The Anna Lindt Foundation launched its first festival "Farah el-Bahr" yesterday, at the beautiful Qatbay Citadel in Alexandria. The forecourt of the citadel was crammed with dancers, handicraft-makers, singers and dozens of booths displaying information on various NGOs that operate in the fields of cross-cultural understanding, dialogue and human rights in Egypt. The Anna Lindt Foundation is an organization supported by over 40 Euro-Mediterranean countries, which seeks to bring people together to promote dialogue between cultures and respect for diversity. After establishing its head office in Alexandria four years ago, the foundation launched this festival to publicize its mission and gain greater visibility. The foundation's program administrator Renata Papsh explained that last year they had an event in Qatbay that was, “mainly concerned with gastronomy. Its scope was too restrained to represent our wider cultural action in favor of greater acceptance between the Mediterranean countries.” Farah el-Bahr's goal was to attract as many visitors as possible with an attractively priced LE2 ticket, which made sure the flow of curious entrants did not cease until late in the night. The alley leading to the citadel saw an unprecedented change in excitement, with happy-faced children running around flying colorful paper kites and others wearing folkloric costumes of Greek dancers. This troop of traditional Greek dancers wore billowy tunics while performing smooth waving gestures with an infinite grace, while the bewildered children watched offstage. The public was enchanted when they performed their final dance in step with the lyrics of Gibran Khalil Gibran. Behind the scene, individual handicraft booths displayed scarves supporting Palestine, jewelry from Siwa and embroidered goods from Upper Egypt. Renata Papsh insisted that “none of these artists came from abroad; the Greek, Palestinian and Armenian performers all live in Egypt,” she confessed with an unconvincing smile. “This festival focused on Egypt because our head office is based here, which explains why our collaboration with Egyptian civil society is so dynamic. It was also much easier to organize, but my sincere hope is that we can invite performers from countries around the world for the next festival.” The Anna Lindt Foundation has 2,800 members from across the Mediterranean region, mainly NGOs and universities. However, its budget is less than 14 million Euros for three years. This is clearly not enough, explains Papsh, “because it only gives us the possibility to grant small amounts of money to civil society representatives, but forbids us from taking radical measures in the cultural field, which to me is the only way to bring cultural understanding to the people of the region.” The two-day festival was supported by the Ministry of Culture and the High Council of Antiquities and ends today.
