Ashkal Alwan, the Beirut-based cultural association founded by Tohmé in 1994, continues to be a driving force in advocating for artists in the region. Aside from generating a thriving local arts scene, Tohmé has become an expert at building networks across the Middle East, North Africa and beyond – an invaluable mission in a country struck by ongoing conflict. In addition to its exhibition programme (including a major show of Simone Fattal’s drawings in 2024) and free educational programmes for artists (workshops this year were led by the likes of Haig Aivazian, Marwa Arsanios and Joe Namy), the organisation ran a series of artist-film screenings at Beirut’s Sursock Museum. It was also one of the venues for ‘Why Germany’, an international lecture series reflecting on the recent crackdown on free speech in that country, for which it invited writer and academic Yasmeen Daher to consider the evolution of the Palestine solidarity movement. Tohmé’s skills as a cultural organiser are likely to have played a part in her recent appointment as director of the next Istanbul Biennial.