Today in Edinburgh marks the end of this year’s glorious International Arts Festival (the Fringe) and last week we too celebrated the launch and end of the 1st Edinburgh Arab Festival 2015.

What an amazing festival it was!

The festival might have only lasted two short days, but these two days were full of surprises and happy memories for me personally to cherish over the years. Having envisaged this festival months ago as a modest cultural event that will showcase what Edinburgh’s Arab community has to offer, the high attendance and excitement about the event has simply exceeded all my expectations and predictions.

What we witnessed over the two festive days was phenomenal and truly reflected the key message of the EdArabFest: Beauty, Diversity, Richness.

Over the past four months, and with the help of many dedicated people and organisations, we managed to put together something for everyone. A wide array of open and scheduled events around: art, calligraphy, storytelling, poetry, lectures on history and science, fashion, film screenings, live music, folkloric dance, photography, language taster classes, authentic traditional cuisines, food tasting, cooking, tea ceremonies, children activities, dressing-up, panel discussions, literature readings and much more.

We also had a huge media interest and overage from Al-Jazeera Live, BBC Arabic and BBC World Service.

I personally believe and hope that the Edinburgh Arab Festival will continue to grow from strength to strength and remain a solid annual feature of the Fringe Festival.

I’d like to thank every member of the EdArabFest team who dedicated time and effort to make this festival a reality, including our wonderful volunteers, partners, sponsors, exhibitors and anyone who has supported the festival in spirit and attendance.

For those of you who attended the festival, I sincerely hope that you had an enjoyable cultural experience and hope you left the event enlightened, informed and full of inspiration, with plenty of unforgettable moments and newly forged friendships.

We will be sending a call for feedback soon (with lots of prizes to give away as a thank you gesture). We are also interested in your photos, videos and social media interactions during and after the festival. More information on this will be shared soon.

Until then, I look forward to welcoming you next year to the Edinburgh Arab Festival 2016.

Best Wishes

Mourad Diouri

EdArabFest Founder & Director

PS. There were other volunteers who didn’t make it to the photo call but they are still celebrated in spirit.