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The Ultimate CairoScene Guide to AUC Tahrir CultureFest 2025
The second edition brings live concerts, literary panels, food tours, art workshops, and global performances to Downtown Cairo.
Apr 07, 2025
After its debut on The American University in Cairo’s Tahrir Campus last year, AUC Tahrir CultureFest is back for a second edition—bigger, bolder, and more diverse than ever. Running from Thursday, April 10th to Saturday, April 12th, this year's festival invites the city to explore a packed programme of cross-cultural performances, interactive workshops, musical acts, children’s activities, and literary conversations.
With everything from face painting and origami to architectural panels and international cuisine, AUC Tahrir CultureFest 2025 captures the pulse of Cairo’s evolving cultural identity—past, present, and future.
Here’s everything you can experience over the three-day festival…
Bazaar Buzz
📍 Main Garden
🕒 April 10th–12th | 12 PM – 10 PM
🕒 April 10th–12th | 12 PM – 10 PM
Explore handcrafted accessories, upcycled fashion, and eco-conscious designs at this bustling market hosted by the Entrepreneurs Society.
Book Fair
📍 Main Garden
🕒 April 10th–12th | 12 PM – 10 PM
🕒 April 10th–12th | 12 PM – 10 PM
Browse Arabic titles spanning fiction, politics, children’s literature and more, courtesy of AUC Bookstores and AUC Press.
Flavors of the World
📍 Outdoors
🕒 April 10th–12th | 12 PM – 10 PM
🕒 April 10th–12th | 12 PM – 10 PM
Grab a bite from Butcher’s Burger, Gracias EG, Mandarine Koueidar, Pizza Station, and more—offering global street eats in a Downtown setting.
Exhibition: ‘Heels Over Head’
📍 Margo Veillon & Future Galleries
🕒 April 10th | 6 PM – 6:30 PM
🕒 April 10th | 6 PM – 6:30 PM
A bold senior art show featuring AUC’s graduating visual artists as they navigate personal and collective identities through mixed media.
A CaPop: From Cairo with Harmony
📍 Ewart Memorial Hall
🕒 April 10th | 6:30 PM – 7:30 PM
🕒 April 10th | 6:30 PM – 7:30 PM
A semi-a capella fusion of pop hits and cultural sounds by AUC’s own vocal ensemble.
Marwan Pablo
📍 Outdoor Stage
🕒 April 10th | 8 PM – 9 PM
🕒 April 10th | 8 PM – 9 PM
Marwan Pablo delivers ‘El Moftah’—his debut performance at AUC Tahrir and one of the festival’s most anticipated live acts.
Urban Sports: Nile Kayaking Adventure
📍 Tahrir Square Meeting Point
🕒 April 11th | 8 AM
🕒 April 11th | 8 AM
Paddle into day two with a guided morning kayak ride along the Nile.
Reflections on the Nile
📍 Historic Palace, Room 215
🕒 April 11th | 11 AM – 12 PM
🕒 April 11th | 11 AM – 12 PM
A conversation on water sustainability and innovation, featuring Badr Kotb, Noureldin Amrousi, and Farah Ghonaim.
Echoes of Cairo: Print Your Story
📍 Main Garden
🕒 April 11th–12th | 12 PM – 5 PM
🕒 April 11th–12th | 12 PM – 5 PM
Customise your own T-shirt using local motifs at this hands-on screen printing workshop.
Armenian Room Alphabet Reveal
📍 Armenian Room
🕒 April 11th (12 PM – 8 PM) & April 12th (12 PM – 7:30 PM)
🕒 April 11th (12 PM – 8 PM) & April 12th (12 PM – 7:30 PM)
Witness 38 redesigned letters of the Armenian alphabet in one of Cairo’s most storied architectural spaces.
Yoga with the Indian Embassy
📍 Hill House 603
🕒 April 11th | 1 PM – 2 PM
🕒 April 11th | 1 PM – 2 PM
Stretch, centre, and reset at a calming yoga session led by an Indian Embassy instructor.
Cairo on a Plate: A Global City Food Tour
📍 Armenian Room
🕒 April 11th (1 PM – 4 PM) & April 12th (12 PM – 3 PM)
🕒 April 11th (1 PM – 4 PM) & April 12th (12 PM – 3 PM)
Qahrawya’s roaming culinary tour returns with dishes from Sudan, Greece, Armenia, France, Italy, and beyond.
A Celebration of Global Dance & Culture
📍 Ewart Memorial Hall
🕒 April 11th | 2 PM – 2:30 PM
🕒 April 11th | 2 PM – 2:30 PM
Cairo American College’s varsity dance team performs a celebration of heritage through movement.
