1. ……Unravelled…..
The Ethnographic Story of Sefrou’s La’kaad Buttons
May – Jun 2024
Sefrou handmade buttons are an essential element of Moroccan dress, and are made by women. They adorn women’s and men’s clothing, both the everyday and those used for rituals during the Eid sacrifice or Ramadan, and important events such as weddings and circumcisions. As a defining element of national dress, these buttons are imbued with more than just economic meaning. For 3 weeks, SAMA volunteers connected Sefrou’s artisans to 26 students from Sidi Mohamed Ben Abdellah University’s Moroccan Cultural Studies program and Brigham Young University’s anthropology department to ethnographically film and document the social worlds of the button. Students will be narrating this footage into a documentary film in fall 2024, and the film will be made available to Sefroui residents the following year.
For more in-depth information:
2. Urban Fabric by Liz Keuneke / Psychogeography of Sefrou
March 2024
Liz Keuneke, an artist known for her participatory embroidery projects in various cities worldwide, creates large hand-embroidered maps that communities embellish with stitches, fostering connections between people and their environments. SAMA, in partnership with Culture Vultures, is excited to host Liz and her embroidered map of Sefrou’s old city for a series of community interventions coinciding with International Women’s Day.
Click HERE for more in-depth information.
Read our impact report on Urban Fabric in English and Arabic
3. Ahajiz Festival – Assessment of Potential
July 2023
A key objective for SAMA Association is to foster a local arts and cultural movement to co-develop Sefrou’s old city socially, environmentally, and economically. To achieve this, SAMA works on capacity building in cultural management and arts-focused entrepreneurship.
For over 100 years, Sefrou has hosted a now-famous town festival celebrating the local cherry harvest and regional culture. This event unites communities, showcasing local culture through traditional and contemporary Moroccan music, crafts, poetry, dance, and horse charging (T’borida). The three-day festival sees the town’s population swell, with festivities lasting into the early hours.
The local government organizes the Cherry Festival, funded by sponsors, televised, and free for the public. A highlight is the crowning of the Cherry Queen.
This assessment, a collective effort by several SAMA community members, analyzes the public relationship of this key cultural event, deeply ingrained in local identity, and explores its potential for arts and cultural management and entrepreneurship.
This report presents the findings and analysis of a comprehensive assessment conducted by SAMA to gauge public and audience opinion regarding the 3rd edition of Sefrous’ Ahazij Festival.
Read SAMAs report of Ahajiz Festivals impact and potential in ENGLISH and ARABIC
4. Project Sho’la
Dec 2021 – Jun 2022
SAMA’s alliance with Dakira, the High Atlas Foundation and USAID Morocco program, began with a 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.
With local partners, the trusted community involvement from SAMA, a collaborative cultural and arts movement from deep within the heart of Morocco was ignited.
Read SAMA’s project report on Project Sho’la: