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ANNUAL REPORT 2018 AFAC Annual Report 2018 2 3 ANNUAL REPORT 2018 ANNUAL REPORT 2018 4 5 About AFAC Strategic Areas of Work The Arab Fund for Arts and Culture - AFAC was founded in 2007 through Supporting the production of cultural and artistic work lies at the core of the initiative of Arab cultural activists as an independent foundation AFAC’s work. Since our inception, numerous changes have taken place to support individual artists, writers, researchers, intellectuals, as well in our funding programs in response to the needs, gaps, and emergence as organizations from the Arab region working in the field of arts and of new forms of expression and storytelling. The fund for supporting culture. Since its launch, AFAC’s programs have steadily expanded to novelists has transformed into encouraging other genres of creative cover cinema, documentary film, documentary photography, visual and writing, while the support for documentary filmmaking has expanded, performing arts, music, creative and critical writings, research on the adding a dedicated program for enhancing documentary photography. arts, entrepreneurship, trainings and regional events. Based in Beirut, The support that AFAC offers is not restricted to cultural and artistic AFAC works with artists and organizations all over the Arab region and work; it extends to cover research on the arts, to secure appropriate the rest of the world. channels of distribution and to guarantee the sustainability of pioneering cultural organizations in the Arab world, whether by way of financial Our vision support or through training and mentorship. In accordance with this, AFAC strives to build a flourishing cultural and artistic scene across the AFAC’s work is divided into five strategic areas: providing grants, Arab region that contributes to establishing open and vibrant societies, developing training programs, building and sharing knowledge, where young and seasoned voices engage with each other in the wake broadening the pool of supporters for the arts, and cultivating of the massive transformations being witnessed by the region. appreciation for and engagement with contemporary arts and culture productions by connecting them with audiences. In such a context, AFAC seeks for works of art and culture to contribute • Grants: AFAC offers close to two hundred grants every year through to the following goals: open calls to submit applications. These grants are spread over nine programs: Performing Arts, Visual Arts, the AFAC Documentary Program, - Take advantage of the grey areas and collapse of self-evident certitudes Music, the Research on the Arts Program, Creative and Critical Writings, in our region to spur fresh thinking and innovative visions of the future. Training and Regional Events, Cinema, and the Arab Documentary - Search for tools to bear witness to the hopes and hindrances our region Photography Program. is living through, with techniques that go past traditional documentation • Training and Mentorship: In addition to the grants, AFAC sets up to create new forms of experimentation in writing and ways of dealing programs that offer training and mentorship to develop missing skills with the image. and practices, as is the case with the Arts and Culture Entrepreneurship - Rediscover the complexity and diversity of our societies, and search and the Arab Documentary Photography programs. for marginalized narratives in both the near and distant pasts. • Knowledge Building and Sharing: AFAC’s extensive database includes - Promote engagement between Arab societies and their diasporas, more than 10,000 applicants and 1,350 funded projects, which has made especially after such a large number of Arab artists have become 2018 Individual donors who contributed in total $692,593 to AFAC: it into a considerable source of information on cultural trends, modes refugees or been forced into exile across the world, which has reflected of artistic production, social impact, geographic contexts, and all the Nabil Qaddumi / Amr Ben Halim / Sawsan Jaafar / Abla on them personally and the art they produce, as well as on the various relevant statistics. AFAC shares this information through reports, info- Lahoud / Serin Shihabi / Jean Nadim Dagher / Andrée Sfeir-Semler / Suzanne societies they are now working in. graphics, grantees’ stories and studies that it commissions. Elizabeth Kassab / Charles Aoun / Reem Renno - Expand the space for civic engagement through the offerings of • Broadening the Pool of Supporters for the Arts: AFAC is committed to * AFAC is also grateful to a number of donors who prefer to remain undisclosed. intellectuals, artists, researchers and civil society organizations; a space for dialogue, questioning, critical reflection, and tolerance. strengthening