Beirut Spring Festival
| Beirut Spring Festival مهرجان ربيع بيروت | |
|---|---|
 Official logo | |
| Status | Active |
| Genre | Multidisciplinary arts and culture |
| Frequency | Annual |
| Venue | Multiple venues |
| Locations | Primarily Beirut, with programming elsewhere in Lebanon |
| Country | Lebanon |
| Years active | 2009–present |
| Inaugurated | 17 June 2009 |
| Founder | Gisèle Khoury |
Most recent | 2026 |
Previous event | 17th edition (2025) |
Next event | 19th edition (2027) |
| Organised by | Samir Kassir Foundation |
| People | Randa Asmar (festival director) |
French name | Le festival du printemps de Beyrouth |
| Website | www |
The Beirut Spring Festival (Arabic: مهرجان ربيع بيروت; French: Le festival du printemps de Beyrouth) is an annual multidisciplinary arts and culture festival organised by the Samir Kassir Foundation in Beirut, Lebanon. It was founded in 2009 by Lebanese journalist Gisèle Khoury in memory of her husband, journalist, historian and writer Samir Kassir, who was assassinated in Beirut in 2005.[1][2]
The festival presents theatre, music, dance, film, photography, installations, literary and public discussions, and other interdisciplinary work, using theatres as well as public and heritage spaces around the city. Its name is derived from Kassir's 4 March 2005 An-Nahar essay "Beyrouth, printemps des Arabes" ("Beirut, Spring of the Arabs").[3][4]
A defining feature of the festival has been its emphasis on premieres, presenting international and regional productions, performances and artistic works that have not previously been shown in Lebanon. The festival has also historically maintained a free-admission policy, intended to broaden public access to cultural programming, particularly among younger audiences.[3][5][6] As of September 2026, the festival has held eighteen editions.[7]
History
[edit]Origins and establishment
[edit]The festival was created by the Samir Kassir Foundation four years after Kassir's assassination. Khoury, who founded the foundation and later the festival, described the project as a way of making culture accessible to a broad public.[1] Randa Asmar, a Lebanese actor and cultural practitioner, has been closely involved in the festival's programming from its early years and later became its director.[3][2]
The first edition took place from 17 to 22 June 2009. Its programme included theatre, a multimedia installation, opera, contemporary performance, hip-hop and a public round table, with artists from Lebanon, Greece, Tunisia, France, Iran, Canada and the United Arab Emirates.[8]
The second edition in 2010 included Moi, Anna Politkovskaïa, the contemporary ballet Pazzi, Ensemble Badila, Rayess Bek's Khartech 3al Zamann and a contemporary zajal production involving Zad Moultaka, Fadia Tomb El Hage and the Ars Nova Ensemble.[9]
The festival expanded the range of participating artists during the following editions. In 2011 it hosted writer Tahar Ben Jelloun, the Egyptian band Massar Egbari, theatre and dance works, and a tribute to Lebanese singer Sabah.[10]
The 2012 edition included Syrian clarinettist Kinan Azmeh, Turkish musician Mercan Dede, Egyptian screenwriter Waheed Hamed and a tribute to Lebanese composer and singer Elie Choueiri.[11]
In 2013, playwright and director Wajdi Mouawad was the festival's guest of honour. The programme included Incendies, Seuls, an encounter between Mouawad and Lebanese poet and critic Paul Chaoul, La Sentinelle with Jane Birkin, and a concert by Lebanese singer-songwriter Tania Saleh.[12]
In 2014, the programme included Gandini Juggling's Smashed, Gravitational Waves, Issam Bou Khaled's Our Fathers, the discussion Voices of Hostages, and a concert involving Nasser Deen Al Touffar, Sayed Darwish and Hello Psychaleppo.[13]
2015 expansion
[edit]The seventh edition in 2015 marked the tenth anniversary of Kassir's assassination. Instead of the festival's usual roughly week-long format, it ran from 3 May to 6 June and combined performance with exhibitions, debates and public-space projects.[1][14]
