The Beiteddine Festival: Bridging the Gap

The BThe Beiteddine Art Festival (BAF) is a non-profit organization that manages an art and musical festival in Lebanon with the aim of using cultural activity to bridge the political divide in a country torn by war and neighboring countries’ conflicts. As a non-profit, the BAF relied heavily on donated funds and grants, which were at many times uncertain on all levels (amount and collection), forcing the festival to resort to bank loans to close the gap in its financing needs, often at a heavy cost. The insecurity and instability of its revenues, coupled with escalating expenses that were usually opportunistic given a deteriorating political and security situation in Lebanon and the region, posed a serious threat to the financial sustainability of BAF. In early 2017, the management of the festival was facing an exceptional situation. On one hand revenues were shrinking considerably because of a deteriorating political and financial situation in the region with Lebanon on the verge of bankruptcy; on the other hand, costs were ever more erratic because of difficulty of planning and budgeting, and with additional taxes being levied by a struggling government. The team had to decide on whether they could sign upcoming contracts with artists, and if so, create a process to ensure that financial ends met, with a clear focus on preserving the quality of performances while maintaining the impact the festival had on the social, humanitarian, and economic levels.eiteddine Festival: Bridging the Gap