Casablanca native Adnane Belakbil also known as EDAMAME, is as passionate about music as he is about food and wine. Having studied in Madrid and lived for more than 8 years in Shanghai, this citizen of the world has created unique spaces for the celebration of sonic and epicurean arts in Marrakech. EDAMAME has been pushing for his sound and sticking to what he knows best, spreading his love for music. Throughout his Shanghai chapter, he has spun for exclusive parties where music pioneers such as David Foster, Chaka Khan and Baby Face were attending. He has also brushed shoulders with some of the leading DJ’s of the music industry such as Timmy Regisford, Louie Vega, Osunlade and Kiko Navarro to name a few. To top it off, he was graced to share the stage with another music legend, Tony Allen, drummer and musical director of Africa 7, led by the renowned Fela Kuti. EDAMAME is currently based in Marrakech, where he continues to share his long sets through two events he created in Shanghai and exported home to Morocco. SOUL SUNDAYS and SOUK of SOUND (SoS) are two experiences where the love of music is at the forefront of the event, championing the art of DJing. During the day, you will find him behind the counter at barbe. epicier caviste, his new wine cellar and “epicerie fine” in Gueliz, Marrakech. In his free time, he transmits his passion for music to youths as well as adults through his “atelier DJ” classes, taught one on one or in groups. SOUL SUNDAYS: At its inception in 2014, when the brunch concept was at its peak in Shanghai, EDAMAME felt the urge to push for something different, a day party like no other. Yes there is food, but the main focus is the music. A party where all ages and industries meet on a Sunday to celebrate life and embark on what EDAMAME calls a “musical journey”. This is an event where we are embraced by daylight’s energy with fresh music sprinkled all over it. It is a unique gathering of people that ALL share one thing in common: they simply love music and are open to new sounds and approaches to presenting this art form. The SOUL SUNDAYS motto is: SMILE – EAT – DRINK – LISTEN – DANCE & REPEAT

My name is Ahmed Amine Dhioui, I’m 26 years old and a self-made ceramic artist. Born in Safi, I grew up in Ben Guerir and now live in Marrakech. After 4 years of graduate school, I followed a path at the age of 21 where my creativity grows and my spirit is enriched, my connection to nature flourishes, and my exchange with humanity increases. I started painting on pottery that I display on the sidewalk in different markets, then began marketing ceramic table water bottles. One thought brought my heart closer to seeing the benefits and interactions between humans, plants, animals, and clay. After a year and a half, the desire to create and show my nature-related side grew, during trips between different Moroccan cities. These journeys between Rabat, Casablanca, Safi, Ben Guerir, Essaouira, Mohammedia, and Marrakech represent, for me, fairs on the sidewalks of their markets. A path towards the desire for stability and the creation of dreams of beauty and goodness with different colors of clay. Two years later, I created the SALSALA brand dedicated to strengthening the hands of my mentors including my father, and began a company specialized in modern interior decoration. Today, I work with hundreds of trainees through the educational workshops that follow the concept “Return to Nature and Liberation of Creative Thought”, an alternative educational workshop where participants feel free to express themselves, improve creativity and free their minds.

Amine Lahrach is an artist interested in performance art, visual art, and slam poetry mainly centered on crisis and Moroccan social and political discourse. Building from everyday idioms and Moroccan social criticism, he seeks to speak from what is normally held as and in common into the discursive field of art. Amine is part of Qanat Collective (Marrakech) as well as part of the team of LE 18 (Marrakech) where he does production and co-runs Derb el Warcha, an experimental school grounded on desires and imaginaries with the children of derb el ferrane.

Aniko is an anthropologist, filmmaker, curator, environmentalist and entrepreneur. She is an expert in sustainable development, specializing in hands-on participatory programs with local populations, institutions and international organizations. She uses an innovative, country-wide approach that emphasizes heritage and protected areas to implement ethical and sustainable tourism development strategies. For edutainment projects in Morocco, Aniko has worked with Atla(s)now, Summit Foundation, KE’CH collective, Féminin Pluriel Morocco, UnifiDida and more. During her 10 years as a collaborator with Kamarstudios Morocco, she worked on several multimedia projects, notably Underlying Melodies, part of the main exhibition for the 2014 Marrakech Biennale. Aniko is a founder and the current president of Matter of Act NGO in Switzerland. Since 2016, she has been the director of the SMArt programme for ESAVM in Morocco and FDDM in Switzerland. She recently began the Design4All initiative in Morocco, which develops programmes for people using Braille, sign language and sound & visual VR.

