About AFAC General Grant Categories

 

AFAC supports projects in the following fields:

 

Performing Arts: AFAC offers funding for development and production of theatre, dance and other forms of performing arts.

 

Visual Arts: AFAC offers funding for production and organization of art exhibitions, installations, and other forms of visual arts.

 

Cinema: AFAC offers funding for development and scriptwriting, production and post-production of animation, documentary, experimental and narrative films in short, medium and feature lengths.

 

Music: AFAC offers funding for music productions, performances, collaborations, album recordings and other musical projects.

 

Research, Training and Regional Events (RTR): AFAC offers funding for studies and workshops in cultural and artistic fields, collaborative projects among artists and academics, multi-media libraries, archives and cultural documentation.

 

Literature: Starting from 2014 for a period of three years, and as a result of an assessment of the last cycles of the literature general call and the feedback of our juror committees, this category is being replaced by a special program designed to develop the creative writing capacities of aspiring Arab authors. This special program is called the AFAC Novel Writing Program.

 

About AFAC’s Grants

 

AFAC provides annual grants ranging from a few thousand U.S. dollars up to a maximum of fifty thousand U.S. dollars. The average grant is about twenty thousand dollars.

 

When the grant from AFAC exceeds ten thousand dollars yet only covers a portion of the project’s overall budget, the grantee is obliged to raise 70% of the remaining budget in order to be awarded the grant. This rule does not apply to cinema applications, where projects are implemented in phases. In the event that the grantee is unable to procure 70% of the project budget within 90 days of receiving the grant, the latter will be canceled.

 

In the event that the grantee does not sign the grant contract within 60 days upon receipt thereof, the grant will be canceled. Projects must be completed within 2 years of signing the contract, during which grantees are expected so submit the necessary financial and narrative reports.

 

No grantee will be awarded more than two deadline extensions during the grant period; such extensions should be justified and approved by AFAC.

 

Eligible Candidates

 

AFAC is open to receive project applications from all Arab individuals working in the cultural and artistic. Project applications are accepted irrespective of age, years of experience, country of residence, ethnicity, gender or religion.

 

For cinema applications, a non-Arab producer can apply for a grant provided that the film director is Arab. It is preferred that film projects have producers attached to them. Either the producer or the director may apply for the grant.

 

AFAC also accepts proposals from local, regional and international institutions whose projects are related to Arab culture. These include artistic, cultural, social and educational institutions, centers and organizations, governmental and non-governmental, that are engaging with contemporary Arab arts and culture. 

 

Ineligible Applicants

 

AFAC will not consider applications submitted by:

 

Members of the Board of Trustees, their business partners or family members.

 

AFAC staff members, their business partners or family members.

 

Members of the current year’s juror committees, their business partners or family members.

 

Eligible Expenses

 

AFAC only covers project-related expenses, not running operating costs.

 

For example: AFAC can cover the rent of a temporary location to be used by a theater troupe for rehearsals and performances as well as the crew members’ salaries throughout the production period, but will not cover operational expenses, such as the rent of the troupe’s permanent premises or permanent employees’ salaries.

 

Place and Duration

 

AFAC will not provide support retroactively, i.e. to projects already implemented or completed.

 

Projects may be implemented anywhere as long as they are created by Arab artists or – as in the case of non-Arab institutions - relevant to the Arab region.

 

The project’s time frame should not exceed 24 months.

 

Eligible Applications

 

An applicant is free to submit grant requests to more than one category - for example, performing arts and visual arts – but only one grant (if any) will be awarded. Requests for two projects within the same category will not be accepted.

 

Former grantees may not apply for a new grant unless the previous grant is expired before the application submission deadline for the current year.

 

Grantees who have received two consecutive grants can only apply for a third grant two years after the completion of their last awarded projects.

 

How to Apply

 

Applications are only accepted through our online application which is available on our website. Applications submitted via regular mail or e-mail will not be accepted.

 

The applicant will receive a confirmation email once the online application has been received. Applicants are advised to follow up on the full completion and delivery of requested material as AFAC will not contact applicants if any part of their application is incomplete.

 

Incomplete applications will not be taken into consideration.

 

Supporting Material

 

All required documents and supporting files can be uploaded into the application by attachment or links, or posted via physical mail to the AFAC offices.

 

1- Supporting files/samples of previous work smaller than 10 MB should be uploaded directly to the application.

2- Supporting files/samples of previous work between 10 MB and 100MB can be included as links to files on sharing websites (such as Dropbox, Vimeo, YouTube…) or sent by physical mail.

3- Supporting files/samples of previous work exceeding 100MB in size should only be sent by physical mail (5 copies) to AFAC’s Beirut office (Arab Fund for Arts and Culture - Gardenia Building - Sourati Street - Hamra - P.O.Box 13-5290 - Beirut, Lebanon),  postmarked by the relevant deadline and marked with the project title and application number. AFAC does not return application materials. Samples should be mailed through a major courier; it is recommended that applicants submit tracking numbers in their applications. Incomplete applications or applications missing supporting documents will not be reviewed.

 

Evaluation and Selection Process

 

Following the submission deadline, AFAC will conduct an administrative check to ensure that applications are complete and adhere to the guidelines. Only applications that pass the administrative check will be processed. An independent juror committee will then assess the received proposals and select the grant winners. Please see ‘Evaluation Process’ for more details.

 

AFAC is not obliged to cover the total amount of the requested grant.

 

Grants Announcement

 

The names of the grant winners will be announced and published on the AFAC website and Facebook page at the completion of the Evaluation Process. An automatic email will be sent to those who are not selected.

 

Grant Contracts

 

As soon as the grant winners are announced, AFAC will draft a grant contract to be signed by the grantees. The contract will include start and end dates, grant amount, financial requirements, payment schedule, general provisions, implementation and amendments, required reports and project results.

 

Payment Conditions & Schedule

 

If AFAC awards a grantee US $10,000 or less, he or she will receive 60% of the grant amount as a first payment. Once the project is complete and the grantee has submitted the deliverables, narrative and financial reports, the remaining 40% will be transferred.

 

For grants exceeding US $10,000, grantees will receive 50% of the grant amount as the first payment. When 80% of the first payment has been spent, the grantee must submit an interim narrative and financial report to AFAC. Once the report is approved, grantees will receive 25% of the grant total amount as a second payment.

 

With submission of the final deliverables, the final 25% payment will be made and the grant will be closed.

 

For cinema projects related to a production grant, the grant amount is divided in three payments: a- 25% at contract signature; b- 50% after spending eighty percent of the first payment and concurrently with start of shooting and sending all required invoices; and c- 25% upon film completion and delivery of the final copies.

 

For cinema projects related to a post-production grant, the grant amount is divided in two payments: 50% upon contract signature and 50% upon film completion and delivery of the final copies.

 

Grantees should provide AFAC with ten copies of the final outputs of the project (books, movies, video, music CDs, posters ...)