The Center for Arts and Humanities (CAH) at the American University of Beirut (AUB), in collaboration with the Department of English and the Theater Initiative in AUB’s Faculty of Arts and Sciences, will host a public talk by Alia Alzougbi, artistic director and CEO of Shubbak Festival and artist in residence at CAH.
Titled “Rehearsing Otherwise: Art, Diaspora, and the Politics of Imagination,” the talk will take place on Tuesday, October 13, 2026, at 5:00 p.m. in Conference Room 113, of AUB’s Asfari Building.
Twenty years after graduating from AUB, Alzougbi returns to the campus where her academic and artistic paths first converged. As a social anthropology student, she researched oral histories while pursuing theater and performance. These formative experiences helped shape a career that would eventually lead her to Shubbak Festival, Europe’s largest biennial festival of contemporary Arab and Southwest Asian and North African (SWANA) arts.
In her talk, Alzougbi will reflect on the role of art amid genocide and climate catastrophe, the complexities of diasporic cultural leadership, and the political and social possibilities of imagination. She will explore how artistic practice can challange dominant narratives, envision alternative realities, and create space to rehearse possible futures.
A cultural strategist, artist, and facilitator, Alzougbi works at the intersection of art, social justice, and environmental care. Her practice examines the structural roots of inequality and the capacity of art and storytelling to imagine alternatives.
The event is free and open to the public.
Members of the media are invited to attend and cover the event.
For more information please contact:
About AUB
Founded in 1866, the American University of Beirut bases its educational philosophy, standards, and practices on the American liberal arts model of higher education. A teaching-centered research university, AUB has more than 790 full-time faculty members and a student body of over 9000 students. AUB currently offers more than 140 programs leading to bachelor’s, master’s, MD, and PhD degrees. It provides medical education and training to students from throughout the region at its Medical Center that includes a full-service 365-bed hospital.
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