The edition included Beirut Ideas, a series of eighteen discussions on freedom of expression and democratic change; the Change-Makers Forum; One Day in Beirut, a public photography exhibition involving more than one hundred photographers; and Alaa Minawi's light installation My Light Is Your Light.[14] It concluded with Beirut, the Timeless City, a large-scale sound-and-light performance in Martyrs' Square conceived by Ivan Caracalla and incorporating music, poetry, orchestral performance, projections and Lebanese performers.[15]
2016–2019
[edit]The festival returned to a more compact format in 2016. Its eighth edition included Alexis Moncorgé's adaptation of Stefan Zweig's Amok, a concert by Lebanese band Adonis, and Gandini Juggling's 4x4: Ephemeral Architectures.[3][16]
The 2017 edition included Bridgman|Packer Dance, a concert by Bachar Mar-Khalifé, Rami Khalifé and Sary Khalifé, Tunisian singer Dorsaf Hamdani, and Carnivorous, a new theatre work by Issam Bou Khaled produced by the festival.[5][17]
The tenth edition in 2018 included a photographic and sonic exhibition commemorating the Nakba, a concert by Egyptian-Palestinian musician Tamer Abu Ghazaleh, a tribute to Tunisian singer Lotfi Bouchnak, performances by British-Indian dancer and choreographer Aakash Odedra, and a production by the Yerevan State Puppet Theatre.[18][19]
Lubnan album
[edit]Bouchnak's appearance at the tenth Beirut Spring Festival led to the release later that summer of Lubnan (لبنان), a nine-track album associated with the Samir Kassir Foundation. Bouchnak had performed with his orchestra on 4 June 2018 at MusicHall, Starco Center, in a tribute jointly organised by the Beirut Spring Festival and the Lebanese Ministry of Culture.[20]
According to contemporary reporting in Asharq Al-Awsat, Bouchnak decided after the festival appearance to offer an album dedicated to Lebanon and the Lebanese. Randa Asmar said that the audience for his festival concert exceeded 1,000 people and that the reception he received contributed to the decision. Proceeds from the album were directed to the Samir Kassir Foundation.[21]
Bouchnak later clarified in an interview with Laha that he had not released the album independently: he had given the songs to the Samir Kassir Foundation, which then selected the album's title, design and presentation.[22] The physical edition was launched and signed by Bouchnak at Dar El Nimer for Arts and Culture in Beirut on 26 July 2018. Dar El Nimer described the songs as having been "generously offered" by Bouchnak and stated that proceeds from the release contributed to the Foundation.[23]
Asharq Al-Awsat reported that the CD contained nine songs, several of them being released for the first time. Publicly documented titles include "Lubnan" (لبنان), "Ajras al-Awda" (أجراس العودة), "Kul Yawm" (كل يوم), "Ta'azina" (تعازينا), "Mughanni al-Hayy" (مغني الحي) and "Tafa'al Ya Rouhi Bil-Kheir" (تفاءل يا روحي بالخير). The title song "Lubnan" was written by Ali Ajami and composed by Abdel Hakim Al-Qayed.[21] Credits published with "Tafa'al Ya Rouhi Bil-Kheir" identify lyrics by Lebanese poet Alexi Constantine and music by Abdullah Marish; the recording was made at Bouchnak's studio in Tunisia and mixed by Mohsen Matri.[24]
Later in July, Bouchnak performed material associated with the release during an appearance at the Tyre International Festival at Beaufort Castle, including "Ajras al-Awda" and a song reported as "بحبك يا لبنان بجنون".[25]
In 2019 the festival presented pianist Alexandra Dariescu's multimedia work The Nutcracker and I, the migration-themed play The Raft, directed by Cyrine Gannoun and Majdi Bou-Matar, and Beirut the Sea Lover, a live multimedia and 3D-mapping performance at Beirut's Roman Baths inspired by Kassir's history of the city.[26][27]
Pandemic and economic crisis, 2020–2022
[edit]The festival's usual format was interrupted in 2020 by Lebanon's political and economic crisis and the COVID-19 pandemic. After the Beirut port explosion of 4 August, the organisers mounted an online edition titled For the Love of Beirut on 25 August and 1 September. It brought back artists from earlier editions, including Kinan Azmeh, Bachar Mar-Khalifé, Alexandra Dariescu and Bridgman|Packer Dance.[28][29]
In 2021 the thirteenth edition, Culture in Time of Crisis, took the form of a two-day hybrid conference about cultural policymaking in Lebanon, co-produced with the Friedrich Naumann Foundation and accompanied by performances.[30][31]
Live multidisciplinary programming resumed in 2022 with a commissioned stand-up performance by Lebanese comedian Nour Hajjar, Dracula: The Untold Story by Imitating the Dog and Leeds Playhouse, and Chrystèle Khodr's listening performance Rise and Fall of Orient Swiss.[6][32]
2023–present
[edit]The fifteenth edition in 2023 presented The Last 15 Seconds, in tribute to Lebanese-Canadian theatre-maker Majdi Bou-Matar, and an Arabic-language presentation of Iranian playwright Nassim Soleimanpour's White Rabbit Red Rabbit, performed by Fouad Yammine.[33] The Canadian company MT Space described the Beirut performances as the final stop of the thirteen-year tour of The Last 15 Seconds and as a return to Bou-Matar's country of origin.[34]
Khoury died in October 2023. The 2024 edition was the first held after her death and was presented in her memory, with Asmar continuing as festival director.[2] During the same period, as part of an ongoing process of institutional and digital development, the festival uplifted its visual identity and launched a new website consolidating its archive and documenting the programmes of all editions since its establishment in 2009. The 2024 programme included a public screening of season eight of the documentary series Zyara, the theatre work Mute, a concert for Palestine by Ziyad Sahhab and Rafic Abboud, and a spoken-word tribute to Khoury.[35]
The seventeenth edition in 2025 coincided with the twentieth anniversary of Kassir's assassination. It included the public sound installation The Dream Manifesto, based on Kassir's 2004 text Bayan el Helm; the theatre production Jarret Ghaz Spéciale, dealing with Lebanese-Syrian memory and violence; a walking tour of sites associated with Kassir and Beirut; and, later in the summer, the photography exhibition 20 Years for Freedom.[36][37]
In the same year, as part of Tech for Memory, a project launched by the Samir Kassir Foundation with funding from the European Union, the Foundation established Memory on Stage, a three-cycle artistic commissioning programme running across the 2025, 2026 and 2027 editions of the Beirut Spring Festival. Through annual calls for proposals, the programme invites artists, cultural practitioners and cultural organisations working in Lebanon to develop new theatre, music, dance, visual installation and multimedia projects engaging with memory, identity and cultural heritage.[38] The first cycle, Memory on Stage 2025, resulted in the production of Jarret Ghaz Spéciale, which premiered during the seventeenth edition of the festival.[38][37]
Originally scheduled for the spring, the eighteenth edition was postponed to 24 August–26 September 2026 amid the 2026 Iran war and its spillover into Lebanon.[39][7] Locally based artists, cultural practitioners and cultural organisations were invited to submit new projects for the eighteenth edition of the festival. The call for applications Memory on Stage 2026 covered theatre, music, dance, visual installations and multimedia work and provided a total funding envelope of up to EUR 50,000 for selected projects.[40][7] That edition comprised three multidisciplinary projects presented across eleven evenings and four venues in Beirut and Tripoli: Echoes of the North: The Unspoken Memory, combining documentary film and photography to explore memories of the Lebanese Civil War and the Syrian presence in northern Lebanon; A Lover's Manifesto P2: The Lebanese Experiment, Alfred Tarazi's film installation examining Beirut and Lebanon between 1920 and 1958; and Echoes of a City's Forgotten Heritage ... in C Minor, a film-performance documenting the restoration of Beirut's architectural heritage following the 2020 port explosion.[7][39]