Family Activities & Workshops
📍 Main Garden
🕒 April 11th–12th | 2 PM – 6 PM
🕒 April 11th–12th | 2 PM – 6 PM
Includes Painting on Ola Pots, Pottery Making, Face Portraits by Banan Khalil, Face Painting by Nadine, Chris & Maria, Canvas Painting with Nadine, and the Origami Workshop by Jimmy Gami.
Stir, Stir, Slurp…
📍 Main Garden
🕒 April 11th | 2:30 PM – 3:30 PM
🕒 April 11th | 2:30 PM – 3:30 PM
Storyteller Lamya Tawfik whips up tales and soup in an interactive reading session for kids.
The Best of Both Worlds
📍 Ewart Memorial Hall
🕒 April 11th | 5 PM – 6 PM
🕒 April 11th | 5 PM – 6 PM
Follow a Cairo kiosk owner in a musical-theatrical performance about home, belonging, and change.
Indian Dance Showcase + Workshop
📍 Outdoor Stage
🕒 April 11th | 5 PM – 6:30 PM
🕒 April 11th | 5 PM – 6:30 PM
Classical Kathak meets Bollywood glamour in this cultural showcase and interactive dance session.
Cairobi: Music Beyond Borders
📍 Outdoor Stage
🕒 April 11th | 8 PM – 9 PM
🕒 April 11th | 8 PM – 9 PM
Kenya’s Fadhilee Itulya joins Cairo-based Nadya Shanab for a genre-bending night of global grooves.
Bilhana: A Food & Photography Talk
📍 Outdoor Stage
🕒 April 12th | 12 PM – 1 PM
🕒 April 12th | 12 PM – 1 PM
Yasmine Elgharably and Yehia El-Alaily discuss food storytelling through the lens of their book, ‘Bilhana’.
Nostalgic Notes of Cairo
📍 Outdoor Stage
🕒 April 12th | 1:30 PM – 2:30 PM
🕒 April 12th | 1:30 PM – 2:30 PM
A collaborative performance by students from CASA and ALIN celebrating Cairo through music and memory.
Foreign Egyptians & Egyptian Foreigners
📍 Ewart Memorial Hall
🕒 April 12th | 2 PM – 3:30 PM
🕒 April 12th | 2 PM – 3:30 PM
Mahmoud El-Tamimi leads a multimedia presentation on Cairo’s multicultural legacy and diasporic threads.
International Dance Performance
📍 Outdoor Stage
🕒 April 12th | 3 PM – 4 PM
🕒 April 12th | 3 PM – 4 PM
AUC students showcase regional dance styles, from Egyptian folk to global movement traditions.
Japanese Culture Workshops
📍 Main Garden
🕒 April 12th | 4 PM – 8 PM
🕒 April 12th | 4 PM – 8 PM
Includes Shodo & Yukata Calligraphy, Dress-Up, as well as the Rhythms of Japan Dance Performance (4 PM – 4:30 PM).
Children’s Picture Books as Cultural Mirrors
📍 Howard Room
🕒 April 12th | 4:30 PM – 5:30 PM
🕒 April 12th | 4:30 PM – 5:30 PM
Dr. Yasmine Motawy explores how Egyptian children’s literature reflects two decades of social and economic change.
Salute to Gaza: A Choir of Hope and Resilience
📍 Outdoor Stage
🕒 April 12th | 6 PM – 7 PM
🕒 April 12th | 6 PM – 7 PM
Voices from the Edward Said National Conservatory of Music honour Gaza with choral storytelling and solidarity.
Cairo’s Architecture: A Cosmopolitan Canvas
📍 Oriental Hall
🕒 April 12th | 6 PM – 8 PM
🕒 April 12th | 6 PM – 8 PM
A discussion on how history, empire, and policy shaped Cairo’s architectural character—moderated by Momen El-Husseiny.
Egyptian Startups Going Global
📍 Oriental Hall
🕒 April 12th | 6 PM – 7 PM
🕒 April 12th | 6 PM – 7 PM
Entrepreneurs and investors explore what it takes to scale tech from Egypt to the world, moderated by Ayman Ismail.
Cairo Steps: Mystic Melodies of East & West
📍 Ewart Memorial Hall
🕒 April 12th | 8 PM – 10 PM
🕒 April 12th | 8 PM – 10 PM
Sufi jazz, classical elegance, and Eastern spirituality collide in Cairo Steps’ closing concert.
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