Manuel Martin

"These may be difficult times for artists across the Arab world, but these are also times of change and hope", says Manuel Martin, coordinator of FestArab, an ambitious new festival network inspired by EFA. FestArab is a platform rallying festivals, cultural actors and institutions from around the Arab World, and fostering collaboration with European actors. The first event was held in 2011 in Granada (Spain), a three-day workshop about arts festivals and cultural heritage, called "Festivals, a new cultural landscape". "The challenges we are now facing have also been an opportunity to assess the willingness of Arab countries to improve communication at three levels - with other countries in the Middle East and around the Mediterranean, with the parts of the Arab world, and to build cultural bridges between the Arab world and Europe". abstract of the publication EFA 60 years on festivals on the World http://www.efa-aef.eu/en/initiatives/publications/