About · من نحن

من نحن A festival built by the people who needed it most.

OC MENA Festival started as a conversation between three friends who kept driving to Las Vegas, New Jersey, and Toronto for the shows they wanted to see. Three years later, it's 150 acres, three stages, and one of the largest MENA cultural gatherings in the United States. Orange County was always the right room — it just needed a host.

Founders portrait · warm lantern light

01

By the community, with scale

Every vendor, every artist, every producer on this festival has roots in the region or the diaspora. This isn't a cultural tour — it's a family gathering with better sound design.

02

Main-stage treatment

MENA artists get niche budgets in the US market. We refused that from day one. The Pacific Amphitheatre isn't a compromise — it's the statement. Book it like it matters, because it does.

03

A festival your mom will love

Teta-friendly food. Prayer space. Family lounge. Rides for the kids. Late-night DJs for the young crowd. The festival works for everyone in the car ride — not just the one who drove.

The team · الفريق

The people behind the festival.

Founder portrait

Co-Founder

Festival Director

Twenty years in live-event production. Spent the last decade building cultural programming across Southern California. Runs the floor from first truck-in to last lot-out.

Co-founder portrait

Co-Founder

Music & Programming

Artist manager turned festival booker. Has worked with MENA headliners across North America and the Gulf. Curates the lineup with an ear for what the community wants next — not what the charts told them to like last year.

Co-founder portrait

Co-Founder

Community & Culture

SoCal native, MENA-American, community organizer. Leads vendor partnerships, cultural programming, and the relationships that keep the festival grounded in the community it's for.

Razan Kesbeh

Razan Kesbeh

Vendor Relations

The bazaar is hers. Over 100 vendors, from Lebanese food stalls to Palestinian jewelers, curated and coordinated by Razan. If you're applying to sell at the souq, you're talking to her.

Osama Aresheh

Osama Aresheh

Sponsorships & Partnerships

Runs the sponsorship program and corporate partnerships. Point of contact for brands that want to be part of the 2026 festival and beyond. Decks, activations, and custom packages all route through his desk.

Production team

The Production Team

Stage, Sound, Lights

Seasoned SoCal festival professionals running sound, staging, lighting, and logistics. The people who make the festival feel like a concert and run like a train.

Volunteer crew

The Volunteer Crew

Community Ops

Two hundred-plus community volunteers handling hospitality, wayfinding, family lounge, and ADA support. Every person with a shirt on site is here because they believed in this.

You?

You?

Volunteer · Partner · Sponsor

We're always looking for people who want to build the next year with us. If that's you, start at the contact page — we read everything.

In partnership with the OC Fair & Event Center.

The festival is produced in collaboration with the OC Fair & Event Center — one of California's longest-running public event venues — and supported by community organizations across Orange County, Los Angeles, and the Inland Empire. We owe them the grounds, and we owe the community the result.

See our partners →