Arab Cultural and Community Center

The Arab Cultural and Community Center provides cultural and arts programming to more than 6,000 members of the Bay Area’s Arab and Arab American community. Each year, it produces a series of cultural events, an Arab Cultural Festival, and Bay Area concerts by renowned Middle Eastern, North African, and local Arab American artists, in partnership with Hewlett Foundation grantees including Berkeley’s La Peña Cultural Center and Yerba Buena Arts and Events.

Founded in San Francisco in 1973, the Arab Cultural and Community Center (ACCC) currently provides English language classes, public health services and legal counsel to 6,000 members of the Bay Area’s Arab and Arab-American community annually as well as cultural and arts programming. The ACCC produces an annual Arab Cultural Festival and partners with Hewlett Foundation grantees including Berkeley’s La Pena Cultural Center and the Golden Thread theater company to present concerts by renown musicians from the Middle East and North Africa and readings of new plays about the Iraq war and depictions of muslims in American popular culture. With first-time funding from the Hewlett Foundation the ACCC will increase staff time in order to curate and promote a monthly series of concerts, readings, film-nights and dance performances each to include post-performance conversations with the artists. (New, $45,000/3; 4%)

As one of only a few organizations of its kind in the Bay Area, the Arab Cultural and Community Center (ACCC) in San Francisco is a leading resource for a broad array of social services for Arab Americans, a complex and historically underserved community that is welcoming an increasing number of immigrants into the greater fabric of the region. Through a series of music and cultural events, ACCC celebrates the richness and diversity of Arab cultures. The events are highlighted by the annual Arab Cultural Festival, showcasing entertainment, cuisine, and cultural traditions from the Arab world. Support for the ACCC would allow the organization to build upon and strengthen its internal capacity, and delve more deeply into the multiple narratives and perspectives of the Bay Area Arab community.