For the past three years AFCA, Académie Francophone Cairote des Arts, has organised the Hakawy International Arts for Children festival, where children experience a variety of different art forms. In addition, the festival promotes and introduces local talents and artists to members of the international entities that participate in the festival. For the 2014 edition of Hakawy, AFCA is teaming up with the Consol Theatre from Gelsenkirchen, Germany, to stage a special performance during the festival. The performance will focus on the issue of gender and we spoke with AFCA CEO Mohamed El Ghawy for more information. AFCA is not new to Egypt, El Ghawy explains. "We have been around for nine years and we have been frequenting both private and public schools," he said. "Our mission is to educate children in Egypt about arts and culture." The AFCA festival is continuously evolving, with each year bringing something different to the audience in Egypt. "We always get foreign companies to perform in Egypt during the festival, but this year we are taking it a step further. For the fourth edition of the festival in 2014 we are doing a co-production with the Console Theatre in Germany," El Ghawy explained. "We are looking for people who are talented in acting and dancing. They also have to be able to speak in English since this will be the main language of communication. They also have to be able to travel for the rehearsals and the performances," El Ghawy said. The co-production is looking for a man and woman, aged 25 and up and artists who speak English and want to apply are expected to deliver a short audition, where they can act, sing or dance. The selection of an Egyptian actor and actress is the first step of the project. "We will then travel to Germany and hold auditions for German artists to pick a man and a woman for the production," El Ghawy said. Artists will get to work with Console Theatre director Andrea Krame and dramaturge Sylvie Ebelt, who will come to Egypt in July to do some research and develop the story for the performance. As part of their research they plan to interview men, women and children to get a better understanding of the Egyptian culture. The deadline for submissions to partake in the project is 30 June and artists are asked to submit a personal photograph, contact details and a short biography that includes their experience in the artistic field. After this the AFCA team will schedule auditions in July. The chosen artists will travel to Germany in September where they will work on the production, which will premiere in Germany in February 2014, followed by performances in several cities in Germany, and in Egypt in March 2014 during the Hakawy festival. Several performances are planned to take place in a number of cities around Egypt, allowing audiences outside of Cairo to enjoy the production. For more information applicants are encouraged to check the AFCA for Arts and Culture Facebook page.
