Monthly street festival El-Fan Midan will celebrate its second anniversary on Saturday, 6 April, showcasing artwork and film in Cairo's Abdeen Square and in nine other Egyptian cities Egypt's El-Fan Midan will celebrate its two-year anniversary on 6 April across the country, including in Cairo's Abdeen Square, Luxor, Suez, Alexandria, Fayoum, among others. El-Fan Midan was launched in April 2011, almost two months after the January 25 Revolution, by a group from the arts and culture community seeking to find tools and platforms for dialogue through art and to disseminate culture to all Egyptians. El-Fan Midan developed into a monthly street festival held on the first Saturday of every month, bringing music, poetry, performing arts and more to Egypt's squares and streets. The festival depends on personal contributions and donations by people who believe artists have the right to share their artwork with the public, and people have the right to learn about culture and creativity as fundamental, rather than a mere luxury. The festival has taken place in squares in Cairo and a number of other cities in Egypt's governorates, including Fayoum, Assuit, Menya, Al-Wady Al-Gedeed, Alexandria, Luxor, Suez, Ismailiya, and Gharbiya. Budget deficits have often stalled the festival from taking place in some governorates. El-Fan Midan's two-year celebration will feature performances by a large collection of artists, including a performance by popular emerging artist Dina El-Wadidi, well-known for her collaborative song Nehlam (We Dream) with Tunisian artists, produced as a reaction to the consecutive revolutions in both Egypt and Tunisia. Also participating in the event is the Al Oola Balady band, which is known for its covers of folkloric songs by El Sheikh Imam, and Maghna Khan, established in 2004, along with revolutionary singer Mado. Abo W ElShabab (Abo and the Boys), the band recently hosted on Bassem Youssef's popular political satire TV show El-Bernameg, (The Programme), and stand-up comedians and rappers will also perform in the open-air theatre. At the El-Fan Midan Cinema, a number of documentary films by independent filmmakers will be screened, in addition to a critically acclaimed documentary produced by Al-Masry Al-Youm dubbed Al-Thawra Khabar (Reporting…A Revolution) by Bassam Mortada, which was screened at the 2012 Berlin Film Festival. Reporting…A Revolution reveals the stories of six Egyptian journalists who struggled to keep their own biases at bay while they covered the protests during the initial days of the Egyptian revolution. Exhibitions by contemporary and established Egyptian artists, including Abdel Hady El-Gazzar and Hassan Fathi, as well as art workshops for children will be held in Cairo's Abdeen Square. http://english.ahram.org.eg/News/68317.aspx