Writing in Levant Time during the 2026 edition, Jad al-Akhawi, who had known Kassir personally, reflected on the festival through Alfred Tarazi's A Lover's Manifesto P2: The Lebanese Experiment. He described Tarazi's use of newspapers, photographs, advertisements, music, cinema, architecture and material from everyday life as a means of engaging with Lebanon's historical archive beyond nostalgia, linking the work to broader questions of memory, national identity and cultural preservation. Al-Akhawi also observed that the festival's audience had become increasingly intergenerational, bringing together students, journalists, artists, academics, writers and activists around culture and public debate.[41]
The programme is scheduled to continue with Memory on Stage 2027. As of September 2026, a call for artistic projects was open for work to be developed and premiered during the nineteenth edition of the Beirut Spring Festival, scheduled for spring 2027.[42]
Programme and artistic profile
[edit]The Beirut Spring Festival is multidisciplinary. Across its editions it has presented theatre, contemporary dance, classical and experimental music, popular music, hip-hop, film, documentary, photography, puppetry, comedy, literary encounters, installations, projection mapping and public debates.[43]
Its programming has generally combined visiting international artists with Lebanese and regional work. Khoury said in 2017 that the festival aimed to balance performances from abroad with Lebanese work and to make culture accessible to younger audiences.[5] The festival has also commissioned and produced original works, including Issam Bou Khaled's Carnivorous in 2017, the multimedia production Beirut the Sea Lover in 2019.[17][26], theatre play Jarret Ghaz Spéciale in 2025, as well as documentary and photo exhibition Echoes of the North: The Unspoken Memory, film installation A Lover's Manifesto P2: The Lebanese Experiment, and film-performance Echoes of a City's Forgotten Heritage ... in C Minor in 2026.[38][37][40][7]
Artists appearing across the festival's history have included Wajdi Mouawad, Jane Birkin, Tahar Ben Jelloun, Kinan Azmeh, Mercan Dede, Tania Saleh, Aakash Odedra, Tamer Abu Ghazaleh, Alexandra Dariescu, Bachar Mar-Khalifé, Rami Khalifé, Dorsaf Hamdani and Nassim Soleimanpour.[10][11][12][19][27][33]
Visual identity
[edit]The festival's recurring visual identity is based on a clouded blue spring sky crossed by a red bird with outstretched wings. The bird evokes freedom, while its red colour refers to the human cost associated with struggles for freedom.[44]
Access and venues
[edit]Free admission was built into the festival's model from its early editions. Contemporary and retrospective coverage has repeatedly identified free access as a central feature, particularly in relation to young audiences and Lebanon's economic conditions.[3][5][6]
The festival does not operate from a single permanent venue. It has used theatres, universities, galleries, cinemas, historic sites and public spaces including Martyrs' Square, Samir Kassir Square and Garden, the Roman Baths, the American University of Beirut, Al Madina Theatre, Théâtre Monnot and the Tournesol Theatre.[8][13][27][35] In 2026, programming was also presented in Tripoli, marking a geographical expansion beyond Beirut for that edition.[39]
Organisation
[edit]The festival is organised by the Samir Kassir Foundation, a non-profit organisation established after Kassir's assassination. Khoury founded the festival in 2009 and remained closely identified with it until her death in 2023.[1][2] Randa Asmar, who was involved in programming from the festival's early years, is its director.[3][2]
The festival's individual editions have been supported through varying combinations of private sponsors, cultural institutions, diplomatic missions, foundations and international donors.
Editions
[edit]| Edition | Year | Dates | Selected programme and context |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | 2009 | 17–22 June | First edition; theatre, multimedia, opera, dance, hip-hop and public discussion.[8] |
| 2nd | 2010 | 3–8 June | Moi, Anna Politkovskaïa, Pazzi, Ensemble Badila, Rayess Bek and contemporary zajal.[9] |
| 3rd | 2011 | 2–8 June | Tahar Ben Jelloun, Massar Egbari, theatre and dance, and a tribute to Sabah.[10] |
| 4th | 2012 | 3–9 June | Kinan Azmeh, Mercan Dede, Waheed Hamed and a tribute to Elie Choueiri.[11] |
