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"Nehna wel Amar wel Jiran" (Us, the Moon and the Neighbors) is a community-driven festival that was born in 2010 in the Mar Mikhael district of Beirut, Lebanon. Originally, the festival began as a spontaneous effort to engage with the local community, many of whom had never experienced theater or live performances. The festival emerged from a strong desire to build genuine connections between neighbors in a city marked by complex social divisions. Over time, it evolved into an important cultural event that transformed urban spaces, bringing together diverse groups of people under the common banner of art and cultural expression. For five years, the festival turned the Vendome stairs in Beirut into an open-air theater, utilizing gardens, schoolyards, rooftops, and homes as performance spaces.
This grassroots festival became a platform for professional and amateur artists alike, breaking down barriers of elitism and hierarchy. The spirit of the festival has since extended beyond Beirut, traveling to various regions across Lebanon, and like this building up a network of artistic collaboration and community engagement throughout the country.
Challenges
Challenges
Fragmented social fabric and divisions, diverse cultural and social realities
Lack of institutional support and cultural policies
The trap of ‘preaching to the converted’ by engaging only with those who already shared its values
Reproducing labeling and stereotyping
Strategies
Strategies
Immersive community engagement: From the beginning, the festival's approach was deeply rooted in immersing itself in the different realities of Lebanon. The organizers traveled across regions, meeting people, and understanding their unique contexts. This immersion was crucial for tailoring the festival’s programming to resonate with diverse audiences and for building a meaningful cultural discourse.
Reclaiming and transforming public spaces: The festival strategically used urban spaces—often transforming them into stages for artistic performances. This not only made art more accessible to the general public but also symbolically reclaimed public spaces in a city where such areas are often privatized or inaccessible.
Inclusive and diverse programming: The festival’s programming was designed to be inclusive, bringing together a wide range of artistic expressions—from traditional to contemporary.
Creating encounters beyond labels: The festival was intentional in its efforts to erase labels and create encounters. Not announcing their classical identity attributes (country of origin, religion, social status), participating artists could be appreciated for their artistry rather than their backgrounds. This approach helped to connect on a human level, beyond the boundaries of identity politics.
Long read: Aurelien Zouki (founding member, co-artistic director of Collectif Kahraba that organises Nehna wel Amar Wel Jiran Festival)
Exerpt from panel discussion during the Atelier in Beirut 2022
Reading time: 2 minutes
"What I can share is mostly from our experience as a collective, working from the ground in this country, which has so many borders—internal, mental, and social. We are constantly navigating these fragmentations and divisions, trying to create cultural and artistic processes that are meaningful in such a complex landscape.
From the beginning, we asked ourselves how to do something that activates change amidst this chaos. We decided to immerse ourselves in the different realities of the country, meeting people and understanding the diverse contexts across various regions. If you haven’t had the chance to explore beyond Beirut, you’ll find that each region has its unique reality—where in one area, a woman singing might be frowned upon, while in another, a queer dancer can perform openly. The cultural and social backgrounds are so varied that it becomes a challenge to build a discourse that resonates with everyone.
It’s a daunting mission, but it’s the only meaningful place to be an artist in this country. So, we continue to engage with these different realities, constantly questioning how we can create a long-term impact in such a fragmented society.
We don't have all the same experiences or the same relation to the country, its history, communities, or the system of values that frame our minds. This creates different layers on top of the identities we carry, and adds another layer with political identities, which further blurs society's lines. Should we follow this or that? But we are part of this community, this sector, etc. ...
For us, it's crucial to escape the trap of doing something only for a circle of people who share the same values. For instance, during the revolution, all cultural organizations in Lebanon went on strike, and we initially followed suit. But then, we realized it made no sense to stop working at that moment. We gathered our community to ask what they thought we should do. We wanted to support the revolution, to be on the street, and to organize performances and concerts during the revolution. The community agreed, and it made sense because our job is not to preach to the already convinced, but to spread poetry, dance, abstraction, and beauty to those who need to be shaken and artistically inspired, with the hope of eventually connecting people to common values.
I could share many stories, but the key is that we have to figure this out on our own. There are no cultural policies, no head institutions providing tools, advice, or direction. We have to build it with people, and we need to be mindful of what we present, who we invite, and how we do it in a way that could be acceptable to everyone. In Lebanon, we have a national sport of labeling people—Christian, Druze, refugee, marginalized, domestic worker.
Through our festival, we try to erase these labels and create encounters using art as the excuse.
When a Palestinian singer, for example, moves everyone, she's not announced as a Palestinian refugee singer; she's simply a beautiful woman with a beautiful voice. We've seen the most radical Christians being moved and captivated by her performance, even requesting her return. This gives us hope that we can break down some of the boundaries in our society."
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