Retracing Roots and Tracing New Routes: Mobility and Touring in North Africa — A study by Lara Bourdin for Art Moves Africa October 2019 — Retracing Roots and Tracing New Routes: Mobility and Touring in North Africa — A study by Lara Bourdin for Art Moves Africa October 2019 — 4 5 Acknowledgments and Imprint Table of Contents ACKNOWLEDGMENTS page 4 FOREWORD page 6 KEY MESSAGES page 7 This study is by and large the fruit of five months of exchanges and 1 INTRODUCTION page 9 conversations with ninety artists and cultural actors spread across North 1.1 Background of AMA’s research program page 10 Africa as well as neighbouring regions. The researcher would first and 1.2 Purpose of the research page 12 foremost like to thank the respondents who generously contributed their 1.3 Socio-historical context page 13 time, knowledge, and above all their insights and their ideas. It was an 1.4 Overview of mobility in North Africa page 16 honour to learn from them about the complex issue that is (artistic and cultural) mobility in North Africa today. 2 METHODOLOGY page 19 The researcher extends her warm thanks to Khadija El Bennaoui, Direc- 2.1 Key terms page 20 tor of AMA, for her guidance and presence throughout the research and 2.2 Limitations page 22 writing processes. Particular thanks go to Maria Daïf, for the orientation and inspiration in Casablanca, and her careful edits to important sec- tions of the draft. AMA would also like to thank the Ministry of Foreign 3 SUMMARY OF OUTCOMES page 25 Affairs of Norway for generously supporting this research. 3.1 Mapping of opportunities page 25 3.2 Impediments page 34 This research was carried out for Art Moves Africa (AMA) aisbl. The views taken and analyses presented are those of the author and do not neces- sarily represent the views of AMA. The findings of the study are based on 4 COUNTRY-SPECIFIC INFORMATION page 45 the mapping carried out between December 2018 and April 2019. 4.1 Algeria page 46 4.2 Egypt page 55 4.3 Libya page 62 4.4 Mauritania page 69 4.5 Morocco page 75 4.6 Tunisia page 83 4.7 Western Sahara page 90 5 CONCLUSION & RECOMMENDATIONS page 95 6 MAPS & GRAPHS page 103 Released and produced by Art Moves Africa (AMA) aisbl APPENDICES Mapping study and report: Lara Bourdin Appendix A : Acronyms page 121 Design: Eps51, Berlin — www.eps51.com Appendix B: Respondents page 123 Head of the publication: Khadija El Bennaoui Appendix C: Bibliography page 127 © Art Moves Africa, 2019 This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution- NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. 6 7 Foreword Key Messages FORE — KEY In a world where free- MES — WORD dom is better gua- ranteed for goods and digital products than for human beings, more and more people are being condemned to watch as the space of SAGES their fundamental rights and freedoms shrinks. Many of them have been forced to flee wars, climate change 1. The mobility of artists and cultural operators is a right, not a privilege. or oppressive regimes. It is often their freedom of mo- vement that is most threatened, as travel restrictions multiply in the face of rising anti-migration sentiments. 2. Desire for mobility is very strong amongst artists and cultural Cultural diversity has never been in as much danger as practitioners, in North-South, East-West and South-South directions. it is in today’s polarized world. a) North-South mobility remains important, namely for training Strategically positioned at the crossroads of Europe, and opportunities to connect with a greater diversity of Africa and Asia, North Africa is one of the regions that interlocutors. is most significantly affected by ongoing tensions in the b) East-West and South-South mobility are important axes geopolitical arena. The first spark of the Arab uprising to develop in the interest of exploring shared histories, in 2010 in Tunisia is still coursing through the whole nurturing creative synergies and developing solidarity. region. It has brought hope, with high-spirited and creative civic initiatives led mainly by young people. Yet 3. There is an urgent need to work at the level of the imagination, desire restrictions on the freedom of movement and speech and dreaming – to nurture existing desire for South-South exchange of its people have also reached their highest peaks in and to create it where it does not yet exist. the last decade. a) Promote networking amongst African cultural actors: meetings, This mapping study is a contribution by AMA to shed go-and-see tours, residencies, etc. light on the actors and initiatives that are striving to b) Promote information-sharing: online platforms, information revive historical connections and build new bridges hubs, key people and ambassadors. between North Africa and the rest of the continent, as a form of resistance but also as a means of unlearning 4. Mobility can only improve if political and administrative barriers are