Olfa visiting Marouane in Morocco
Olfa visiting Marouane in Morocco

My Tandem Journey

Marouane Hassine from Association Orchidin Beni Mellal, Morocco, shares thoughts on his Tandem journey. Marouane was working in Tandem with Olfa Arfaoui from La Fabrique in Tunis, Tunisia.

After more than 10 years as a cultural manager in artistic and cultural programs in my community, and in the time of quarantine due to Covid-19, the spot on my mind comes with a decisive question, whether I keep on the path of cultural work or change it.

Marouane and Olfa
Marouane and Olfa

On the 30th of July 2020, my cultural journey with Tandem 360° has started when I received an email that said We are happy to inform you that your organization has been selected to take part in the Tandem 360° Partner Forum, it was a unique experience for me as a cultural manager and for Orchid to work differently on new methods, I have learned new things, strengthen my capacities as a cultural manager, and create a new rich cultural network, it was the first time I participated and worked in a hybrid and virtual way for more than one year.

During this journey, I have created a strong collaboration with my partner Olfa Aarfaoui and her organization La Fabrique from Tunisia, as we have common objectives, working on art for social change and dealing with social phenomena, creating positive social change and strengthening youth and women capacities through art and cultural programs, through different aspects and strategies of achieving goals; Orchid using theatrical programs and build youth soft skills via different art aspects, while La Fabrique uses Music, new creative art mediums and digital platforms to build youth and women capacities and promotes employment in the creative and alternative economies. Our collaboration in Tandem was so rich; it gave us the capacity and chance to produce the practical tool guide “Art for Social Change” that will be shared with other civil society organizations, it is the fruitful years of experience of both organizations on creating social change through art.

Our collaboration in Tandem was so rich; it is the fruitful years of experience of both organizations on creating social change through art.

Marouane Hassine
Olfa visiting Marouane in Morocco
Olfa visiting Marouane in Morocco

As we are at the end of the journey I have concluded it with a decisive answer, I belong to the cultural management, and I’m keeping on the creation of social change through it, no matter when and where, as all communities need us as cultural managers and our art, which is an art with a vision and intentional objectives.

This story is just one of many I experienced in my Tandem360° journey.