June 2, 2023
WoEgypt

Reem Kassem, Eddie Hasweh, and Adnan Joubi

Reem Kassem, Founder of Basita.live attended as a speaker a panel discussion at the University of the West of Scotland, during the 7th Annual Conference of the Center for African Research on Enterprise and Economic Development (CAREED). 

The discussion topic was about Resilience Building through Hybrid Cultural Engagement in Disadvantaged Communities in Egypt, and the role of virtual platforms in building this resilience. 

Basita.Live was featured as the practice-based tool for this research.

“As much as we are keen to develop technologies to facilitate the efficient organization of hybrid events, we are also advancing in scientific research to empower communities through hybrid cultural engagement,” Reem commented about her participation in the conference. 
A cultural leader with 20 years of experience in the culture sector. Reem Kassem started her career at a very young age when she was 17 following her graduation from the German School DSB in Alexandria. At that young age, she joined the Library of Alexandria’s Arts Department and soon became the head of performing arts programming. Her exceptional vision and forward-looking thoughts allowed her to become an icon in the Egyptian cultural sector leading several policy projects and grassroots initiatives. Reem Kassem was one of the main players who facilitated a flourishing cultural ecosystem in Egypt by formulating new frameworks and policies for funding and capacity building and support for independent artists.

Reem Kassem founded  Agora for Arts & Culture in 2011 in Alexandria, to promote creative community engagement through education, dissemination, and production of arts and culture. For the past 10 years, AGORA has been leading initiatives that contributed to economic and social development, in addition to several international initiatives in Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Tunisia, Sweden, Germany, and France among other countries. Her most notable initiative is Bab ElBahr Festival, inaugurated in 2011, taking place in a different public location every year.

Reem also co-founded Basita.Live  with Eddie Hasweh, and Adnan Joubi at the midst of the pandemic in April 2020, following an intensive research with artists and cultural operations in the region and beyond.

Basita.live is the first ticketed virtual theatre in the region, that highly protects the content of its creative users. The platform has been hosting events since August 2020 and has built thousands of subscribers’ base in several countries in the region.

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