The 8th edition of Dream City will take place from 30 September to 9 October 2022 with a programme built around creative works in dialogue with the city and its inhabitants, developed during long periods of residency, broadcast works that resonate and echo the creations and, as always, times for debate, exchange and reflection.
Our partner Action for Hope is inviting for their Fa’ael Forum. The 2022 edition aims to present a realistic image of the economic, political, and social challenges facing art and cultural practitioners in the Arab region, specifically those who are on the margins of the central and elitist art circles, and it will also attempt to probe into some of the strategies used to address these challenges.
This forum will bring together over 20 former participants in the Fa’ael programme from several Arab countries, who also proposed the discussion topics in the program. We also added to the program brief focus sessions to shed light on the reality of cultural work in Yemen, Libya and Sudan, since very little information is available to art and culture practitioners beyond these countries’ borders.
We hope that the Forum will provide an opportunity, both for participants and for the general public, to get acquainted with the work of art and culture activists and directors outside of elitist circles. This is the second edition of the Forum, following last years’ first edition which took place online and was streamed on social media platforms. (The invitation text of Action for Hope)
Thursday 1 September to Saturday 3 of September 2022
At Al Madina Theatre, Beirut - Lebanon
#Culture2030goal Statement on UNESCO Mondiacult 2022
As a contribution to the UNESCO Mondiacult Conference, to be held from 28 to 30 September 2022 in Mexico City, the #Culture2030Goal campaign issued a Declaration on 28 April. The Declaration calls for concrete, bold and engaging actions to accelerate the transition to a world where culture is at the heart of decision-making. It also calls for a stand-alone Goal on Culture. The campaign is organized by International Federation of Coalitions for Cultural Diversity and partners.
For its 8th edition, become a volunteer and participate in the implementation of the Festival of Art in the City Dream City which will take place from September 30 to October 9 in the Medina of Tunis and downtown.
Dream City, whose vocation is, since 2007, to bring Art where it is not, presents for this 2022 edition ten days of performances and installations in public spaces, in the streets, cafés, houses and squares of the Medina of Tunis and the city centre. In a festive and friendly atmosphere, the smooth running of the biennial is ensured at each edition thanks to the strong participation, enthusiasm and commitment of the volunteers.
Aspiring mediators, art lovers, artists, communication enthusiasts or cultural explorers... It's your turn to be part of the adventure!
> I register
From left: Helena Nassif (CR), Julie Trebault (ARC). Sara Ishaq (ICFR), Elisabeth Dyvik (ICORN) and Peter Noorlander (Researcher)
Many thanks to Culture Resource for this report from our event. From our view, it is needed that regional organizations, like Culture Resource and field initiatives like The International Coalition for Filmmakers at risk, are teaming up with PEN America’s Artists at Risk Connection (ARC) and the International Cities of Refuge (ICORN).
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Det fjortende i rekken av det internasjonale Møtet mellom partnere for utvikling av kulturelle rettigheter i arabisk kulturliv vil i år arrangeres på Lillehammer i tilknytning til World Expression Forum (wexfo.no). Møtet samler et trettitalls representanter, fra fra krigsherjede land, fra land med autoritære regimer og land som har en betinget frihet for sektoren. Kunstnerisk frihet, tilgang til deltakelse i kunstproduksjon, ytrings- og forsamlingsfrihet er del av tematikken.
Nobel Laureates, worldwide organisations and brave voices meet at the World Expression Forum in Lillehammer on 30 and 31 May. (see wexfo.no). In the morning of the 31st - Mimeta and IRIS, The International Coalition of Artist at Risk and International Cities of Refuge (ICORN) welcome you to take part in our side-event, Landscapes of protection for artists at risk. The event will focus on the efforts and challenges in the structures that are set up to protect artists globally.
Norway officially announced its candidacy for the Executive Board of UNESCO for the period 2025-2029. The campaign has the support from all the other Nordic countries, including Denmark, Finland, Iceland, and Sweden.
Considering the situation in and around Ukraine, EMIF has decided to open a Special Funding Round for Urgent Actions within the call “Boosting Fact-Checking Activities in Europe”.
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Our good friends in The European Cultural Foundation are deeply involved in the vision of a united Europe where citizens feel proudly European, a place where they can live, express themselves, work and dream freely, in diversity and harmony. It is horrific to witness the vulgarity that now unfolds on Ukrainian soil.
The ECF has organized a solidarity fund for Ukraine that gives priority to independent media, safe cultural spaces and artistic productions acting for a peaceful future for Ukraine. We urge you to support the fund!
World Expression Forum
Arendalsbaserte Mimeta deltar i eiergruppen til i World Expression Forum (WEXFO.no), som nå etableres på Lillehammer. Ambisjonen er at forumet skal bli like viktig for ytringsfriheten som World Economic Forum er for verdensøkonomien.
Mimeta har i femten år arbeidet med kulturelle rettigheter, som inkluderer ytringsrettigheten for kunstnere. I norsk utenrikspolitikk har dette nå fått en prioritet ved fremleggelsen av ytringsfrihetsstrategien for norsk utenrikspolitikk. Denne ble lansert av Eriksen Søreide i sommer.
Insights into Cultural Policies in Lebanon is a compilation of three studies that offers cultural researchers and workers, as well as others interested in cultural policies, an in-depth look at (1) the Legal Frameworks regulating the Lebanese Cultural Sector, (2) the public financing of culture, and (3) heritage and policymaking in the country. It is groundbreaking in its significant updates on research into cultural legislation, its exploration of essential details needed to understand the operational and budgetary mechanisms of the Ministry of Culture, and its highlight on threatened heritage, especially after the Beirut port explosion of 4 August 2020. The studies are introduced and edited by Hanane Hajj Ali and Nadia von Maltzahn, and were published in February 2021 after a long journey of research, drafting, and updating that began in 2017 by the Lebanese National Cultural Policy Group, with funding from Culture Resource and the Orient Institut.
