THE CEDAR TREE PROJECT

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The Cedar Tree Project amplifies art and artists of the SWANA/Arab diaspora,
inviting deeper understanding,  empathy ​and engagement 
through artistic exchange. 

 2023-2024

Motion State
 Engaging broader awareness and engagement  
​regarding the concept of diaspora through creative workshops and film
Directed by Sharon Mansur
Fall 2023/Winter 2024
Supported by the Minnesota State Arts Board
with partners Michelle Baroody, film curator, and the Frozen River Film Festival

Wayfinding (working title)
Directed collaboration with Meryl Zaytoun Murman,
2023-2024
Supported by a Forecast Public Art mid-career professional development grant
Research in preparation for Wayfinding, a multi-media public art project 
in Winona, Minnesota during summer 2024. 
The McKnight Residency in Minnesota is made possible by the McKnight International Choreographer Residency Program, funded by the McKnight Foundation and administered by The Cowles Center for Dance and the Performing Arts.
https://forecastpublicart.org/portfolio/mansur-murman/

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*SWANA: Southwest Asia & North Africa 
​Some thoughts  from a dance perspective, by Nadia Khayrallah:
https://www.dance.nyc/programs/jcomm/blog/2019/02/Middle-Eastern-Arab-Why-That-Matters-and-more/
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1001 Arab Futures 

“We’re living in a time where there are challenging and complicated questions, misconceptions and sociopolitical concerns regarding the SWANA region and people.  As an artist/curator I am thrilled to have the opportunity to welcome artists from the richly diverse SWANA diaspora to our rural community in Minnesota, 
and offer a range of perspectives, questions, narratives and invitations. “
~ Sharon Mansur

"...while Sharon has lived in Washington DC in the aftermath of 9/11, and created work that meditates on the erasures, violence, and misunderstandings directed toward Arab individuals, her recent work has brought those opportunities for experience and exchange to the rural upper Midwest – and has opened up a space for folks beyond the city
​to sit more deeply, more intimately, with racial and cultural difference."
~Matthew Fluharty, Art of the Rural
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Cedars of Lebanon photo by Sharon Mansur (2018)

THE CEDAR TREE PROJECT
Featured artists and events

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CURATOR
​Sharon Mansur

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COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT
Community meals, workshops, artist residencies, discussions and more....

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