colonial modes of relating with the regions south of the addressed and lifted. Sahara and north of the Mediterranean. This study is the 4th volume of AMA’s mapping series, which aims a) There is an urgent need for mobilization amongst cultural ac- to address the obstacles to artistic mobility within tors in Africa, Europe and internationally to document and Africa by providing information on the infrastructures, denounce increasingly restrictive visa policies, especially from the institutional and funding frameworks as well as the Schengen space. the challenges and opportunities linked with mobility b) Advocate for greater understanding of the stakes and impor- on the continent. tance of artistic mobility. We hope this study will help inform both practitioners 5. Mobility is not simply about quantitative factors but about the quality and policy makers on the ways to promote and support of the experience at the creative and human levels. artistic mobility within Africa. Khadija El Bennaoui a) The human and creative dimensions of the mobility experience AMA Director must be central in initiatives geared at promoting arts mobility. 8 9 Introduction Introduction IN — 1 TRO — DUC — Art Moves Africa (AMA) is an international not- — for-profit organisation that aims to facilitate cul- tural and artistic exchanges within the African TION Fact : continent. AMA offers travel grants to artists AMA didn’t and cultural practitioners living and working in cifically allocated to support travel. AMA was provide grants in 2013, 2014 Africa to travel within the African continent in launched in July 2005. or 2017 due to limited funds. order to engage in the exchange of information, Over the last 14 years, AMA has allo- The statistics included are based the enhancement of skills, the development of in- cated 809 grants to artists and art practitioners on all other years between formal networks and the pursuit of cooperation. living and working in Africa. A wide range of 2005 and 2018. AMA was first launched as a program projects has thus been implemented to develop by the Young Arab Theatre Fund (YATF) and a the African creative sector. AMA has produced — group of African organizations. It was designed regular evaluations and collected statistics of to facilitate and encourage the mobility of artists applications received and of grants allocated to and cultural operators within the African conti- African cultural practitioners. Moreover, it has nent. In 2001, YATF participated in meetings in commissioned and published three studies on Egypt, Kenya and Zimbabwe, together with dif- mobility and touring in East (2011/2015) and ferent organizations and cultural activists from Central Africa (2015), as well as a guide to cultur- Africa and the Arab world. The meetings were al mobility funding opportunities to/from Africa aimed at linking organizations and individuals, in collaboration with On the Move (2015/2018). and creating informal continent-wide networks. These initiatives have helped AMA to develop The participants agreed that one of the major its interventions as a grant-making organization obstacles for artists and cultural professionals and to identify needs within the African artistic in Africa was the persistent lack of funds spe- mobility sector. 10 11 Introduction Introduction Grant applications received before and after and to what extent the infrastructure issues iden- the East Africa studies (2011 and 2012) tified in the 2015 study have been addressed. Developments of note include the emergence of FROM East Africa: events such as the African Cup of Slam Poetry in N’Djamena, Chad, which was a major driver · 108 total applications until Session 20 in 2011 for mobility in Central Africa in 2018. (inclusive), with an average of 5.4 applications / session Grant applications received before and after · 166 total applications until Session 23 in 2012 the Central Africa study (2015) (inclusive), with an average of 7 applications / session FROM Central Africa: · 121 total applications in 2015 and 2018, 1.1 with an average of 17 applications / session · 431 total applications until Session 28 in 2015 (inclusive), with an average of 15.4 applica- Background TO East Africa: tions / session · 58 total applications in 2018, with an average of AMA’s · 212 total applications until Session 20 in 2011 of 29 applications/session (inclusive), with an average of 10.6 applica- research AMA launched its research pro- tions / session TO Central Africa: gram in 2011, in recognition of the · 222 total applications until Session 23 in 2012 program complexity of mobility and touring (inclusive), with an average of 9.6 applications / · 375 total applications until Session 28 in 2015 in Africa and in the hopes of fill- session (inclusive), with an average of 13.4 applica- ing the vast gaps in knowledge · 146 total applications in 2015 and 2018, with tions / session and data pertaining to the topic.