Each Year, from July till September, the village of Deir El Qamar village hosts the annual summer festival. The program includes a range of theatre performances, sports competitions, exhibitions, a day dedicated to painters, concerts of classical music and oriental music….

This Festival aims at promoting talented Lebanese artists.

More info: www.festivaldeirelqamar.com

A project of musical encounters and exchanges for both professional and amateur musicians

Participating cities:

Creation of a partners’ network comprising six organizations: ZicoHouse - Beirut/Lebanon, Foundation Roselli - Témara/Marocco, AMJC Metline – Metline & Tunis/Tunisia,

Association Arts & Youth – El Jem/Tunisia, Theatre en Vol – Sassari/Italia, Arteco – Marseille/France

This network aims to organize sustainable music workshops, suggest new cultural and artistic projects in relations to music production and to form a group for more serious study of musical heritage and experimentation, as well as the exchange of musical knowledge and expertise.

Zico House has been chosen by Pro Helevtia and the Swiss Embassy to manage the Swiss cultural program in Lebanon. This program includes diverse cultural activities such as exhibitions, concerts, theatre, installations, conferences, street performances, video screenings, etc.. The main idea was to integrate the Swiss program within the Lebanese cultural scene, working as much as possible with local cultural institutions. 

The aim of this program is to encourage mutual collaboration between Swiss and Lebanese artists, stressing on cultural exchanges between them, in order to realize common works, and training sessions for the creation of mixed creations.

In the framework of this project, Zico House established a semi-monthly magazine « Le Culturel » in order to diffuse this cultural agenda.

More info: www.eda.admin.ch/beyrouth

Politicians, professors and Lebanese journalists often refer to the Swiss political system. However, this regime is the result of a history of seven centuries consisting of many conflicts and crises, an unknown fact to a number of persons in Lebanon. It is not a question of speaking about models or of proposing an ideal system, but simply of discovering the reality to which one often refers to, but also which we are often unaware of. The exercise is, first of all, conceived as an “eye opener”.

The Lebanese Association of Political Sciences, in collaboration with the Embassy of Switzerland in Lebanon proposed to organize a cycle of conference-debates on the topic: “Understanding Switzerland: practices of pluralism and unity” during the year 2007-2008, beginning October 2007.

A conference and 3 concurrent workshops

The conference and workshops seek to offer a discursive and visual presentation of the concept of “public space” in Beirut. The relationship between city and citizens in the Lebanese capital, a complex town that is characterized by physical and mental division lines where demarcations between what is public and what is private have been in constant motion, lies at the heart of this project. It researched how citizens of Beirut with different socio-economic and religious backgrounds perceive their city and the concept of public space, how territories are managed and architecturally designed, how spaces are exploited and social interaction takes place, in addition to exploring the relation between the center and the periphery. Theoretical analysis is accompanied by field research with the aim of producing visual and artistic works (photos, films, texts) that reflect this reality and grasp the multilayered dimensions of the concept of public space. Public libraries, significant institutions in eradicating “barricades” and whose underlying philosophy is the accessibility of their premises to every individual regardless of his or her background, will host the meetings.

The project was financed by the Heinrich Boll Foundation, aMAZElab and MAST.  

“This idea is based on a real story. It took place in southern Lebanon, July 2006. It is documented in a BBC news report. I was there. It shouldn’t have happened, I shouldn’t have seen it, it shouldn’t have happened, no one should have seen it, but now that it did happen, and I have seen it; what do I do?’ Saseen Kawzally

A work in Progress initiated by Saseen Kawzally (LB) and Ben Harrison (UK)

This project was conceived in July 2006, during the Israeli offensive against Lebanon.

The production team wanted to work with actors from Lebanon. The purpose of this initial development was to create a dramatic structure with four actors, an annotated score of movement and to develop the first spoken texts.

It was essential that the production remain rooted in Lebanese culture.

The effect of war is to be explored in this project on a very personal level, and distant from political positions. Issues of life and death in times of war. Issues of martyrdom. Issues of the afterlife. The eventual production will be rehearsed and tour in the UK.

Zico House was in charge of suggesting and screening actors/actresses as well as organizing the casting.

This project constituted a Photo Exhibition entitled 'The Art of Integration Exhibition: Islam in Britain’s Green and Pleasant Lands' by Peter Saunders, (one of the leading photographers of the Muslim world). It aims to present the lives of Muslims in the UK and their contribution to British economic, cultural and political life.

The exhibition took place between the end of September - mid October 2007 in Beirut, Saida and Tripoli.

The project was financed by The British Embassy in Beirut and targeted to opinion leaders, university students, academics and the general public.