Born to a Bosnian and Turkish family, Dr. Eda Elif Tibet was raised between Spain and Portugal. She holds an MPhil from the University of Kent (UK) and a PhD from the University of Bern (CH) in Social Anthropology. A passionate award winning documentary filmmaker and visual anthropologist, she leads and coordinates the shaping of a visionary media outreach strategy that amplifies Global Diversity Foundation’s vision for a more just and regenerative planet earth. Elif actively works for the documentation of the High Atlas Cultural Landscapes and mentors at GDF’s International Education Programme with its Global Environments Network. She co-directed Aït Atta: Nomads of the High Atlas, a sensorial ethnographic story on the incredible movement and (im)mobilities of the Ben Youssef family and their herd. The film juxtaposes the hopes and constraints, obligations and sacrifices of a family torn apart between their traditions and their need to adapt to modern life. Stretching over the past, present and the future, the film provides an intergenerational perspective on the essence and the very challenges of nomadism within an ever transforming Moroccan society. It was screened as part of the inaugural Harvest Festival programming at the Institut Français in Marrakech.

Francesca Masoero (IT/MA) is curator at LE 18 (Marrakech – Morocco), where she initiated QANAT. With a background in critical theory and political economy, she explores resistances in multiple forms, including testing collective-making processes within and beyond the art field, and researching the politics and poetics linked to watery commons and to forms of being in common otherwise. Since 2019, she co-curates the Ateliers Collectifs at the Dar Bellarj Foundation (Marrakech – Morocco).

Gary Martin, an ethnobotanist, grows agroecological fruits and vegetables for Jnane Tamsna, a family-owned hotel in the Marrakech Palmeraie and sells them at the Jardin Majorelle Saturday market. At the hotel, he created the Ethnobotanica café and shop, which sells local produce and products to Marrakech residents and tourists. In his work as a consultant for Global Diversity Foundation, a sponsor of the Harvest Festival, he focuses on the equitable commercialisation of local products from High Atlas cooperatives. A long-term resident of Morocco, he studied anthropology and botany in the United States, and was a lecturer in the School of Anthropology and Conservation of the University of Kent (UK).

Geneviève Renard has worked in Communications for non-profit organizations for the past 25 years, mostly in the field of agricultural research, and taught literature and philosophy in Niger, Belgium and Ethiopia. Geneviève worked as a writer, editor and translator for various CGIAR Centers, Hohenheim University, and NGOs in Niger, West Africa. From 2008 to 2012, she lived in Ethiopia where she consulted for a Dutch refugee agency and lectured at the University of Addis Ababa. She then served as Director of Communications at CIMMYT, in Mexico. New to Marrakech, she is happy to be part of the Harvest festival team and to support the work of communities locally.

Izgar Belrhali is an activist, writer, tattoo artist, and founder of collective Groupe d’Action Féministe Maroc (GAFM ) a collective for feminist self-defense where they lead workshops for women and members of the LGBTQIA+ community.

Hafida Mazoud joined Global Diversity Foundation as Rural Entrepreneurship Consultant in May 2021, after completing a Master’s degree in Food Science and Innovation at Manchester Metropolitan University. She coordinates GDF’s rural entrepreneurship program in the High Atlas and collaborates with the Moroccan Biodiversity and Livelihoods Association (MBLA) on the local product commercialization programme. An Amazigh food scientist who blogs about food justice and security, food history, and the latest trends in food innovation and technology. She is also interested in conducting scientific research on underutilised endemic corps in Morocco, developing new plant-based products, and incorporating bio-compounds in food preservation to help in achieving food security through native plants and local products. Hafida’s Master dissertation has focused on determining the impact of sensory attributes such as colour on consumer acceptance of herbal tea. In her spare time, she enjoys spending time with her nephews and niece, going on long walks, and cooking while listening to music.

