- Det er veldig trist at fire syriske musikerne som skulle vært i Risør til helga ikke får visum til Norge etter å ha arbeidet sammen med musikere fra Risør og nabokommunene over lang tid, sier ordfører Per Kr. Lunden. Han har brukt kontakter i Utenriksdepartementet for å prøve å få til en ny vurdering av søknaden, men oppfatter det som nytteløst. Men ordføreren er glad for at det likevel blir en flott internasjonal kulturbegivenhet i Risørhuset til helgen.
Kolleger i Forum for kultur og utvikling uttrykker bekymringer for norsk utviklingspolitikk på kulturfeltet, senest i Vårt Land i går. Et hovedanliggende er den reduserte rollen norsk kultursektor har fått i gjennomføringen av politikken. Den andre bekymringen er de dramatiske kuttene i pengebruken gjennom Solbergs regjeringstid. Personlig er jeg mindre bekymret for det første enn det andre.
Cultural Policy in the Arab Region has just published "Part Three of “The State of the Arts - Current Issues in Artistic and Literary Creativity in the Arab Region” first published at Jadaliyya website - 15/02/2018. Author of the article, Basma Al-Husseiny, will be part of the panel at The International Culture Seminar in Arendal, Norway, on 13th August 2018.
The success of the third edition of Visa For Music, in November 2016 illustrated the growth of this event on the international stage. It became an indispensable international marketplace for World and New Music of these regions, but also a professional platform for the music industry in Morocco and countries of the South.
VFM Ambiance @Visa for Music
The fourth edition of Visa for Music (VFM), organised in collaboration with the Moroccan Ministry of Culture and the Hiba Foundation, will be held in Rabat, Morocco, from 22 till 25 November 2017. This forum is one of the most important opportunities for cultural exchange and networking between musicians, agents, recording companies, artistic directors, cultural organisations, media, trainers and others involved in music in Africa and the Middle East.
On top of a sumptuous musical program, VFM 2017 includes numerous cultural activities such as honorary ceremonies, seminars, workshops and training courses, speed-meetings and a music industry and cultural expo. The official selection for this year's concert program features around 40 musicians/bands plus four DJ artists. You can check here the full list of artists.
This major musical forum is organized by the ANYA organization which is currently a participant in the fifth round of Culture Resource’s Abbara Program which seeks to support and empower independent cultural organisations in the Arab region.
Mimeta is supporting both Visa for Music and the Abbara program.
Ettijahat-Independent Culture is currently organizing the MINA: Artistic Ports and Passages, which aims to celebrate the work of Syrian artists in Syria and neighboring countries. The art Forum will be held in Beirut from November 30 to December 3, 2017. It will include theatrical, cinematic, visual and musical performances by a number of art projects that have received support from the Laboratory of Arts programme –one of Ettijahat's programmes carried out in partnership with the Goethe Institute.
By Ettijahat
The MINA Forum is a space dedicated to highlight the reality of new artistic practices of Syrian artists who come to present their new works from Syria, Lebanon, Germany and France.
In addition to art performances, and in the presence and the participation of a number of experts, specialists and cultural actors, the Forum presents to its audience a series of open and closed seminars that address the issues of today's artistic practice in the Arab world.
The Forum also includes presentations of artistic projects still in progress by Syrian artists of various specialties, as well as the launching of a book entitled Now Then: Testimonials on Independent Syrian Cultural Work, which include testimonials by more than 80 artists and cultural actors from Syria and the world in cooperation with Mamdouh Adwan Publishing House.
The detailed program of the MINA Forum will be issued in Arabic and English during November.
Bobi Wine
""Art is the highest form of human intelligense. Our people are slowly embracing that, and art is connecting people". From intervju in "Voices"
It is not often that I meet cultural activists who enter the political system, as Bobi Wine has done with his place in parliament. Usually they stand outside, and see politics as the same affair as Bobi Wine now has experienced from inside. Cultural activists are massively involved in civil society, from where they work for democratization of both society and the political system. The Arab Spring in 2011 is the great example of the group's mobilization power. In Uganda, a similar mobilization is taking place right now. The question here is whether the president stops the music or the music stops him.
As part of the program of artistic residencies, association L'Art Rue launches a call for applications for the year 2018. Are you a musician, dancer, visual artist, designer, photographer, circus artist, comedian or director, and live in Tunisia? Are you interested in public space and working with people?
Det er ikke ofte i mitt virke at jeg møter kulturaksjonister som går inn i det politiske systemet, slik Bobi Wine har gjort med sin plass i parlamentet. Vanligvis står de utenfor, og ser politikken som den affæren Bobi Wine nå har fått oppleve innenifra. Kulturaksjonistene er massivt tilstede i samfunnet, hvor de arbeider for demokratisering av både kunsten og det politiske systemet. Den arabiske våren i 2011 er det store eksempelet på gruppens mobiliseringskraft. I Uganda foregår en lignende mobilisering akkurat nå. Spørsmålet her er altså om presidenten stopper musikken eller musikken stopper ham.
Art Map launched in Rwanda
by director of Ishyo Arts Center, Carole Karamera
Local artists have launched the I Art Rwanda Map, a platform that allows artists to present their art and communicate directly with art lovers inside and outside the country. The site, which was launched on Thursday, already has over 6,000 registered artists, and contains several areas and categories that will help art lovers find the kind of artists they need.
"Research: To Strengthen Culture of Knowledge programme seeks to encourage Syrian researchers in Syria and abroad to prepare objective research papers that are committed to the principles of scientific research in terms of their design, documentation and editing when covering all matters relating to the Syrian issue. Ettijahat's team is keeping track of the researchers' work at all stages and helps them complete their work to meet the publishing requirements. The programme is proud that it has allowed over the past five years a rare opportunity for dozens of male and female researchers to receive the needed training, which has yielded research papers that enrich our knowledge of Syrian society, its cultural heritage and living culture."
Mr. Farouk Mardam Bey, member of the SC panel under the programme's fifth edition.
I work carefully and imperceptibly below the surface when it comes to freedom of artistic expression. Deep down I stand by those who want to break it but remind them of realities above the surface. At the same time, the water becomes shallower. This is my duty as a producer.
(Faisal Kiwewa, Bayimba, Uganda.)
Poster A3 for uploading
Poster A3 for uploading
The short version
Mimetas vision is to give GIVE PEOPLE THEIR RIGHT TO FREE CREATIVE EXPRESSIONS, created on free terms and presented by independent institutions.
Our mission is to support and protect those who want to enhance a culture by aesthetic or intellectual means.
By both our vision and mission Mimeta highlight the impact arts have on developing open societies, including the culture itself and the political spfere.
On the strategic level Mimeta is acheiving results by supporting organisations and individuals who work on behalf of the arts, to improve the sectors´ position on rights issues, in political and legal matters, on professionalism and skills, the distribution of the arts and - in the end - the sustainability of the sector.
We call them the service providers to the arts.
For more information on our priorities and strategic initiatives
Nadia Cherif was given the task of evaluating Mimeta's program for cultural sector development (2020-22. It was finalized in november 2023, and gave good input for next stage. Read here
