Sixty artists commit and support Lebanon at the Institut du Monde

Jack Lang, President of the Arab World Institute -

Almost two months ago, a double explosion ravaged a large part of Beirut, the capital of Lebanon.

In a country hit by a deep economic and political crisis, no less than 190 people were killed and more than 6,500 others were injured.

In order to provide support to the Lebanese artistic life, greatly damaged, the Institut du Monde Arabe (IMA) is organizing in Paris on Friday and Saturday, on its forecourt, two evenings of performances open to the public during which will be gathered physically and virtually more of 60 artists, intellectuals and activists.

"The objective is to mobilize all those who are attached to the resurrection, to the reconstruction of Lebanon", explains Jack Lang, president of the IMA.

In association with Wajdi Mouawad, director of the La Colline theater, and France Inter, which for the occasion is shaking up its programming and offering a special weekend in Lebanon, the proceeds from

 will be donated to organizations artist support AFAC / Mawred Solidarity Fund of Lebanon and STATION Beirut.

Culture as a support

Last Sunday, in the heart of a district damaged by the blasts, a moving concert of Lebanese songs in homage to the victims was held in the gardens of the Beirut Sursock-Cochrane palace.

Not without recalling the mobilization of artists who, during the siege of Sarajevo in the early 1990s, made art an instrument of resistance.

“Although it cannot provide a real answer to the tragedy, culture helps to restore confidence in a country.

Culture is the soul of a people, its history, its identity, the expression of its creativity, ”says Jack Lang.

A creativity which, for two days, will be honored by the best filmmakers, musicians, theatergoers, and writers present, or in correspondence from the French Institute in Beirut.

We note, among others, the participations of the singer Camélia Jordana, the composer Marc Codsi, the director Ziad Antar, and the designer Naji El Mir.

A program produced thanks to the close ties between Lebanon and the IMA, but also thanks to the confidence that the artists place in the former Minister of Culture.

Whoever discovered Lebanon at the age of 18 does not hide that he frequently corresponds with the actors of Lebanese cultural life: “Recently, the letters from artists that I received were marked by pain, but also through hope ”.

A Franco-Lebanese friendship

According to the president of the IMA, the main idea of ​​this great gathering is to say with force that friends and lovers of Lebanon must not let down this country to which France is linked.

“Lebanon is a country and a people that we love, that we admire because we are historically and culturally linked to it.

It is a sister nation that brings a lot to humanity, to France in particular, through its artists.

Today in Lebanon there is a feeling of despair and anger.

It is therefore important for us to say that we are with them and that we are accompanying them in this ordeal ”.

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• Beirut

• Lebanon

• Jack Lang

• Culture