Following the devastating explosion that rocked Beirut on August 4, 2020 and the unprecedented loss of life, injury and damage to homes, offices and workspaces across the city, the Arab Fund for Arts and Culture – AFAC and Culture Resource (Al-Mawred Al-Thaqafy) launch an international fundraising campaign to support the culture and the arts community within Beirut.
Both Culture Resource and AFAC will contribute to the fund with seed capital and handle its management and distribution to institutions and individuals in the arts and culture sector.
WE NEED THE SOLIDARITY OF PARTNERS AND FRIENDS AND WE THEREFORE CALL FOR THEIR CONTRIBUTIONS.
The August 4 catastrophe has struck an astounding, unprecedented blow to all aspects of life including the arts and culture sector. The survival and sustainability of the once vibrant creative field is now in a critical condition. Recovering from the shock will require time, as will the reconvening as a community to identify priorities, articulate visions and bolster the myriad ways in which people will rebuild their lives from the ruins of devastation.
This campaign builds on the recent joint solidarity initiative, Solidarity Fund to Arts and Culture Structures in Lebanon, by the two regional organizations and supported by three generous donors - Drosos Foundation, Ford Foundation and Open Society Foundations - to respond to cumulative pressures related to an economic collapse, restrictions on financial transactions, and uncontrolled inflation. Subsequently, the thorough mapping of arts and culture entities in Lebanon and the experience with an existing funding mechanism can effectively respond to the latest emergency needs.
An early recovery is as critical as an immediate response to the impact of this disaster. Sustaining a viable arts and culture fabric requires a medium- and longer-term accompaniment which is only possible through diverse, consistent and recurring support.
The raised funds will be channeled to support affected arts and culture organizations and spaces based on identification of urgent needs. Our preliminary assessment of organizations damaged by the explosion includes the following:
- Emergency reconstruction to ensure safety of premises and assets or rental in the case of temporary relocations when property is lost or severely damaged;
- Protection, housing and transfer of invaluable collections (images, films, and musical archives);
- Rehabilitation of premises (mainly furniture and other assets owned by the organizations including mechanical and electrical networks);
- Repair and/or replacement of equipment (computers, monitors, external drives, specialized libraries
The fund will also support individual artists who lost their homes, instruments and equipment and who need to fix them or replace the equipment/relocate to new homes or workspaces in order to continue.
You can make your donations online through this link.
Note: If donors wish to remain anonymous, kindly inform us via email (solidarityfund@mawred.org and solidarityfund@arabculturefund.org), otherwise your name/institution will be mentioned among the generous supporters in all communications related to this initiative.