World’s Largest Syrian Refugee Camp Gets Music Program, Recording Studio

A partnership among three global organizations is bringing culturally based music education and a state-of-the-art recording studio to the people living in the Zaatari Refugee Camp in Jordan, which is home to 85,000 people and is the world’s largest camp for Syrian refugees.

The organizations Playing For Change Foundation, Questscope and Dream Day Foundation together will provide classes that include both Western instruments including guitar, drums, violin and keyboards and those from the Eastern tradition including oud and pipes.

Additionally, a recording studio and community performance space is under construction with plans to open in the fall. The founders’ goal is to eventually bring major recording artists to guest teach, perform and record music with the some of the refugees, with an overriding focus on the ways music can heal trauma and unite communities.

The program, which begins this summer and is tailored to the young people living in Zaatari, is an expansion of Questscope’s creative arts offering in the camp. Questscope has an existing location in Jordan where it’s been providing art therapy, a dance program and a music therapy program that launched in 2018. More than 480 young Syrian refugees have enrolled for therapeutic activities during the past three years, and the program has added six Syrian refugee trainers to guide the implementation of the activities.

Questscope recently ran out of funding for the music therapy program but through the new partnership with Playing for Change Foundation and Dream Day Foundation, the program will be funded—and expanded—for at least the next two years.

New classes will be taught by music professionals and experienced musicians, and all musical instruments are currently either donated or purchased in the local market.

Students additionally will have the opportunity to collaborate with other Playing For Change participants in the group’s 50-plus locations in 17 countries across the globe, including through songwriting and composition as well as with digital content creation. If political restrictions permit, plans are in the works to enable some of the Zaatari-based students to travel to perform and share their culture with other PFCF programs.

“Questscope has already had tremendous impact in Zaatari through their Youth Center and trauma alleviation programming, and we’re excited to bring more attention to their incredible work alongside Dream Day,” says PFCF CEO Jake Groshong. “We are able to dramatically impact the lives of those who need it most.”

“Celebrating music as the universal language we all speak can help us heal from trauma and level the educational playing field. This program, and the recording studio, significantly upgraded by Dream Day, will give these youth the opportunity to rise far beyond the circumstances they face,” says Questscope CEO Mutthana Khriesat.

Dream Day Founder Todd Krim adds, “We cannot wait to show the world the incredible spirit and talent of the youth of Zaatari and there is no better time to share this exciting news than on World Refugee Day.”