Born in 1976 in Aghbala, Beni Mellal, Hafida Zizi is a self-taught painter who discovered a passion for colors through the process of dyeing wool. Over time her passion for color flourished after her mother introduced her to the world of carpet weaving. Encouraged by her family, she took up painting at the age of 28. Her work is strongly inspired by the late Chaïbia Talal and can be seen particularly in her use of colors and “naive” style. This style, rejecting dominant techniques associated with academia is just one way Zizi shows her rebellious nature. Her work reflects the daily life of Moroccan women and at times the related injustices, such as those experienced by the artist during her younger years in a working-class environment. To share her work for the first time, Zizi held her first solo exhibition in 2011 near her home village, Imlchil. She then went on to exhibit throughout Morocco, France and the United States.
Hafida Zizi dreamt of creating a welcoming space dedicated to art, and thus named it Twirga which means dreams in Tamazight. Twirga is situated in the historic Aït Benhaddou Ksar, where Zizi relocated to after an inspiring first stay in 2015. This space aims to promote her work and that of other artists, fostering the exchange and sharing of ideas between them. This beautiful space is multifaceted, used to animate therapeutic art workshops and beyond.

Izgar Belrhali is an activist, writer, tattoo artist, and founder of collective Groupe d’Action Féministe Maroc (GAFM ) a collective for feminist self-defense where they lead workshops for women and members of the LGBTQIA+ community.

Louisa Aarrass is an English-Morrocan artist and researcher based in Morocco and currently working for Global Diversity Foundation as the curator of the Harvest Festival. Using participatory research and photo-based work, I’m interested in exploring the complexities of food systems by looking at plants and food, as substance as well as medium of communication, in their political and sociocultural roles. My academic background in agroecology and plant science furthered my interest in productive landscapes and the way we interact with them, taking shape through research on these topics from both ecological and sociocultural approaches. Beyond research my work centers on the ecologies and relationships within food systems, landscapes and culture through workshops and artistic interventions.

Mohamed is MBLA’s Local Product Marketing Coordinator. He is in charge of developing processes for the commercialization and marketing of local products, such as the creation of a protocol and procedure for data consolidation and product selection. He works with local cooperatives and organisations to conduct feasibility studies, market value chain analyses, business plan creation and implementation, and ethnobotanical monographs for specific products. His research focuses on local products, food, and medicinal plants, as well as marketing techniques for these products (packaging, labelling, certification).

Born and raised in Casablanca, Mouna Rahiani discovered a passion for programming early on but chose to study materials and process engineering. After completing her training she changed fields, opting for construction, an interest inherited from her father. She was awarded a scholarship to study in Jinan, Shandong, China, where she lived for three months. Upon returning to Morocco, and after giving birth to her daughter, she turned her focus on researching the origin and composition of everything she consumes. It was on this quest that she ended up at the farmer’s market, where she made acquaintances that would eventually lead her to join the Harvest Festival team.
Mouna identifies as an anti-capitalist and works with a select few clients whose values resonate with her own. She also volunteers for women’s rights associations in Morocco whilst finishing her degree in Civil Engineering. Her goal is to revolutionise construction (one of the most polluting sectors on the planet) and make it more sustainable and ecological.

I hold a PhD in Biotechnology & Environmental Sciences, leading research and capacity-building activities for local farmers in the High Atlas Mountains. I’ve always been sensitive to environmental threats and challenges, as well as food sovereignty and security. Given my environmental background, I feel that it’s my duty to share my experience with the communities of the Moroccan High Atlas in order to contribute to biodiversity conservation and improve livelihoods of the region. While taking the opportunity to learn more about their ancestral practices as fascinating as they are respectful of agroecological values; that’s why I joined Harvest Festival Marrakech.

Pommelien has over 6 years of experience in communications and programme coordination for various environmental NGO’s, with a particular focus on sustainable agriculture and biodiversity conservation. In her role as Morocco Programme Director for the Global Diversity Foundation, a sponsor of the Harvest Festival, Pommelien leads on grant management and donor relations for its High Atlas Cultural Landscapes programme. Through digital photography, she expresses her love for Moroccan nature, landscapes and cultural practices.
After graduating from the K.U. Leuven (Belgium) with a Bachelor’s degree in Arabic and Islamic Studies and a Master’s degree in Business Communications, she moved to Marrakech in 2016 where she is currently based.

I was born and raised in the High Atlas, and from a young age followed the extensive degradation of biodiversity in my region. This experience pushed me to work towards a career in biodiversity conservation, as well as a focus in traditional conservation practices in the High Atlas. I hold a PhD in ecology and environment and am the executive director of the Moroccan Biodiversity and Livelihoods Association (MBLA). My dream to work on these themes come true when we began MBLA in 2014, which centers conservation of High Atlas cultural landscapes. I implement biodiversity conservation and agrobiodiversity to improve livelihoods and the wellbeing of communities through a participatory approach.

