L.A. Festival Has Faith in Arab Theme : Arts: This year’s presentation features African, African- American and Middle Eastern cultures. Arab community leaders and festival officials hope to defuse stereotyping.

The L.A. Festival is now in final planning for this year’s presentation of African, African-American and Middle Eastern cultures. The decision to include Arabs and Arab-Americans in the program was made long before the Gulf War and years in advance of last month’s bombing of New York City’s World Trade Center.

While the festival’s theme--conceived more than three years ago--is not a direct response to current events, Arab community leaders and festival officials say the timing couldn’t be better. They hope the festival--scheduled for mid-August through mid-October--may help defuse the negative stereotyping of Arabs that they fear will rage out of control because of the bombing. All of the suspects in custody have ties to a New Jersey mosque whose leader advocates the overthrow of secular governments in the Middle East.

“I feel very strongly that the way to build bridges with people is to do it culturally,” said radio personality and Arab-American activist Casey Kasem, a festival board member. “The festival can go a long way toward building those bridges.”

Don Bustany, president of the Los Angeles Chapter of the Arab-American Anti-Discrimination League and one of a group of community leaders outside the arts who are part of a volunteer festival advisory committee, said that misunderstanding of the Arab community--defined only by a common language--runs rampant and must be addressed.

“The Arab people are not one people any more than English-speaking people are all one people,” Bustany said. “Every time reference is made to (bombing suspect) Mohammed Salameh or (mosque leader) Sheik Omar Abdul Rahman, the names never appear without the adjectives of ‘Arab,’ ‘Egyptian,’ ‘Palestinian’ or ‘fundamentalist.’ I don’t remember Ivan Boesky or Michael Milken being identified as ‘Jewish.’ There is not a fair standard applied.

“Nothing but good can come about from events that display cultural traits through arts and craft and dance.”

Festival programming director Claire Peeps said this year’s event will include work by visiting and local Arab and Arab-American artists through traditional and non-traditional music, puppetry, film, video and poetry. She said the festival program, which has not yet been finalized, will be announced in the spring. Festival officials say that the bombing and a feared rise in anti-Arab sentiment have not affected fund-raising for the $5.2-million event.

Peeps did note that two Los Angeles-based musicians representing Arab communities, Jihad Racy and Nabil Azzam, will definitely participate. A play to be developed by Santa Monica’s Cornerstone Theater in conjunction with the local Arab community is an example of the type of local projects being considered for the festival. Also possible is a contribution from avant-garde, Iranian-born playwright Reza Abdoh, who may produce a contemporary adaptation of an ancient Persian poem.

The festival is attempting to establish itself as a community-based organization that can change and grow to meet the needs of the city’s arts community and arts audiences. Previous festivals have utilized a wide range of neighborhood venues for performances and events.

One of the festival’s intents this year, said artistic director Peter Sellars, is to work against the images of violence and religious extremism that dominate news coverage of Arab and Islamic affairs.

“The next festival, in focusing primarily on black, Arab and Jewish art, goes right to the heart of communities that are usually portrayed monolithically as war zones and permanent crisis centers,” Sellars said. “We are specifically making the effort to bring forward the work of progressive individuals . . . moving past politics and ideology to a more interesting realm of cultural sophistication.

Added Sellars: “The arts are about having a discussion where nobody has to be shot.”

Maher Hatout, chairman of the Islamic Center of Southern California and an adviser to the festival, agreed: “The festival is a very good opportunity for people to get to know each other; when people don’t know each other, the fear will prevail.

“It’s a wonderful opportunity for others to discover that we are not that different after all--there is a yearning desire for peace and love expressed in that art, a warmth and compassion which will contribute positively to bring people together.”

Anthropologist and UCLA instructor Fadwa El Guindi, who served for a year as a member of a 20-member festival steering committee, said she hopes the Arab community will have as strong a voice as the Jewish community and other groups who will be represented.

“I have a concern that the imbalance that exists in society at large may exist in the festival, that there will be more Jewish presence than Arab presence,” she said. “I feel that Peter Sellars is trying very hard to maintain a balance, but I had these concerns, and expressed them very openly to everybody.”

But, El Guindi added, “I think the festival is a very important forum for the Arabs; I hope that the American public attends and gets involved and participates. It will present a side of the Arabs that they never see--or never wish to see. They are just so consumed with notions of terrorism, of violence, of hate, which seem to dominate the international political scene. It doesn’t even reflect the reality.”