SAMA, Shining a light on Sefrou

Sefrou Association for Multidisciplinary Arts (SAMA) is thrilled to showcase its portfolio and in doing so, highlighting Sefrou’s multicultural old medina. Rich in cultural diversity and steeped in memories reaching far back into the storied past, the region’s heritage is being sought out, recorded, and presented in the form of an arts and cultural program, to encourage intercultural and cross-cultural dialogue and understanding.

SAMA’s alliance with Dakira, a High Atlas and USAID Morocco program, began with the idea of a first-of-its-kind, community-based performing arts project and the co-creation of a public mural within the walls of Sefrou’s Jewish area. Exploring and showcasing Morocco’s diverse heritage, SAMA’s Project Sho’la (Spark) sought to bring together all ages of Sefrou’s community to explore and personify its rich history and memory-keeping through storytelling, art, and theater. Now, with local partners, the trusted community involvement from SAMA, a collaborative cultural and arts movement from deep within the heart of Morocco has been ignited.

USAID (US Agency for International Development) and program Dakira are supporting Morocco’s cultural diversity and religious tolerance by recording and sharing hundreds of stories that capture the Kingdom’s rich and diverse history. Sefrou is one of several communities across Moroccan involved in the program.

Preserving collective memories by encouraging youth to seek out elders and recording and sharing stories through an intergenerational dialogue engages Sefrouians and encourages them to take pride in the blending of their cultures. SAMA aims that such awareness will influence the content of the arts and cultural program. One of the main objectives of SAMA’s projects is skills transference and capacity building for generations of Sefrouians to come that will establish Sefrou as a significant cultural hub. 

Preserving and celebrating a heritage of coexistence through transmitting collective memory is an important way to ensure such memories can be shared with future generations. SAMA is dedicated to leading the co-creation of such a movement through a multitude of artistic means and cultural activities and will continue to engage local, national, and international communities toward that vision.

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