ALWAN International Children’s Festival, an event of colourful moments of joy and creativity that had its first edition in 2022. An inclusive event that brings families together in a celebration of everything that is beautiful, creative and fun. Four days of engaging children in world-class and hand-picked artistic and cultural experiences from all over the world. It takes them on a carefully curated journey through theatre, music, arts and crafts, interactive installations and more. Alwan which is organized by Young Minds for Culture and Entertainment, takes place end of September at the outdoor gardens of the Children’s Museum Amman.

Thursday is our community day where 1000 children are invited from NGOs, orphanages and refugee centres.

Friday and Saturday are our ticketed days where families come and create memorable moments. Our target group are families with children aged 3-12.

Sunday is our outreach day where the participating companies go to different municipalities and special needs centres to perform for free for underprivileged communities. We have reached more than a 1000 children on that day every edition.

In 2024 we decided to cancel the festival because our hearts were too heavy with the ongoing genocidal war on Gaza. Instead of holding Alwan in Amman, we diverted our efforts to Gaza where we worked with the Edward Said National Conservatory of Music on delivering the Alwan Gaza Initiative; an entertainment programme for children in displaced areas combining street theatre, musical performances, puppetry, circus and more. Over two and a half months Alwan Gaza reached thousands of children in Nuseirat, Deir Al Balah, Khan Younis, Mawasi and was finally able to also reach Jabalia when there was a temporary truce. The aim of the programme was not only to bring a glimpse of joy to children traumatised by the atrocities of the Israeli occupation, but to also support the livelihoods of the artists that we worked with. You can see more about our initiative on our page and on this video link. The genocidal war on Gaza has not ended and our hearts are heavier than ever, yet we will resume our festival this year with the responsibility of giving our children what they deserve. Through the festival we will continue our support to artists from Palestine as we are proud to host the amazing talents of the Palestine Circus School from Ramallah as well as the unique puppets of Mahdi Karera from Gaza which we were miraculously able to bring out to Jordan.

*YMCE is a limited liability company registered in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan