The Second Forum on Festivals in the Arab Countries is the only state-level festival event hosted in the Arab region. With experts from various fields, this Festival Forum is one of the highlights for festivals in the Arab countries. The second edition on 1 and 2 March 2012 in Manama/Bahrain is organised by the Ministry of Culture in the Kingdom of Bahrain, in coordination with the Arab Administrative Development Organization, to celebrate Manama, the Arab Capital Culture of 2012. The Forum is committing itself to both innovation and originality and builds on its first successful edition in Beirut in December 2009. Over two days, festival presidents, organisers, managers, and art directors will gather to exchange expertise about different issues of festivals exploring the way to improve and upgrade the levels of festivals in the Arab countries. The sessions of this forum include a welcome/opening address, two keynote sessions, and five regular sessions presenting and debating the latest festival business insights in addition to reviewing the key achievements and challenges facing festivals nowadays. Also, there will be a further focus on the most important issues in the festival industry, as well as networking opportunities for neighbouring countries. The forum is concluded with a panel discussion and recommendations session. The 2nd Festival Forum is not only a gathering for festival organisers, artists, even governmental officials, enterprisers, and celebrities, but will become one of important means for intercultural communication as well. During this event, and exclusively for this year, there will be the opening of the Annual Spring of Culture Festival in Manama on 1 March. All Forum participants will have the chance to enjoy an array of cultural and artistic events along with the scheduled sessions. The organisers invite everybody interested to attend. Find out more here.