The 2010 Middle East Festival, MESP 2010

6/2/2010: MESP 2010 Middle East Festival One World Peace Concert

7/2 - 26/2/2010: MESP 2010 Additional Events

12/2 - 1/3/2010: MESP 2010 Middle Eastern Film Festival

7/3 - 18/4/2010: MESP 2010 Middle Eastern Film Festival on Tour

18/2/2010: MESP 2010 Masterclass with Ibrahim El-Batout

20/2/2010: MESP 2010 Day Workshop on Egyptian Cinema

23/2 - 4/3/2010: MESP 2010 Pre Events

27/2 - 3/3/2010: MESP 2010 Middle East Youth Festival

5/3 - 18/3/2010: MESP 2010 Main Events

11/1 - 31/3/2010: MESP 2010 Exhibitions and Displays


MESP 2010 Downloads

MESP 2010 Main Events Booking Options

MESP 2010 Photo Gallery


MESP 2010, Introduction

MESP 2010, Announcement and Invitation to Participate

MESP 2010, Guidelines for Participation

MESP 2010, Proposal Submission Form

MESP 2009, Report

 

From Friday 5 March - Thursday 18 March 2010 the 7th Annual Edinburgh International Festival of Middle Eastern Spirituality and Peace, MESP 2010, will bring together people from a wide range of spiritual backgrounds, people working with peace, conflict, reconciliation and justice, educators, teachers, scholars and students, people from artistic and cultural backgrounds, people working with health, wellbeing and healing experiences and concerns, people from diverse cultures, traditions and communities, and people from across Scotland and internationally.

More generally, everyone participates in an individual and non-representative capacity, to allow people to draw upon their own unique individual experiences and to share their unique visions and perspectives, and people of all backgrounds who respect the Festival ethos are warmly invited to participate in this spiritual, educational, artistic and cultural and international festival which celebrates peace and mutual understanding.

The non-political nature of the Festival allows for an exceptional diversity among the participants. In total there will be some 100 events in MESP 2010, including pre-events, with speakers and guests from the Middle East, Africa, Europe, USA, Scotland and UK.

The Festival is jointly organized by the Edinburgh International Centre for Spirituality and Peace, EICSP, Scottish Charity SC038996, and the Edinburgh Institute for Advanced Learning, EIAL, supported by partner organisations, funders, hosting organisations, as well as participating individuals and communities.

In MESP 2010 twelve thematic strands to the Festival will be explicit, to allow a range of entry routes into the Festival, and to allow a range of participation identities, namely:

1. Spirituality, Interspirituality and Intraspirituality;
2. Peace, Conflict, Reconciliation and Justice;
3. Education and Learning;
4. Arts and Culture;
5. Health, Wellbeing and Healing;
6. Equality, Diversity and Communities;
7. Environmental Responsibility and Climate Change;
8. Engagement with Science and Medicine;
9. Engagement with Communication Media;
10. Engagement with Business and Industry;
11. Engagement with Government, Parliament, NGOs and Civic Society;
12. Celebrating Scotland, the UK and the Middle East.

The Festival brings together at least three different kinds of presentations. First, we hope to learn from each other about our shared traditions, as well as those that form the unique voice of any one of us. Second, we will hear from those who have been active in peacemaking on a spiritual and secular basis on the ground in the Middle East. Third, we invite participants to share in the musical and spiritual practice presented, in order to gain an experiential view of the traditions that we discuss.

One of the Festival’s overriding aims is to contribute to peace and mutual understanding through dialogue, spiritual and artistic practice, and improved mutual understanding among the spiritual, secular, educational and artistic and cultural traditions that have arisen in what is now known as the Middle East, and among those who have found a home in Scotland. No speaker represents, or can represent, the totality of any tradition, and experiential and evaluative perspectives are particularly welcome.

Festival participants are invited to shape their own experience during the Festival, and to take personal responsibility for participating as peacemakers and community builders. In particular, participants are invited to take personal responsibility for processing any conflicts or obstacles to peace that they experience, and for self-evaluating their own participation as peacemakers and community builders for the benefit of their wider life experience.

Conflict and obstacles to peace are of central importance in the lives of peacemakers and community builders. They hold seeds for our spiritual, personal and creative development and can provide energy to sustain such development. The Festival provides many opportunities to engage spiritually, creatively and non-violently with conflict and obstacles to peace in supportive and non-judgmental environments, allowing participants the opportunity to transform conflicts and obstacles to peace into new perspectives, insights and actions.

The Festival is managed as a charitable event for wide public benefit, and all events in the Festival should reflect, and all participants in the Festival should respect, the Festival Equal Opportunities Policy.

Middle East Festival Co-Founders and Co-Directors Neill Walker and Dr Neil Douglas-Klotz said:

‘The Festival positively affirms the diversity contained within the spiritual and cultural traditions of the Middle East, as well as those here in Scotland. The Festival takes no fixed position on any political, ethical or cultural question. We intend rather to create a forum in which we can listen to one another deeply and learn with open minds and hearts. The emphasis of the Festival is on spiritual, secular, educational and artistic and cultural approaches to peace and mutual understanding.’

Contact:

Neill Walker, +44 (0) 131 331 4469,
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it , www.mesp.org.uk