With a master’s degree in Cinema Direction from the ESAV (Ecole Supérieure des Arts Visuels) of Marrakech (ESAVM), Rim Mejdi has realised various short movies, which have been regularly screened in both national and international festivals. She explores hybrid narrative formats lying in between the cinema narrative and contemporary art and in the development of contemporary art in Morocco and Maghreb. Rim co-initiated and co-curates the Ateliers Collectifs at Dar Bellarj (Marrakech) and is part of the Qanat Collective (Marrakech). Through different workshops bringing together the community of the cultural space, artists and researchers this programme explores different forms of transmission in relation to Marrakech urban and cultural transformations. Since early 2020, she has initiated a collaborative research and web-documentary ‘Traces et racines d’un palmier solitaire’ focused specifically on the past, present and future of the palmgrove. Rim also co-created SAAED Meetings, a platform for emerging filmmakers from the Arab world, as well as continuing to evolve as a filmmaker in her own practice.

Sally Kenney is an English teacher and freelance writer from Chicagoland, Illinois. She has been living in Marrakesh since 2017, working as an English language instructor. As a freelancer, Sally has experience in copywriting, blog/content marketing, scholarly articles, collegiate admissions essays, and cover letters. She has bachelor’s degrees in English Literature and Sociology, and a master’s degree in TESOL.

Sarah Maacha just graduated from Skidmore College with a major in International Affairs and a minor in Documentary Storytelling. Although her past experiences have spanned numerous industries and fields from education startups to creative consulting, going through performance art, filmmaking and marketing, the main common thread is her passion for social change, growth, and human connection. Her interests lie in the intricate connections between the political and the personal, the sacred and the profane, the public and private, history and the present, which she explores through storytelling. She just moved back to Morocco which she first left at 16, and is currently developing relations with other artists, her home town of Marrakech, and her Amazigh heritage. Sarah seeks to pursue a Masters in Narratives where she explores the relationship between the « old » and the « new » in Marrakech using a decolonial perspective, focusing on shifting from foreign to local expertise, demand, and perspective.

SaraJane Bizzou, a Southern American transplant, splits her time between Marrakech and a rural village in the High Atlas Mountains where her husband was born and raised. Her work history includes doing community outreach, nutrition education, and serving as a “local liaison” for Whole Foods Market, where she created an educational mobile garden, ran gardening summer camps for students, did cooking and nutrition workshops in communities recognized as food deserts, and assisted local producers in the onboarding process to be sold in stores. Through her current work leading groups of university students and curating artisan textiles, she strives to connect othes to the rich cultural diversity of Morocco.

Tasnim Elboute joined the Global Diversity Foundation in Spring 2021 as a policy consultant. She graduated from Yale University with a Bachelor’s in Environmental Studies in 2017. She has been based in Morocco since then, researching gender, agriculture, and food systems. After working in international education and development, she pursued a Master’s in Anthropology & Development at SOAS, University of London.

Her collaboration with GDF is focused on the legal and policy environment of GDF’s work as well as policy implications of its projects. Tasnim is passionate about community-led development and environmental justice. She is thrilled to explore these issues and their policy implications in the High Atlas region.

Thaïs Martin is a Marrakech-based creative and cultural curator. The McGill graduate (African Studies major, Film History minor) hosted and acted as bandleader for live jam sessions across Montreal. As an associate film producer in London, she co-founded Batfish Films, a documentary production company focused on positive environmental change. In Marrakech, she co-organised AFREEculture, an event celebrating the multidisciplinary creativity of Africa and its diaspora. She is a co-founder of the Marrakech Short Film Festival, the first of its kind in her hometown. She executive produced the upcoming documentary 19: One Day in Marrakech with a stellar team including Marrakech Biennale founder Vanessa Branson and 1:54 Contemporary African Art Fair founder Touria El Glaoui. She is a seasoned organiser of creative and cultural discovery and has written about art, music, food and travel for various publications. Having grown up immersed in literary salons and various other cultural events, she is most at home when embedded in the coordination and execution of cosmopolitan artistic rendezvous. She co-owns and coordinates events and cultural initiatives for the Jnane Tamsna luxury boutique hotel in the Marrakech Palmeraie.