council
ArtsAction Group
Members of the Community
Patchogue Arts Council
Inspiration of the Bees was an immersive exhibition of collaborative art making and technology with robotic works and children’s ballet inspired by the dance of bees. It focused on what the bee teaches us through themes of sustainability and the environment. Inspired by the bee, it invited a decentering of the human to look to what we can learn from this creature whose power creates biodiversity and sustains life itself. Bees teach lessons on how to work together… Bees make life possible…Bees make honey… Bees make our environment healthy and colorful… Bees contribute to biodiversity… They are Architects, Housekeepers, Chemists, Builders, Guards, Foragers, Guides, Artists, Dancers… Inspiration of the Bees invited viewers to step into a sensory world of the bee, honoring and appreciating her contribution to life and her stewardship of our local and global garden. It offered visitors an immersive sensory experience and encourages them to reflect on their own responsibility to the bee for a thriving future.
Hive Animation, Students Collected Samples of Life/Nature through Video/Audio.
The Student's Creative Observations were then compiled together to create Hive Animation.
Inside Fellbach-Haus - Creative Education Centre
Pond Projection
Inside Fellbach-Haus - Creative Education Centre
Paper Wall Projection
Inside Fellbach-Haus - Creative Education Centre
Drawing Machine Map Runway
Inside Fellbach-Haus - Creative Education Centre
Drawing Machine Runway
Fellbach-Haus - Creative Education Centre
Projections on Outside
We returned to Kosovo after a 3 year hiatus! The theme, chosen by our partners at Fellbach Haus was Freedom to...Liria për... We were inspired by a desire to continue with the STEAM workshops via small kinetic sculptures, animation and exploring the science behind fluorescent light and color. We also wanted to celebrate our reunion with our Kosovar family and designed the curriculum around the themes of play and celebration.
This years exhibition included guests from the US Embassy, past and current mayors of Suhareka/Theranda, Albanian Culture TV, and the many young people who participated in the workshops, with their families.
We are grateful for our partner, Refki Gollopeni and Albanian Culture TV for facilitating the video, providing an overview of the workshops.
2018 is the 10th anniversary of Kosovo's independence. The theme Outside In/Inside Out or Nga Jasht Mbrenda / Nga Mbrenda Jasht in Albanian, was conceived with the idea that celebration offers pause to reflect on personal and collective pasts/presents/futures. In conjunction with looking at artists such as Philip Guston, Annette Messager, Barbara Kruger and Shimon Attie, the approach involved sharing a memory, a current event and envisioning a future. Students then interviewed community and family members about their memories from the past twenty years. These stories were documented with drawings, video, audio recordings and photography and became the content that informed our collaborative artwork, an interactive timeline.
Beautification Mural, Jackson Annex, Hempstead, NY
S.E.E.D.S. in collaboration with ArtsAction Group
Save the Children, was established in the United Kingdom in 1919 to improve the lives of children through better education, health care, and economic opportunities, as well as providing emergency aid in natural disasters, war, and other conflicts.
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