Sarah Ahmed Shalaby

Translator Part Time

Interpreter, US Consulate General Alexandria, Next Level Program: 4-12-2017 – 18-12- 2017Freelance / Project

• Job Details:Next Level is an initiative of the US Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs that is administered by Meridian International Center and the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. It creates two or three-week residencies that reaches undeserved communities and youth. Teams of four American hip-hop artist educators, in collaboration with local artists and organizations, facilitate workshops and lecture￾demonstrations as well as formal and informal live performances. All activities are designed to promote the mutual sharing of knowledge, values, perspectives and respect between local populations and American artists. Next Level organized a three-week residency in Egypt, two weeks of which were in Alexandria and one week in Cairo, where it held hip-hop dancing, MC rapping, aerosol art (graffiti) and beat making workshops for Egyptian youth. I was one of the four interpreters assigned for each of the four American artists throughout their Egypt residency, both in Alexandria (Jesuit Cutural Center) and Cairo (Maq’ad al-Sultan Qaitbey), particularly the aerosol graffiti artist, Desi Mundo. My duties included interpreting the artist educators’ workshops for the Egyptian participants/attendees, monitoring workshop sessions with them, accompanying them throughout their stay to facilitate communication as a cultural ambassador, translating surveys, and taking part in the organization of the Next Level performance at Bibliotheca Alexandrina (14 December 2017).