More details will be announced soon!
Culture Resource in partnership with Kirkelig Kulturverksted (Norway) presents the 20/21 online edition of Redzone Festival from 4 till 7 March, 2021. Redzone is an annual multidisciplinary festival, launched in 2013, that advocates a critical approach to contemporary issues and features artistic works that focus on themes related to freedom of expression in arts and culture. Previous editions of Redzone Festival were held in Cairo, Beirut, Tunis, Tangier and Oslo.
See mawred.org
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Bobi Wine i FB melding 6. januar: "- After imprisoning our entire campaign team, today they blocked the new medical and security teams and also impounded the media cars. They said I must go to the campaign alone. They thought that would affect the support we have from the people. This is us going through Iganga on our way to Namisindwa. This is a revolution. #WeAreRemovingADictator
Opptakten til presidentvalget i Uganda minner mest om et folkeopprør. Valgdagen 14. januar utfordrer Ghetto-musikeren Bobi Wine landets regime. Bak seg har Wine stjernestatus og millioner av landsmenn. En etter en tar seg nå over den høye muren av frykt som president Museveni har bygget gjennom 35 år ved makten. Valget trenger internasjonal oppmerksomhet.
The presidential election in Uganda is on January 14, 2021. The election campaign is dramatic. The election could be catastrophic. Museweni has been in office for the past 34 years. Now he is challenged by 38-year-old Bobi Wine. Wine, or Robert Kyagulanyi as he is actually called, became a member of parliament in 2017. He made a name for himself quickly, and already in the autumn of 2017 was he at the forefront of the fight against the extension of the constitutional age limit for the presidency.
Call for applications: October 29, 2020
Submission deadline: December 25, 2020
LINK
The Youth-led Cultural & Civic Initiatives aim to encourage community-based and contextual projects using collaborative approaches and to raise knowledge and capacities of young artists, collectives and cultural operators from underserved areas on the development of contextual work, and community engagement in cultural and civic activities.
The component will offer:
● Up to32 research and 24 production grantsto support youth-led cultural & civic initiatives to implement community-based and contextual artistic production;
● Two Collaborative Laboratorieswill take place consecutively where up to 16 artists, collectives and cultural operators will exchange experiences and raise capacities on cultural and civic project development applying community-based and contextual methodologies; and
● Tailor made guidance, networking and support opportunities will be provided.
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Mimeta is now designing a financial response mechanism to the pressures COVID-19 puts on established organizations, platforms and performers within arts and culture. In 2020 we will hopefully be able to provide organizational support to our established partners in MENA and Africa South of Sahara so that they will be able to continue their efforts on behalf of the local arts- and culture sectors.
However, a major part of their latest proposals shows us a need for urgent support of art platforms and artists to enable livelihood and continuity. Mimeta will therefore ask our partners to manage the disbursement of smaller funds toward their constituencies, preferably in partnerships with other leading culture sector development organizations in their geography. Again - this is wat we hope we will be able to support.
In our view we don’t need to launch any innovative approach, as “use this time to develop distant learning and video-concerts”, as this already happens all over the globe, but we are open for proposals - as long as it is a substantially new way to give marginalized people their right bound access to arts and culture.
Initiatives:
The Abbara program aims to support and empower independent cultural and artistic initiatives and organizations from the Arab region. In this framework, the program is now offering exceptional financial support to cover basic organizational expenses (administrative staff salaries, rental payments, running costs, etc.) to help organizations adjust to the current circumstances and survive at this time of rapid change.
FOLLOW THIS LINK
Art Lives: Emergency Initiative to Support Arab Arts Practitioners. FOLLOW THIS LINK
The African Culture Fund (ACF) launches the Solidarity Fund for Artists and Cultural Organizations in Africa (SOFACO) in order to support the resilience of African artists and cultural actors whose activities have been negatively affected by the COVID-19 crisis. FOLLOW THIS LINK
Culture Resource and the Arab Fund for Arts and Culture (AFAC) embarked on their first collaboration to try and address some of the pressing needs facing the arts and culture sector in Lebanon, at a time when the country is in the throes of social and political upheaval due to nation-wide economic collapse that is having serious repercussions on daily life. FOLLOW THIS LINK
The Covid-19 pandemic has brought all artistic and cultural life outside cyberspace to a halt. It is impossible to foresee, as of yet, how long this will last and what impacts it will have on artistic and cultural practices. The suspension of cultural and artistic activities combined with the economic fallout of the pandemic has compounded the pressures on workers in the arts and culture sector. This is all the more the case in Arab countries which lack cultural policies and governmental and communal structures that support this sector. These grants target artists and writers in the Arab region involved in the production of individual or collaborative artistic or literary projects. FOLLOW THIS LINK
In response to the global health crisis, particularly affecting the cultural sector, Africalia supports artists in their creative dynamics by setting up the "Creativity is life" grants. FOLLOW THIS LINK
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This capacity-building programme aims at providing full-time research opportunities for young Syrian and Palestinian- Syrian researchers (22-35 years old) within the field of cultural studies. The programme seeks to enhance the researchers’ skills, providing them the tools and guidance to accomplish their research project (The programme will probably be their first research endeavour since their academic studies). Experienced cultural researchers, who constitute the programme’s selection committee, will directly supervise the projects.
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Pic from Al Mawred, one of signatories of statement
In solidarity with and participation in the popular uprisings taking place across Lebanon against the current systems of power, we the undersigned cultural organizations and structures collectively commit to Open Strike, and call for our colleagues in the cultural sector to join us.
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