Seenaryo’s Next Chapter

After ten years as Seenaryo’s Co-Founder & CEO, it feels both strange and entirely right to be stepping back. This is a decision that we have carefully planned for many months, with the support both of Seenaryo’s board and the wider team. I have felt empowered to take it in part because of the strength of the organisation – which continues to grow significantly each year in impact, staff and budget, last year reaching a record 36,000 people – and in part thanks to the resilience and commitment of our brilliant team. Lara and Naqiya each have deep expertise in both theatre and education, and have been with Seenaryo for almost as long as I have; I am excited to see them bring new energy and dynamism to Seenaryo.

I will continue to be deeply involved in Seenaryo’s work, and in this tenth anniversary year for Seenaryo, I’m excited to watch Seenaryo continue to transform communities through theatre and play in ever more countries and contexts.

I often return to the words of Farah Hendawi, who is a Palestinian refugee living in Lebanon and participated in Seenaryo’s first-ever Showbuild aged 13. A few years ago, she told us: “Seenaryo makes you feel that there’s a light at the end of the tunnel… and it’s you!” In the ten years since founding Seenaryo, and particularly these past 18 months, it has often felt that our countries are in a long, dark tunnel. I’m proud of the light that Seenaryo’s communities have brought, and will continue to bring.

We were moved reading Victoria’s reflection, especially her memory of the very first Showbuild in 2015. That week in Shatila wasn’t just the start of Seenaryo – it was a handover in action. Victoria and Oscar weren’t simply running a training, they were equipping others from day one to take the reins. The young Palestinian scout leaders took risks, made mistakes, and made it their own. Ten years later, those same leaders are running Showbuilds across Lebanon.

Seenaryo’s story has always been about building ownership from the ground up. That’s what makes this leadership transition so meaningful. It’s never easy for founders to step back, but Victoria does so with rare wisdom – true to the vision she’s championed from the start. We’re deeply grateful to her for the foundation she’s built, and to our board of trustees for entrusting us with the next chapter.

As we step into this role, we carry that same commitment to shared leadership and local ownership. Building on 10 years of growth, the future of Seenaryo is focused and hopeful. In 2025 alone, we are training teachers inside Gaza for the first time, devising our most ambitious theatre project yet – the epic of Ibn Battuta Travels will be told in six chapters across six countries – and publishing a comprehensive evaluation to capture the impact of our work over the last decade. Alongside this regional expansion, we’re deepening our work in Lebanon and Jordan – embedding play within national systems to shift how education is delivered for the long term.

As the Arab region faces deep and painful challenges, Seenaryo’s mission of supporting communities to lead, heal and learn, has never felt more urgent.