Baad el Bahr (BEBA) Cultural Association

National Network
Egypt
Address

8, Champollion st. Down Town
Cairo
Egypt

Telephone
0020 2 25784494
Telephone (other)
0020 2 23592530
E-Mail
baadelbahr@hotmail.com
E-Mail (2)
giorgiafacchinelli@hotmail.com
Mobile Phone
0020 10 3406339
Mobile Phone (other)
0020 10 1704554
Organisation Type
Non-Governmental Organization
Year of Establishment
2008
Fields of Activity
  1. Youth and education
General Information
Baad El Bahr is a cultural association based in Cairo. It was created by 11 individuals from diverse national and cultural backgrounds, involved for years in various branches of Egypt’s cultural life. Until now, the founding members are the only operative staff, assisted by four volunteers. BEBA works with different partners according to each project. At the moment, the Italian Institute of Culture in Cairo is its partner on the "Cairo Mediterranean Literary Festival" event. Budgetary resources vary according to the grants which have been received for the projects. Projects are also sponsored by private companies. BEBA organizes regular art exhibitions (sculpture, installations, videos, painting), presentations of books, workshops of literary translations of Mediterranean writers into Arabic, and participate to calls of proposals for bigger projects like the Cairo Mediterranean Literary Festival.
Mission and Objectives

While closely collaborating with other Mediterranean countries, Baad El Bahr intends to put Egypt forth as a wellspring of ideas, a center for their production and propagation rather than a mere receptacle of imported cultural programs. Moreover, BEBA strives to promote a spirit of curiosity about culture such as aspires to uncover, share and propagate the core trends of contemporary thought, whether through theatre, music or visual arts, or through hybrid forms born from the combination thereof: this, while providing space for original voices, innovative research, and newly born trends.
Baad El Bahr seeks to reach an ever-expanding audience of non-specialists. In doing so, it is convinced that making art available to all need not imply renouncing quality. Rather, it consists in delivering the means to achieve a higher level of understanding through workshops and training classes in various fields.

Main Projects / Activities

At the moment BEBA is working on two main projects:
1. “Invisible Presence: Looking at the body in Contemporary Egyptian Art”, is a group exhibition which takes place from 15th December to 23rd January 2010 at Sama-Khana Theatre-Mevlevi Derwish, in Cairo. The concept behind this group show is how the body, which tends to be imperceptible in the local public conscience and discourse in Egypt, comes to life in contemporary art and expresses the human condition in contemporary times. The exhibition has commissioned new productions by twenty-four visual artists from Egypt. Particularly noteworthy is that it has asked artists to direct their vision onto their physical selves in a manner that has not been fully explored locally in contemporary times. “Invisible Presence” is sponsored by the Prince Klaus Cultural Foundation, Alchemy for Design and Furniture co., the Mashrabia Gallery in Cairo. Patron of the event is the Italian Embassy in Egypt.
2. The Cairo Mediterranean Literary Festival promotes cultural exchange between the northern and southern Mediterranean coasts. It will be an annual event, and will have a different theme every year. The theme this year is ‘literature and humor’. The invited guests are writers, actors, musicians and professionals of an extremely high level and fame coming from Mediterranean countries and meeting their Egyptian homologues. They will be able to settle an original exchange among themselves and to focus the attention of both medias and the public on the event. The Festival takes place in Cairo from the 5th to the 12th of May 2010. The activities will be hosted in different places, according to their nature and technical needs. The locations are: the Italian Cultural Institute, the Institutes or structures of the participating countries, the Sama-Khana Theatre and Mevlevi Derwish archeological area, the Opera House, the Italian Recreational Center, the El Sawi cultural center, the Diwan Bookshop.
In order to realize this project, BEBA participated in the ‘Call of Proposal for Local Projects’ of the Delegation of the European Community in Egypt, and brilliantly achieved the right to receive financial backing. BEBA’s partner in the project is the Italian Cultural Institute in Cairo.

Contact (1) Full Name
Giorgia Facchinelli
Head of the organisation
Stefania Angarano
Contact (2) Full Name
Stefania Angarano