The Founding of Al-Ma'mal

The six founders of Al-Ma’mal had already found a suitable Old City venue for the new project. It had been a traditional handmade floor-tiles factory established in 1900 and operational until 1975, when automation and cheaper imports made it commercially unviable. The owners of the Tile Factory, who were members of the Kassissieh family, offered the building to the project for 20 years, rent free. 

The future home of Al-Ma’mal may have had a rich creative history, but in 1997 it was empty and in a very bad state of repair. However, its Old City location meant that funding could be sought in the form of a renovation grant. Anticipating a long process to get permission for the renovation and use of the building, secure the funding and complete the work, the six rented a building near the Tile Factory to be an administrative and exhibition space, and vantage point from which to monitor Tile Factory renovations when they began.

The first major funding proposal from 1997 outlines two distinct entities under the umbrella of a newly named Anadiel Institute of Contemporary Art. The first was called the Jerusalem Network, which would organise year-round cultural activities and house a Cultural Information Office. The second was Al Ma’mal, which at that time was seen purely as an artist-in-residence program for the new premises. The proposal contained detailed plans for the conversion of the Tile Factory to a dedicated residency space including kitchens, bedrooms, a multi-function hall and projection room, workshop and exhibition space.

The application to the Jerusalem Municipality for conversion and renovation of the space was intensely complicated. Realising delays were going to be far longer than anticipated necessitated a change of plan so a second proposal in 1997 designated Al-Ma’mal as one organisation within which all initiatives would be housed. This enabled the organisation to function in the existing premises and be registered as a charity which expanded the funding options. A grant was secured from the Ford Foundation in 1998 and the Al-Ma’mal Foundation for Contemporary Art was finally on its way.

Securing the funding from Ford was a very special moment remarked upon by two of Al-Ma’mal’s founders, Khalil Rabah and Huda Imam. The funding proposals themselves were also very special: beautifully designed and bound with metal studs they were art books in their own right. According to Huda Imam:

We were a model of teamwork. Everyone had put something into creating the proposals. We spent a lot of time with the Graphic Designer (Munther Jaber) who worked with Khalil to produce the artwork and the design. By the time we submitted it to Ford it was already a beautiful product.

Khalil Rabah was very pleased to recall that the hard work on the proposals had not gone unnoticed:

We submitted the proposals to the Cairo office and the reply we got was something like: ‘Whoever can make a proposal like this, I am sure can do something good with the money we give them’.

By the end of 1998 it was obvious that plans for the Tile Factory space had to be frozen. The complex  process of approval seemed endless and when it was finally over, the promised renovation grant was no longer there:

It dragged on for years. By the time we had gone through the courts and obtained all the necessary permissions and paperwork, there was no money. Although the Welfare Association had announced the renovation grant it never actually happened. (Jack Persekian)

As a consequence it was the temporary space that became Al-Mamal’s rather more permanent home. Twelve years on the Tile Factory is still awaiting its renovation grant.