Beirut Creative Cluster Officially Launched

On April 2, we celebrated the launching of the cluster by organizing the Creative Upload Party (CUP 1.0) at Playroom, Nahr El Mot, under the patronage of H.E Minister of Telecom Nicolas Sehanoui. Nearly 400 A-list industry professionals, university faculty members and market shakers were present to celebrate the Lebanese creative industry.

Many notable people talked about the Beirut Creative Cluster during the party. Mr. Mohammad Rabbah of ZRE, which initiated the Beirut Digital District talked about the BDD and how important is its partnership with the Beirut Creative Cluster (BCC). Then, Mr. Hani Asfour, our President, noted in his speech that the aim of the BCC is to improve and stimulate the creative industry in Lebanon. Also, Mr. Diego Escalona Paturel, Head of the cooperation section at the Delegation of the EU to Lebanon, specified that the EU is glad to support the cluster and wishes all the best in the future. Then, Mr. Maroun Chammas, CEO of Berytech, noted that the BCC is a very important entity to have in Lebanon because the creative industry in the country needs support and motivation. Finally, H.E Minister Nicolas Sehnaoui highlighted the importance of the digital economy in Lebanon, mentioning his excitement concerning the launching of the BCC.

Our guests enjoyed the relaxed and fun atmosphere, and they were entertained by the talented band, The FreeRolls, featuring Cheryl Khairallah, who took their breath away with her voice. Also, the Beirut Groove Collective DJs played a great set of music.

What is really behind the name of our party, “Creative Upload Party”? In fact, our country Lebanon has positioned itself as one of the leading markets in digital media consumption (the download to upload ratio is close to 10 to 1); while this might be looked at as a positive indicator for some industries it also highlights the lack of our production in the digital content arena. One of the missions of the BCC is to encourage digital content production; there should be more local work being uploaded from Lebanon and consumed across the world so that our country becomes again the regional epicenter of creativity.

In addition, the launch of the BCC was designed around three axes culminating in a party.
1. Designers & entrepreneurs co-creating new service solutions in response to a global theme in partnership with Mirada Madrid
2. A four-day workshop with three UK experts in partnership with the British Council
3. The creation of a trade mission to represent the industry at MIPTV 2013 in Cannes

Finally, we would like to thank our partners in the party Beirut Digital District, IDAL and Alfa, and thank you IXSIR, GreyGoose and Emblème for your support.