June 08 2026

In the name of God the Exalted and the Most Generous

 

To build an institution is to continuously be humbled by the formidable wisdom and contributions of those who came before us and those who remain. KCAC began as individual aspirations that have taken shape as a collective objective by which our paths have crossed and the walls sustaining these ideas are being built, brick by brick.

 

One institution among many. Two years among many. Our days are often long, but they are lively. They forge friendships, connection beyond our immediate borders, and they bring together a shared love and curiosity for Kurdistan — its vivid expressions in visual and tangible formats, its language, its disseminated histories, and its practices.

 

Our work has expanded beyond residencies, publications, and careful preservation and training across public and private collections, ensuring Kurdish works become part of a living, accessible canon that allows for expansive reimagination and enduring creativity.

 

Two years since our official inauguration, and three years of dedicated efforts, is made possible by the sustaining support of our partners and peers. Their contributions bring us great confidence in our plans forthcoming and the great responsibility ahead of us. Today, we look back at a profound period of growth, both institutional and individual. KCAC has become a home for artists, thinkers, creatives, and collectors — building conviction in fields of arts and culture beyond the models we inherited.

 

The founding of this institution has been for us an act of trust. Trust in our people’s capacity for sustained, unhurried work. Trust in scholarship as a form of devotion. Trust that what is built carefully, with great intention, endures — and that what endures, in time, becomes worthy of the inheritance it carries. We are two years into a much longer undertaking. I am, today, more certain than I was at our founding that the work is worthy of the toil, and that we are doing it in the manner best suited.

 

May God grant us the patience, the discernment, and the steadfastness of purpose that this great task ahead of us requires.

 

With gratitude and resolve,

 

Barav Barzani and the entire team at KCAC