News

Grand Opening of the Turath Center – September 30th 2003

Turath Center for Palestinian Arts, Crafts and Design Opens in Bethlehem
Old Stone House is wired to Worldwide Web

Bethlehem – September 30, 2003. - H.B. Michel Sabbah, the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem opened the Turath Center for Palestinian Arts, Crafts and Design today in Bethlehem. The Center, located in an old stone house behind Manger Square is designed to be an international marketing center for handicrafts and other traditional artisan products. Local producers will be supported by a complete business infrastructure that will include quality control, order, inventory and shipping management plus an E-commerce engine on the Turath Center’s own Web site.

“This center, with its access to local and international markets, an e-Commerce site and an extensive network of producers, suppliers and technical advisors, will be the first Palestinian incubator for handicrafts,” said Larry Garber, USAID Mission Director. “It’s an exciting model and is sure to lead the way in business development for this industry.”

The Holy Land Christian Ecumenical Foundation, USAID and UNDP joined the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem in developing this international partnership to bring traditional crafts from Palestine to markets around the world.

The Mayor of Bethlehem, Hanna J. Nasser has been an active supporter of this project and has decreed that Manger Square will be devoted to an Arts and Crafts Festival for four days following the opening. Members of the Diplomatic Corps and representatives of the international development community also attended the opening on Tuesday, September 30 at 5:30 p.m.

The Turath Center is located just a two minute walk from Manger Square in a vernacular Palestinian stone behind the Church of the Nativity. This old stone house has been carefully restored and will showcase products, welcome visitors to its cultural information center and house the quality control and shipping department of the Turath Center Enterprise.

Turath Center on the Web

While physically housed in a traditional stone building representing a fine example of vernacular Palestinian architecture, the Turath Center is also bridging the digital divide with a state-of-the art Web site at www.turathcenter.org. This Web site introduces the Turath Center product offering of over 150 original handicrafts through an E-commerce engine supporting secure online purchases and an advanced order management system. Visitors can shop, browse or simply view content about local history, tradition and culture.

Talking Points

1. Turath Center is an exciting mixture of historic and futuristic. The original house dates back 300 years and was carefully restored while adding Internet connectivity and a state-of-art Web site with an E-commerce engine.

2. Turath Center supports Palestinian heritage in the arts, crafts and design. Although Bethlehem-based, this project draws on national resources and contributions from throughout Palestine.

3. The olive wood handicrafts line will be the pilot for an extended product offering including embroidery from all major regions of Palestine, original design furniture from Gaza, glassware from Hebron and visual arts from leading Palestinian painters and photographers.

4. In an effort to reach out to the community, a four day Arts and Crafts Fair will be held following the Grand Opening of the Turath Center. This is the first annual event and it will be held in Manger Square courtesy of the Municipality of Bethlehem. This first year 20 craft producers will be represented and it is anticipated that this number will grow each subsequent year.

5. Turath Center is a blend of business and cultural heritage. By helping producers to manage their production, quality assurance, systems and marketing, Turath Center supports the sustainability of traditional arts, crafts and design.

Purpose:

This is to show case a very successful developmental project leveraging a four way partnership to establish the first incubator for Palestinian handicrafts art design at a national level. The project was conceived by the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem with a vision of supporting handicraft producers to reach international markets. By partnering with USAID through the Market Access Program, UNDP and the Holy Land Christian Ecumenical Foundation (HCEF), the project was put into action. The vision and scope of the project evolved into the Turath Center for Palestinian arts, crafts and design. And together, the partners leveraged over 150K for the project.

Housed by the Patriarchy, the Turath Center will have access to 50 associate Churches in the United States with expected annual sales of no less than 200 K. About 500 sister Churches in Europe will be targeted in later stages. Furthermore, in promoting a wide scale of products including olive wood, mother of pearl, ceramics and embroidery initially, the Center will also penetrate other market outside the religious segment. Also, with its vision of being

Turath Center aims to increase market competitiveness, quality standards and productivity as well as to build capacity in the Palestinian handicraft sector. Turath Center will also promote Palestinian cultural heritage through showcasing and marketing arts and design in a wide variety of product categories.

Turath Center’s mission is to become the principal address for Palestinian handicrafts. From opening day on September 30, 2003, Turath Center will house a quality control, packaging and shipping department. Business support services, including financial facilitation, order and inventory management, design and marketing will be provided to qualified producers.

With a small investment of around 30K, USAID through its Market Access Program has been working as the strategic marketing advisors to the project since its inception.

It technical assistance and financial investment included areas of:

- Developing the local supply chain management procedures based on clear and transparent order processing, quality control and management systems.

- Developing Internal procedures and policy issues of the center.

- Developing the marketing, communication and branding strategy for the center to include all marketing collateral and product selection.

- Developing the E- Strategy and web site for the center.

- PR and communication strategy for the opening and the center itself.

Some of the main problems leading to this fact is that the sector is highly fragmented and the producers are primarily composed of small workshops averaging 3-4 employees.

Other problems include un-centralized and inconsistent efforts in exporting and selling abroad. These items which are very identical across the producers are selling under various names, various prices, and through different channels. While this may produce results in the short run, it deters any serious long term potential.

Distributors in the US require exclusivity, good packaging and more competitive pricing.
Individually, producers will never be able to meet these demands. However, collectively, and through centralized marketing, communication and distribution strategies, the Sector can come together under a single brand. By collectively working on packaging, attending trade promotions, marketing though a center, the image and brand of Palestinian Handicrafts will have a much better chance in penetrating the export market and increasing overall sales across the board.