Atelier Beirut

Beirut is one of my favourite cities.  As outsiders, we get to romanticise the city, but for its citizens and for Lebanon generally, it is a tough place to be with limited electricity, high inflation, great political instability and the legacies of the massive explosion and other existential crises embedded in the consciousness of the people.  But it is also a city - perhaps for all these reasons - in which the citizens live!  Participants from the Mediterranean, the Arab region and Eastern Europe gathered at this three-day Atelier and once again, it was an inspiring event, that offered so much more because of its location and because of the diversity of its participants.  It was held in association with Zoukak Theatre whose building had been partly lost in the explosion and who were hosting their annual festival for the first time in three years.  The theatres were full!