Little Amal: Finding Friends in Harvard Yard

All are invited to join the University and Cambridge communities as we welcome Little Amal to Harvard. As Amal approaches the historic gates, she wonders, “What is this place, and is it for me?” Join her to experience the sights, sounds, and energy of Harvard’s vibrant community and to discover what lies inside its gates.

• 6PM, Harvard’s Science Center Plaza: Get ready to welcome Amal with free food, artistic creation, and opportunities to learn more about the international refugee crisis
• 7PM, Harvard Yard: Walk with Amal as she journeys from solitude to community

Artistic elements of Finding Friends in Harvard Yard are being created in collaboration with the Harvard Graduate School of Design; The Center for Middle Eastern Studies, Harvard University; The Immigrant Learning Center; and CityStep. The event is produced in collaboration with Harvard University Committee on the Arts as part of ArtsThursdays, a university-wide initiative sponsored by HUCA that provides free public arts programming during the academic year.

Project director Brisa Areli Muñoz and A.R.T. teaching artists lead intergenerational workshops inspired by the theme of “welcome.” Learn about Little Amal through interactive games and activities, create gifts that will be presented to her, and use improvisational skills to inspire original theatrical content that will welcome her when she arrives on Harvard’s campus. All ages are invited; children must be accompanied by a parent or guardian.

The workshops are free and open to the public; RSVPs are recommended.

Little Amal, whose name means “hope” in Arabic, is an internationally celebrated 12-foot-tall puppet of a 10-year-old Syrian refugee girl. She has been welcomed by more than 250 uniquely created artistic events across the globe since her initial 5,000-mile trek across Europe in 2021. Amal carries her message of hope for marginalized people everywhere, especially children who have been separated from their families. As a public art project, among the largest ever produced, she has been heralded as “one of the most ambitious live artworks ever staged” (The Observer, 2021) and “an international symbol of human rights” (The Guardian, 2022).

A.R.T., as a Boston Partner of Amal Walks Across America by The Walk Productions in association with Handspring Puppet Company, will create and host one of the first free public events of the 6,000-mile national tour comprising more than 100 events in 35 cities and towns across the US from Boston to San Diego.

A.R.T.’s partners for Amal Walks Across America include CityStep; The Immigrant Learning Center; Harvard’s Graduate School of Design; the Center for Middle Eastern Studies at Harvard University; the Harvard University Committee on Ethnicity, Migration, Rights; the Harvard University Asia Center; the Harvard University Office of International Education; the Harvard Graduate School of Education; and Harvard University Committee on the Arts.

ArtsEmerson, Company One Theatre, Institute of Contemporary Art (ICA), Lars Jan, Boston University Center on Forced Displacement, Boston University Arts Initiative, Extinction Rebellion Boston, Foxborough Public Schools, RefugePoint, and The Puppet Free Library will welcome Little Amal to Greater Boston on September 7 – 9, 2023.

Learn More