Hamrah Arts Club

Hamrah Arts Club is a multilingual arts and mentorship program for refugee-status, asylum-seeking, and immigrant youth ages 9-17. The program was founded by Nazafarin Lotfi, a visual artist, educator, organizer, and human rights activist from Iran in 2021 and has been hosted in MOCA since 2022. Hamrah’s purpose is to foster intercultural solidarity and create a network of support through creative expression. Hamrah, a Farsi word that translates to “fellow travelers,” came from an Iranian protest song and was collaboratively chosen with the first group of youth participants to embody their ongoing journey of solidarity.  

 

Sirilak Rottler and Mariel Miranda have been co-organizers of Hamrah Arts Club since Fall 2024. Their teaching centers asset-based approaches to support intercultural and multigenerational community development through art, games and gathering. Hamrah supports youth of diverse backgrounds and provides access to arts engagement opportunities to low-income families. The program has grown mostly amongst Afghan and Syrian youth with recent invitations to Hispanic or Latinx youth. This current chapter continues to activate the engagement of these communities. Hamrah Arts Club meets as a weekly gathering on Sunday from 12:30 to 4 PM. The Spring 2025 session will launch on April 27 through May 25.

 

About Sirilak

Sirilak is a teaching artist and an MA student in Art and Visual Culture Education at the University of Arizona. An Asian/Thai American, she grew up as an immigrant and an English language learner. She now studies asset-based approaches to community development and works with immigrant communities across Tucson. She was a former citizenship instructor to adult learners of other languages for 5 years. She has been working with Hamrah Arts Club since 2022.