The principal objective of SHAMS is to establish a cultural centre for the performing arts and cinema in Lebanon. SHAMS – “The Cultural Cooperative Association for Youth in Theatre and Cinema” was founded in Beirut, January 1999. It is an independent Lebanese Cultural Association directed by Roger Assaf. The founding team includes graduate artists from different Lebanese Institutes of Dramatic, Artistic or Audiovisual Studies. Its mission is to organise and produce artistic activities and to give the young talents the opportunity to work and develop their proficiency — including the dramatic arts (theatre, mime, dance, singing) as well as audiovisual: video, cinema, and multimedia presentations.

SHAMS was originally set up in the Beirut’s first theatre in Beirut’s Ayn el Mréïssé quarter. However this space soon became too small and so with the help of architect Tareq Abou El Fetouh and the Young Arab Theater, the SHAMS group was able to expand their space and become a research centre that now hosts a library, an audiovisual centre and a mediatheque boasting an archive of documentation of the history of performing arts in Lebanon.

SHAMS cooperated with musician and curator Tarek Atoui with the development and hosting of the Bytes & Pieces workshops as part of AR2.