AFAC is pleased to announce the recipients of grants under the Regional Fund of the North Africa Cultural Program (NACP) funded by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation. The NACP Regional Fund aims to support transboundary projects that promote joint artistic collaborations, distribution, and the exchange of arts and culture practices among the five North African countries (Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Tunisia and Morocco) as well as with the rest of the Arab and African regions and beyond.
The open call for the Regional Fund Program was launched on May 16, 2019 and closed on November 1, 2019, with 43 applications received. Applications spanned across multiple disciplines, with 58% of institutions boasting 5 to 10 years of experience.
The jury committee brought together Helena Nassif (Lebanon), Director of The Culture Resource; Hassan Darsi (Morocco), visual artist; and Ghazi Zaghbani (Tunisia), theater director. After an intensive jury meeting, the jurors selected 12 projects to receive grants. The total number of involved institutions reached 37 from 5 Arab countries (Algeria, Egypt, Morocco, Tunisia and Lebanon) and 4 non-Arab countries (France, Greece, Germany, and Switzerland).
Commenting on the evaluation process and the selected projects, the jury committee stated the following:
“The proposals, through their commitments, underline the diversity of their contexts and their complexities. Moreover, these proposals are very peculiar by the richness of mediums (cinema, fine arts, dance, theater, music, digital arts and work on archives…), and express a real will to create, exchange, build, transmit, and contribute to the transformation of society. The dimensions of encounter and transmission are very present in all submitted proposals.
The proposals span Northern Africa, while some stretch to sub-Saharan countries (Senegal, Guinea Bissau, Djibouti), thereby consolidating South-South relations. For our selection, we have given precedence to the proposals that take surrounding realities into account; that are built by real partnerships, or with a strong potential for exchange and collaboration; that were thought out while taking the peculiarities of their contexts into account; that integrate audiences inherently in their process; and that consider the challenges of decentralization and which have the capacity to open up to possibilities. Those proposals, while inscribing themselves under the realities of the territories, install collaborative processes of high artistic quality and possess a marked potential of interaction with society.”
The choices made by the jury committee emphasize the importance of real partnerships between entities, sensitivity toward inclusiveness of audiences and interaction with communities, while respecting the artistic and cultural component of proposed activities and programs.
The NACP Regional Fund will provide the connecting tissue for cultural exchange, transfer of knowledge and long-term investment toward the cultural scene thereby impacting on communities.
Meet the selected projects of the NACP Regional Fund:
- No Logo: Echos Electrik (Tunisia), L’Uzine (Morocco), La Forem (Algeria)
- Hors Villes: Al Madina (Egypt), Danseurs Citoyens (Tunisia), Danseurs Citoyens Sud (Tunisia) Lo Studio (Switzerland)
- Let's Talk Cinema, