That money, too, has dried up in the past two years, and recently the festival has relied on private donors.
Other festivals are hanging on by making major changes. The Dbayeh International Festival, formerly Dbayeh Festival, has been innovating in the past few years to deal with uncertainty and expand its appeal.
While the Dbayeh festival will not be receiving Tourism Ministry funding this year for the first time, the team is still finding ways to make ends meet.
Roula Chikhani, who runs media for the festival group Bi Bikfaya, emphasized the importance of local festivals for communities. Bi Bikfaya has been hosting three festivals a year for the past nine years, and the program's founder, Nicole Gemayel, is now the town's mayor.
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