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Thousands of children were able to benefit from the Centre's winter break programme which included activities in music, dance, the visual arts and drama. 13,460 books were borrowed for external use during the last two months, in addition to 26,600 books borrowed internally…

This group of themed programmes was launched by the Centre in February and is due to continue until the end of April. Activities were designed to introduce children to the cultures, customs, food, archaelogical and artistic treasures and natural environments of other countries.

The Centre hosted an art exhibition of work by children in collaboration with Shababeek Studio. In addition, the Studio held an introductory workshop for twenty children on photography and video filmmaking.

A seminar on animating children's activities was given by Rawia Sahweel and attended by a variety of professionals interested in childhood issues, including members of our school librarians' club. The focus of the workshop was on children aged 7 to 11.

The second part of QCC's Reinforcing Family Culture in Gaza programme, which is co-funded by Save the Children UK, launched new paretns' clubs in twenty four kindergartens all over the Strip. Each club received 200 books, and produced twelve shows as well as running twenty-four separate reading activities involving both parents and children.

At the close of this ambitious and multi-faceted programme, a ceremony of music and dance was held at the Rashad Shawwa Centre in Gaza City to which QCC's children contributed a folkloric interlude.

The Jury of the YAYA2010 announced the list of artists who now qualify to go through to the final phase of the award. They will be expected to create their shortlisted projects in the next months and present them to the Jury in October 2010. Sixty-two applications were received and the following artists shortlisted: Ibraheem Jawabreh (Bethlehem), Joumana Manna' (Jerusalem), Dina Matar (Gaza), Eid Arafa (Bethlehem), Salman An-Nawati (Gaza), Abdallah Ruzzi (Gaza), Issa Abdallah (Ramallah), Majd Abdel Hameed (Ramallah), Mohammad and Ahmad Abu Nasser (Gaza – joint project) and Nour Abu Arafa (Jerusalem).

Basil Maqosi's exhibition, War Madmen , which had previously been shown in Gaza in November of last year, was opened at the French-German Cultural Centre (Ramallah) with the Programme's support.

The Programme supported a number of theatre productions in the West Bank and Akka, including the new play Forty-eight Minutes for Palestine by British writer Mojisola Adibayo performed by Ashtar Theatre with Edward Muallem and Reham Ishaaq. The play is expected to open in London in mid-May 2010. Also produced was Stories of Exile – All Talk, No Action , written by Sameh Hijazi, performed at the Laz Theatre in Akka by Lana Zureik (a previous beneficiary of the Programme) and Ihab Salameh. These works were supported as part of the Performance Arts Development Project, co-funded by the Ford Foundation.

A busy time for the Ramallah Guest House, which hosted Swiss photographer Anne-Marie Flyer , who worked on a new project and presented an exhibition entitled Bedrooms at the French-German Cultural Centre; Drama Teacher Kostas Amairopoulos from Greece, who gave a seminar on drama in early-childhood education; and filmmaker Julia Smith (USA) who is working on a project with local artists.

A five-day workshop by Greek expert Kostas Amairopoulos on drama in early childhood education was held between January 18 and 22. Twenty teachers from the West Bank and the 1948 areas attended. The workshop focused on linking playful activities with the curriculum.

The UK-based Big Brum Theatre Company visited Palestine in January and held a workshop at the Al-Qasaba Theatre with thirty-eight teachers from the West Bank and the 1948 areas under the supervision of Chris Cooper. The workshop culminated in a tour of the play Window to the Friends' School Ramallah, the Galilee Secondary School Nazareth and a number of schools in the Nablus area, with participation by 137 pupils and 48 teachers. Two final public performances of the play were fully booked at Al-Qasaba.

As part of its programme to support teachers and postgraduate education students in their research methodologies, the Centre presented a number of workshops and lectures, including one by videoconference presented by Wasim Kurdi on Semiotics to twenty teachers in Gaza and the West Bank and two other lectures by QCERD researchers Malik Rimawi and Rami Salameh.

A workshop was held on February 19 and 20 with Professor Roger Heinrichs with thirty-three teachers and seven university physics students from the West Bank on teaching physics by using familiar and easily affordable and available materials. The workshop is part of the newly formed science education module in the Centre, directed by Dr Wahbeh.

Fifty teachers from kindergartens in the Jerusalem and Naqab Desert areas attended a workshop in Al-Bireh led by QCERD researchers on early childhood education.

Eighteen teachers from schools in the Qalqilya area took part in a two-day workshop focused on ways of linking curriculum subjects with themes central to human life that are stimulating and challenging for pupils. The workshop was funded by Welfare Association and is part of a 120-hour module.