| 5th | 2013 | 26–31 May | Wajdi Mouawad as guest of honour; Incendies, Seuls, Jane Birkin and Tania Saleh.[12] |
| 6th | 2014 | 3–7 June | Gandini Juggling, theatre, dance, public discussion and rap/electronic music.[13] |
| 7th | 2015 | 3 May–6 June | Expanded edition marking ten years since Kassir's assassination; Beirut Ideas, Change-Makers Forum and Beirut, the Timeless City.[1][14] |
| 8th | 2016 | 3–7 June | Amok, Adonis and Gandini Juggling's 4x4: Ephemeral Architectures.[3] |
| 9th | 2017 | 3–7 June | Packer Dance, Bachar and Rami Khalifé with Sary Khalifé, Dorsaf Hamdani and Carnivorous.[5] |
| 10th | 2018 | 15 May–7 June | Programme marking the festival's first decade; Nakba exhibition, Aakash Odedra, Lotfi Bouchnak, Tamer Abu Ghazaleh and Yerevan State Puppet Theatre. Bouchnak's appearance was followed by the Foundation-associated album Lubnan later that summer.[18][19][21] |
| 11th | 2019 | 9–14 June | The Nutcracker and I, The Raft and Beirut the Sea Lover.[26][27] |
| 12th | 2020 | 25 August; 1 September | Online edition For the Love of Beirut after COVID-19 and the Beirut port explosion.[28] |
| 13th | 2021 | 18–19 June | Hybrid Culture in Time of Crisis conference and performances.[30] |
| 14th | 2022 | 3–5 June | Nour Hajjar, Dracula: The Untold Story and Rise and Fall of Orient Swiss.[6] |
| 15th | 2023 | 4–6 June | The Last 15 Seconds and White Rabbit Red Rabbit; tribute to Majdi Bou-Matar.[33][34] |
| 16th | 2024 | 30 May–20 June | First edition after Gisèle Khoury's death; Zyara, Mute, Concert for Palestine and a tribute to Khoury.[2][35] |
| 17th | 2025 | June; August–September | Twentieth anniversary of Kassir's assassination; The Dream Manifesto, Jarret Ghaz Spéciale, a Beirut walking tour and 20 Years for Freedom.[36][37] |
| 18th | 2026 | 24 August–26 September | Three multidisciplinary projects on memory and heritage in Beirut and Tripoli; edition postponed from spring.[39][7] |
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- 1 2 3 4 5 Abou Taha, Souha (15 April 2015). "Gisèle Khoury, fidèle aux combats de Samir Kassir". L'Orient-Le Jour (in French). Retrieved 20 September 2026.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 Zalzal, Zéna (17 May 2024). "Une 16e édition en hommage à Beyrouth, à la Palestine et à Gisèle Khoury". L'Orient-Le Jour (in French). Retrieved 20 September 2026.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Sfeir Darouni, Lamia (6 May 2016). "Le Beirut Spring Festival, une 8e édition minimaliste mais costaude". L'Orient-Le Jour (in French). Retrieved 20 September 2026.
- ↑ "Samir Kassir, une cause toujours aussi vivace". L'Orient-Le Jour (in French). 2 June 2017. Retrieved 20 September 2026.
- 1 2 3 4 5 Zalzal, Zéna (27 April 2017). "Pour Samir, un bouquet de performances printanières dans la ville". L'Orient-Le Jour (in French). Retrieved 20 September 2026.
- 1 2 3 4 Zalzal, Zéna (30 May 2022). "Offrir à la jeunesse des moments de joie et de culture d'une vie normale..." L'Orient-Le Jour (in French). Retrieved 20 September 2026.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 "2026: 18th edition". Beirut Spring Festival. Retrieved 20 September 2026.
- 1 2 3 "2009: 1st edition". Beirut Spring Festival. Retrieved 20 September 2026.
- 1 2 "2010: 2nd edition". Beirut Spring Festival. Retrieved 20 September 2026.
- 1 2 3 "2011: 3rd edition". Beirut Spring Festival. Retrieved 20 September 2026.
- 1 2 3 "2012: 4th edition". Beirut Spring Festival. Retrieved 20 September 2026.
- 1 2 3 "2013: 5th edition". Beirut Spring Festival. Retrieved 20 September 2026.
- 1 2 3 "2014: 6th edition". Beirut Spring Festival. Retrieved 20 September 2026.
- 1 2 3 "2015: 7th edition". Beirut Spring Festival. Retrieved 20 September 2026.
- ↑ "Beirut, the Timeless City". Beirut Spring Festival. 6 June 2015. Retrieved 20 September 2026.
- ↑ "2016: 8th edition". Beirut Spring Festival. Retrieved 20 September 2026.
- 1 2 "2017: 9th edition". Beirut Spring Festival. Retrieved 20 September 2026.
- 1 2 Zalzal, Zéna (18 April 2018). "Beirut Spring Festival : Une décennie d'arts et de mémoire au cœur de la ville". L'Orient-Le Jour (in French). Retrieved 20 September 2026.
