Claudette Shwiry

Even a good idea can take a long time to get off the ground. Thus, when the Arab American Cultural Foundation was established in Washington nearly four years ago, it moved along haltingly for the first three years, in a slow and sometimes painful effort to reach takeoff speed. Then, last summer, it hired a young Arab American, Claudette Shwiry, as its executive director. Almost overnight, it seemed, the foundation began to gather momentum, and today it is up in the air and heading skyward.

Ms. Shwiry's explanation for the foundation's rapidly growing success since she came aboard is perhaps over-modest: "It's the first time the foundation has had a professional administrator able to work full-time," she says. "Before, everything was being done by part-time volunteers. We've also been getting some marvelous support from individuals in the local Arab American community."

All of which is quite true—but it is only part of the answer. The rest of it was supplied by an enthusiastic board member who said: "We lucked into getting just the right person at a time when we really needed her. That doesn't always happen. Without Claudette, we might still be chugging along the runway."

A Spectrum of Culture

The foundation was the first and is still the only U.S. organization devoted entirely to making Arab culture better known among Americans. Since its founding in 1979 by Georgetown Professor Hisham Sharabi—who remains its guiding spirit, as chairman—the foundation has brought to American audiences a spectrum of Arabs ranging from poets, novelists and scholars to painters, sculptors, dancers and musicians. It has utilized such media as publications, exhibitions, readings, symposia and concerts, and some of its events have taken place in prestigious settings like Washington's Wolf Trap and the John F. Kennedy Center.

"In the beginning, I think that some of the things that were presented were probably too specialized," says Ms. Shwiry. "There were some artists and performers who had appeal mainly to Arab Americans or to people who were already familiar with their work. This was okay up to a point—because one of our aims is to re-inforce the Arab Americans' sense of identity with their heritage. But we want more than anything else to show to other Americans—non-Arab Americans—the variety, richness and universal interest of Arab culture, so that we can help dispel some of the prevelent stereotyped ideas about Arabs."

Reaching out to other Americans became, therefore, a major focus of Ms. Shwiry's efforts. To do it, she not only moved fast to implement a new policy of broadening the appeal of the foundation's programs and increasing their frequency—working closely with Prof. Sharabi and with the foundation's Programs Director, Palestinian artist Kamal Boullata—but used her apparently inexhaustible supply of energy to establish the foundation's "presence" on the Washington scene. This meant an endless round of lunches, conferences, private meetings and receptions within Washington's cultural community.

"This is the kind of job which has to be an avocation as well as a vocation," she says. "You don't stop working at it once the clock strikes five."

Working Round the Clock

Others might choose to put it another way: She is a workaholic. But it is in large part because of her addiction to work that countless Washingtonians who had never heard the foundation's name a year ago are now very much aware of it. It didn't hurt that the foundation sponsored a poetry reading in a Committee room on Capitol Hill, or that it participated in a well-attended "Save Lebanon" benefit at the Kennedy Center. Ms. Shwiry's p.r. work has also improved the foundation's image with other Arab American organizations, including those in other U.S. cities. "Some of them now come to us for advice on their cultural programs," she says.

When Ms. Shwiry is not busy putting the foundation on the map she is spending time on two other key functions: administration and fundraising. The foundation is a tax-exempt organization which is supported by contributions from individuals and institutions in both the U.S. and the Middle East.

In what seems like a fitting climax to the year's progress, the foundation has recently reached a new plateau in Its activity. In July it leased a gallery in Georgetown which will serve as its headquarters and will allow it for the first time to hold some of its art exhibitions and artistic performances on its own turf. The foundation has now taken on an art manager, who will also be curator of the gallery.

Ms. Shwiry herself has not had a professional background in the arts—but her upbringing in an ethnic neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York, has made her familiar with her Arab heritage since her earliest years. After attending two business colleges in New York City, she honed her skills in marketing—her specialty—at a succession of organizations which included Chase World Information Corporation's Middle East division, the East/ West Foundation, the Aspen Institute (working on a Middle East project) and the Forum for International Art and Culture.