It became clear in early 2016 that to sustain the services we provide to our targeted communities in Lebanon, we need to centralize most of these services in centers that we manage.  Conducting activities in short-term rented venues has limited our impact on the community and has occasionally hindered the implementation of activities.  In addition, there are no cultural centers in the areas  where many Syrian refugees live in Bekaa.  In late 2016 and early 2017 we opened two cultural centers:

• Ghazzeh Cultural Center:  This center is situated within 100 meters of a very large refugee camp. It offers a public library in arts and literature, a multipurpose hall with a regular cultural program of film screening and small-scale performances.  It also houses the video school that we started in March 2017 for a regular 9-months study of film-making.

Activities:

Majal Competition:

Hazem Baij, a talented young Syrian refugee, won the first prize in the poetry competition organized by Action for Hope Cultural Center in Gaza, Bekaa in April 2019 for his  poem “Beirut and Sham”. Seven talented people participated in the competition, voted with the public and the jury for the winners of the first three prizes. The jury awarded Mustafa Al Hussein the second prize for his poem “To Her Eyes”, while the third prize went to Osama Hamoud for his poem “A wounded homeland.”

The center is available on selected days for any other parties to make activities.
For more information, please call: 70- 899 186

• Barr Elias Arts Training Center:  This center houses the music school and the theater training program. It’s a one-story little villa situated very close to a number of small refugee camps.    A semi-covered mobile theater will be mounted in the empty plot in front of the center, but it might take up to spring 2018 for the theater to be fully operative.