- 1 2 3 "2018: 10th edition". Beirut Spring Festival. Retrieved 20 September 2026.
- ↑ "Lotfi Bouchnak". Beirut Spring Festival. 4 June 2018. Retrieved 20 September 2026.
- 1 2 3 Haddad, Viviane (25 July 2018). لطفي بوشناق يوقّع في بيروت ألبومه «لبنان» [Lotfi Bouchnak signs his album Lubnan in Beirut]. Asharq Al-Awsat (in Arabic). Retrieved 20 September 2026.
- ↑ لطفي بوشناق للأطفال العرب: سامحونا [Lotfi Bouchnak to Arab children: Forgive us]. Laha (in Arabic). 2018. Retrieved 20 September 2026.
- ↑ "'Lubnan' by Lotfi Bouchnak". Dar El Nimer for Arts and Culture. 26 July 2018. Retrieved 20 September 2026.
- ↑ Lotfi Bouchnak. Tafa’al Ya Rouhi Bil-Kheir (in Arabic). Retrieved 20 September 2026 – via YouTube.
- ↑ Bazzi, Caroline (29 July 2018). لطفي بوشناق يغني الحب والحرب على أدراج قلعة الشقيف [Lotfi Bouchnak sings of love and war on the steps of Beaufort Castle]. Laha (in Arabic). Retrieved 20 September 2026.
- 1 2 3 Zalzal, Zéna (8 May 2019). "Gisèle Khoury : Ne laissez pas mourir l'art et la créativité au Liban !". L'Orient-Le Jour (in French). Retrieved 20 September 2026.
- 1 2 3 4 "2019: 11th edition". Beirut Spring Festival. Retrieved 20 September 2026.
- 1 2 "Un festival en ligne, par amitié et solidarité". L'Orient-Le Jour (in French). 23 August 2020. Retrieved 20 September 2026.
- ↑ "2020: 12th edition". Beirut Spring Festival. Retrieved 20 September 2026.
- 1 2 "Beirut Spring Festival : Culture in Times of Crisis". Agenda Culturel. 2021. Retrieved 20 September 2026.
- ↑ "2021: 13th edition". Beirut Spring Festival. Retrieved 20 September 2026.
- ↑ "2022: 14th edition". Beirut Spring Festival. Retrieved 20 September 2026.
- 1 2 3 "2023: 15th edition". Beirut Spring Festival. Retrieved 20 September 2026.
- 1 2 "22/23 Season". MT Space. Retrieved 20 September 2026.
- 1 2 3 "2024: 16th edition". Beirut Spring Festival. Retrieved 20 September 2026.
- 1 2 "Spring Festival: 20 years later, Samir Kassir's voice is still heard". L'Orient Today. 29 May 2025. Retrieved 20 September 2026.
- 1 2 3 4 "2025: 17th edition". Beirut Spring Festival. Retrieved 20 September 2026.
- 1 2 3 "Request for Proposals: Memory on Stage". SKeyes Center for Media and Cultural Freedom. Samir Kassir Foundation. 31 January 2025. Retrieved 20 September 2026.
- 1 2 3 4 Zalzal, Zéna (21 August 2026). "Pour sa 18e édition, le Beirut Spring Festival vous donne exceptionnellement rendez-vous en plein été". L'Orient-Le Jour (in French). Retrieved 20 September 2026.
- 1 2 "Request for Proposals: Memory on Stage 2026". SKeyes Center for Media and Cultural Freedom. Samir Kassir Foundation. 23 October 2025. Retrieved 20 September 2026.
- ↑ جاد الاخوي (17 September 2026). مهرجان سمير قصير، أو لبنان الذي لم يولد بعد [The Samir Kassir Festival, or the Lebanon Yet to Be Born]. Levant Time (in Arabic). Retrieved 20 September 2026.
- ↑ "Memory on Stage 2027 – Call for Artistic Projects". Beirut Spring Festival. Retrieved 20 September 2026.
- ↑ "The Festival at a Glance". Beirut Spring Festival. Retrieved 20 September 2026.
- ↑ "The Festival's Identity". Beirut Spring Festival. Retrieved 20 September 2026.