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.
One of her key contributions to society is her initiative to revive the concept of the ancient AGORA. Reem Kassem founded AGORA for Arts and Culture in 2011 in Alexandria, with the mission 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.
With a vision that is not just project-oriented, but rather policy and impact-oriented, Reem Kassem has been always concerned about the sustainability of the sector’s stakeholders individually and collectively. She pioneered in formulating, testing, and implementing new funding models that are now being implemented successfully over 10 years later. From this School of thought, she saw the opportunity in the threat. For her, as much as it was needed at that time, but she sensed a threat in artists sharing their work with their audiences virtually free of charge at the beginning of the pandemic. Financial sustainability and copyright threats brought the idea of creating a secured virtual platform and a tool for artists to share their work with their audiences while being able to generate income. Reem 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. Basita also works on building the technical capacities of theatres in the MENA region where the co-founders give technical workshops and closely work with the technical teams of the theatres to support them in navigating the streaming technologies. Basita’s first live streaming from the UAE will be proudly from Etihad Arena – Abu Dhabi. The platform will stream artist of the Arabs, “Mohammed Abdo in the City of Music” organized by X Culture Events.
Agora also has a social media presence on LinkedIn and Facebook. You can also find Basita.live on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, and Instagram, as well as on Apple Store and Google Play in the form of a smartphone app.
Tell us more about your background and your Companies’
My Background:
I am an Egyptian cultural manager, producer, and researcher based currently in Abu Dhabi. In 2021, I was named one of the 50 most inspirational women in Egypt, recognizing my innovation in the field, efforts in empowering women, and role in advancing gender equality. In 2022, I was also named one of 100 exceptional Egyptian women under the category of Arts and Culture.
Currently, I’m a senior Theatre Programmer at the Cultural Foundation (Department of Culture and Tourism). I have 20 years of work experience in the Cultural Sector, including performing arts, community arts, arts for social, community, and economic development, cultural policies, and cultural diplomacy.
My work experience includes being head of performing arts at the Library of Alexandria (Egypt), Manager of Programming and Cultural Affairs at the Abu Dhabi Music and Arts Foundation – ADMAF, Manager of Community and Education at (ADMAF), and Founding Director of AGORA for Arts and Culture, and co-founder of Basita.live.
I believe in the power of education and love to be always on the hunt for knowledge. Furthermore, I am an international fellow of the DeVos Institute of Arts Management, a global fellow of the International Society for Performing Arts, a Chevening Scholar, a Clore Cultural Leadership Fellow, and a Tandem Shaml a Robert Bosch Stiftung Alumni.
I won the Pioneer of Egypt award from the Synergos Institute, the Nahdet Elmahrousa and Barkley’s Bank award on social innovation for employment, and the Anna Lindh Foundation Award for intercultural dialogue. I’m a member of some international networks like U40 global network of UNESCO, the Cultural Innovators Network, and the African Youth Advocacy Network.
Currently, I am conducting my PhD. at the University of the West of Scotland, where I research the role of arts and culture in developing resilience and helping individuals emerge stronger from the crisis.
Background of my Companies:
I founded / co-founded two companies, AGORA and Basita.live. One is an educational and cultural institution, and the other is a tech company. This represents our reality today. Culture and education adapting technology!
AGORA is a cultural enterprise based in Egypt with the mission to promote creative community involvement through education, dissemination, and production of arts and culture. My focus in AGORA is on the impact of arts and culture on our societies, our well-being, and how it can help us have better futures.
Basita.live is a virtual theatre, an income-generating platform that connects creators, institutions, and theatres with their audiences virtually and globally. Our focus in Basita is sustainability and how we can develop tools for the culture sector to become more resilient in times of crisis and beyond. We want the sector to continue enriching our lives and reduce the financial risks on creators and cultural institutions.
Reem Kassem, what are your goals?
We believe that both companies build on each other’s achievements. AGORA highlights the impact of arts and culture on humanity, while Basita.live empowers the sector to continue achieving that impact.
What do you feel is the biggest strength of yourself/company right now?
My biggest strengths are resilience and work ethic, and so are the strengths of my companies. A strong track record and unique vision distinguishes AGORA, and a cutting-edge technology that has been developed in-house by my partners (Adnan Joubi and Eddie Hasweh) distinguish Basita. Both my partners have strong experience and skills in Information Technology and Digital Media.
What was the path you/your company took to get to where you are today?
The path we took is hard work, commitment, and faith. We highly believe in and support each other.
Why did you start (or want to be the head of) this company?
Both companies were inaugurated to achieve a big vision. AGORA for the community to engage with the sector and Basita for the sustainability of the sector. Both aim to raise the cultural sector high to highlight its intrinsic value. Our slogan in Basita is “One Global Cultural Sector,” which we aim to achieve through developing a sustainable ecosystem for culture.
What have been the biggest challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Both companies are working on developing a new culture. AGORA works on more engagement from the community, and Basita works on creating the habit of paying for online creative content. Developing a new culture is a mission that takes decades to achieve, and we are patient and have a lot of perseverance.
Give us one word that describes you the best.
A visionary resilient woman. Or just “Visionary.”
What makes you excited about Mondays?
The impact my work has on people’s lives.
What do you value most about your culture and vision?
My sharp vision, ability to see-through things, strong intuition, and high work ethics.
What are the strategies of your company, and how do they stand unique from your competitors?
AGORA is close to the community. Its strategy is to engage more people, where it has so far succeeded in reaching the harder-to-reach, the fragile citizens, and disadvantaged communities. Basita is unique with its cutting-edge technology and the brains behind it. The company owns the technology and doesn’t use any third-party software, enabling us to secure the content efficiently.
Even with the technology, we have recently introduced a technique that allows audiences from disadvantages communities to access content without internet or expensive data packages.
What are the key values that helped you overcome the roadblocks/challenges in your career?
This February, I completed 20 years of my career experience. The key values that helped me overcome any challenges are believing in my vision, my skills and what I am capable to achieve; never giving up! I am also very fortunate to have exceptional partners who I can trust and rely on blindly.
How do you see Basita changing in two years, and how do you see yourself creating that change?
By seeing young people from all over the world buying tickets for Mohammed Abdo’s concert and by seeing our technology being able to facilitate this type of cultural engagement, and even enable access to the harder-to-reach target groups, I can proudly say that Basita is developing an ecosystem for a “One Global Cultural Sector” to emerge and flourish. I see more access to cultural content from different countries, which will support the financial sustainability for the sector.
Not to forget the soft power of culture and how enabling access of different cultural content to the harder-to-reach target groups can enhance intercultural dialogue and mutual understanding between countries. I see myself paving the way for more access and engagement with culture by continuing to imagine the future and putting my vision into action.