Friday, December 13, 2013

Haifa's Festival of Festivals 2013

The colourful Festival of Festivals, now in its 16th year, takes place every weekend in December in Haifa’s mixed Arab-Jewish Wadi Nisnas neighbourhood. Thus quotes "Jewish Times Asia" which just goes to show that the event is reaching a wide world audience.


The festival promotes cultural and artistic events that celebrate - Chanukah, Christmas and Eid al-Adha. This year, the festival includes an art exhibition featuring the works of 50 Jewish and Arab artists in Wadi Nisnas; an art trail and an exhibition of paper cuts by international artist Tzipora Neeman with the cooperation of Jewish and Arab women.

There are photography and video exhibits and an antiques fair that opened on 28 November and runs for five weekends at Beit Hagefen.

Further there is an arts and crafts fair; a children’s art exhibition; folklore concerts by the Romanian gypsy band Fanfara Shavale and others and music concerts in Haifa’s churches and concert halls that combine liturgy, Arab and Israeli music.

Also taking place are street activities and free shows for adults and children; art activities and creative workshops for children; ethnic food stalls; coexistence routes of song and literature in Wadi Nisnas - marked by posters lining the streets; processions, carnivals, folklore dancing and more.

The festival, which attracts tens of thousands of visitors every year, is produced by the Municipality of Haifa and Gefen House (a Jewish-Arab center in Haifa), in cooperation with residents of the Wadi Nisnas neighbourhood

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