philanthropy for the arts, and to working with the private sector to promote the spirit of entrepreneurship in the field of cultural and artistic production. Our aim is to expand and diversify sources of MORE ABOUT AFAC TO CONTACT US How we work funding for artists, writers, intellectuals and researchers, as well as Website: www.arabculturefund.org Arab Fund for Arts and Culture 1. Autonomy: AFAC is keen on diversifying its funding sources allowing organizations that present artistic and cultural content. Facebook: afac.grants Sursock Street, Charles Aoun Building us autonomy to work towards realizing our vision. Twitter: AFAC1 Saint Nicolas Stairs • Building Audiences: AFAC seeks to cultivate appreciation for and Instagram: afac.fund P.O.Box Beirut 13-5290 2. Transparency: AFAC adheres to transparency at every stage of work, engagement with arts and culture production to reinforce the YouTube: AFACvideos Beirut, Lebanon transformational power of creative expression. Subscribe to our newsletter at Tel: 00 961 1 218901 beginning from the grants application forms which are accessible and [email protected] Email: [email protected] open to all, up until the selection process itself, which is the responsibility of a committee of jurors chosen annually for each category. AFAC is registered in Lebanon under decree 6388 dated 24 September 2011, as the Lebanese branch of the 3. Dynamism: AFAC carries out periodic evaluations of its work, taking foundation AFAC, registered in Zug, Canton of Zug, Switzerland on 23 June 2006, under article 80 of the Swiss Civil into consideration deliberations between jurors, social and political Code. Previously, AFAC was registered in Jordan as the Jordanian branch of the foundation AFAC, under registration changes, and the new creative genres that accompany them, which number 2099, dated 11 April 2007. AFAC is audited yearly by PricewaterhouseCoopers in Zurich, Switzerland. allow us to be constantly prepared to evolve or modify our programs. Design: Studio Safar 08 FACTS AND FIGURES 2007-2018 12 AFAC EXPANDS – IN SUMMARY 20 Recognition of Grantees Contents 24 Milestones of 2018 26 FULL REPORT 26 Grants and Programs 28 Applications Statistics 30 Grantee Statistics 33 2018 Granting Schedule 34 Visual Arts 36 Performing Arts 38 Creative and Critical Writings 40 AFAC Documentary Program 42 Arab Documentary Photography Program 44 Arts and Culture Entreneurship Program 8 9 46 Research on the Arts Program 48 Music 50 Cinema preface52 Training and Regional Events 56 AECP 62 Professional Support 64 an introductionOutreach and Cultural Advocacy 70 Institutional Strengthening to the AFAC 74 Online Presence annual report 2018 76 Why Invest in Arts and Culture? 80 Photo Credits 1 PREFACE AFAC ANNUAL REPORT 2018 Systems of arts patronage are nearly as old as art itself. The process of creation requires support—chiefly 08 FACTS AND FIGURES 2007-2018 material, but also moral, intellectual, and informational. 12 AFAC EXPANDS – IN SUMMARY The role that was once played by emperors, kings, and the 20 Recognition of Grantees nobility is now fulfilled by the state and various different Contents 24 Milestones of 2018 kinds of institutions. Patronage is vital to maintaining When AFAC was established in 2007, it was precisely to the cultural scene, but in order to do so, the patronage respond to this26 needFULL for anREPORT independent support system, system must serve the cultural scene and not the other to fill a void26 that existedGrants in and the Programs Arab region. There way around. The model of the independent, non-profit were individual artists striving within an often quite institution, while not perfect, is the one most suited 28 Applications Statistics challenging context to create their work. There were to maintaining a non-exploitative model of support, 30 Grantee Statistics some institutions, mostly in the capital cities, nurturing— provided it keeps asking itself the right questions. 33 2018 Granting Schedule encouraging, exhibiting, supporting—this process of 34 Visual Arts creation. But there was no stable and independent funding 36 Performing Arts infrastructure either to support individual artists or arts 38 Creative and Critical Writings organizations, and thus no ecosystem that might allow 40 AFAC Documentary Program them a fighting chance at longevity or sustainability. 42 Arab Documentary Photography Program The metaphors44 used here,Arts andthat Culture of infrastructure Entreneurship and Programof 10 11 ecosystem, at first46 glanceResearch seem on to the exist Arts at Programodds with one another. The first48 is architectural,Music implying something not just solid but deliberate50 Cinema and man-made, while the second is organic, referring52 to Traininga living systemand Regional
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