Alma Salem
Syria

Research/Training/Regional Events - 2015
Independent curator and cultural advisor with 20 years of knowledge and expertise in producing hundreds of cultural projects across all Arts forms. Her expertise range between International Cultural Relations, Heritage protection, Visual and Performing Arts; Cultural leadership and Entrepreneurship, and a recent focus on Arts in development and in Conflict. Alma joined the British Council from 2006 to 2015 and held many senior positions; marked by 5 years of being the Middle East North Africa regional programmes manager for the Arts, overseeing over 800 projects across 17 Arab countries, UK and Europe. Before this from 1995 to 2006 she worked at the IFPO, 'The Near East French Institute' as the cultural resources manager ’ where she created a 'Bank of images', a 10 years project of preserving the visual Heritage of the Levant in partnership with the EU, the National Centre of Scientific Research in France (CNRS) and various museums ; and where she collected ,digitized and set-up an automated easy-access database of over 50 thousands references ; and provided advisory to archeologists and historian's researches  . She sits on the advisory boards of many cultural and social development institutions and initiatives in the region and beyond. She is recognized among the MENA artistic community as a cultural activist, lobbying and campaigning for the peaceful artistic movement, calling for artistic freedom of expression, advocating for artists rights, for the role of Arts in development and communities positive change, in conflict resolution and peace building, and for the growth and expansion of the global creative economies. Among others; she contributed to the making of the first Aerial Atlas of Levant, the installation of the Syrian European Archaeology Exhibition at the IMA (Institut du Monde Arabe). She also curated the touring exhibition entitled ' Syria Third Space' showcasing the new works of Syrian artists in times of conflict, launched in London in January 2015, at The Europeen parliament building in Brussels in June 2015 ' and will be in Geneva in March 2016.