Events
Public Events During
Dr. Maytha Alhassen retreat
We’re excited to share that details of the public events during the retreat will be revealed soon! Get ready for inspiring talks and sessions with celebrated writers, visionary cultural makers, and top-tier publishers—an experience you won’t want to miss.
Full Retreat Program here: https://www.thenewmedina.com/retreats-1
Shrines Workshop by Khadija El Kharraz Alami
SHRINE is an immersive workshop series for young actors seeking to deepen their relationship to movement, voice, and storytelling. Rooted in north african rhythms and collective practices, these sessions open a shared creative space to explore presence, imagination, and the possibility of new futures.
Together, we will reflect on what we are grieving, learn how to transform emotion into embodied action, and co-create a playfield for exchange, experimentation, and collective imagination.
The Architecture of Place: In Conversation with Soraya Hosni
Perhaps now more than ever before, we are all aware of the built environment that surrounds us, and of the impacts it has on the health of individuals, communities, and the planet. The Architecture of Place series brings together the established and emerging voices working to create a better built future.
From December 2025 through February 2026, the ICAA, INTBAU, and The King's Foundation will co-host The Architecture of Place: In Conversation with..., a series of interviews featuring three designers and place-makers from different backgrounds and points of view: Manvendra Singh Shekhawat, Felicity Cain, and Soraya Hosni.
In this three-part series, each speaker will alternately serve as interviewer and interviewee, discussing the influences, experiences, and projects that have shaped their approach to the architecture of place. Each session will conclude with an open Q&A. The programs are free and open for public registration, and recorded versions of the programs will be made available to all.
In this iteration of the series, Felicity Cain will interview Soraya Hosni.
Soraya Hosni is a cultural strategist and Yale World Fellow who oversees arts and culture funding initiatives across the USA and the MENA region. She is the founder of The New Medina, a cultural revival initiative dedicated to reclaiming ancestral knowledge and architecture in historic Islamic cities. Trained as an anthropologist and cultural entrepreneur, her work sits at the intersection of heritage, sustainability, and belonging.
Presented as part of The Richard H. Driehaus Curricula for the Built Environment at the Institute of Classical Architecture & Art. The ICAA is very grateful to The Richard H. Driehaus Foundation for its generous support of this program.
The New Medina 2025 Photography Fellows
The New Medina proudly announces the selection of its 2025 Photography Fellows, following an open call that received over 50 applications from across Tunisia. Five talented emerging photographers were chosen to participate in an intensive mentorship and training programme led by internationally acclaimed photographer Peter Sanders.
Fellows are :
•Amir Oueslati
•Nourane Bouadjila
•Meriem Essid
•Riham Guizani
•Wael Mansouri
Sounds of Prayer Exhibition at The New Medina
Multi-sensory exhibition explores the sacred soundscape of prayer
20 August to 20 September 2025
Curated by anthropologist Soraya Hosni, Sounds of Prayer is a month-long exhibition exploring the presence of prayer in everyday acts: planting, weaving, writing, and reciting. It invites visitors to question their own relationship to prayer, time and the natural world.
Through sound, image and form, the exhibition traces how quiet rituals resonate across landscapes, objects and generations. Whispered invocations, the vibration of drums and voices carried through time intertwine with the call to prayer. From the murmur of sacred trees and the pulse of drums to elders’ voices and the adhan echoing over the ancient city, this exhibition offers a contemplative journey into a sacred, multi-sensory landscape.
Featuring artists Samira Idroos, Peter Sanders, Ayşe Gürsöz and Karim Jabbari, the exhibition spans re-imagined prayer rugs, documentary photography, indigenous visual storytelling and calligraphic works in light.
Hosted at The New Medina, a cultural space dedicated to artistic creation, heritage and memory, Sounds of Prayer invites audiences to reflect on how prayer resonates across cultures and generations and how sound, space and memory activate and shape the spiritual experience.
Exhibition Dates: 20 August – 20 September 2025
Open daily from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.