Plans for this summer’s festivals

“We have a cultural role to play; the festival is a form of cultural and touristic resistance which says that the country is still here,” says Hala Chahine, director of Beiteddine Art Festival. Lately, the country’s music festivals have had many challenges to resist, yet, much like Lebanon itself, they are taking the hits but managing to hang on year after year. The unpredictable security situation in the country creates its own obstacles for the various festivals. Last summer, Baalbeck International Festival had to relocate to Jdeidet el Metn because of safety concerns in the Bekaa area: “We had the choice to either cancel the festival or to relocate to symbolically keep Baalbeck Festival’s name alive, so we chose to relocate,” says Nayla de Freige, president of the festival’s committee. This year, with the security plan already in implementation throughout the country, de Freige is planning to return the festival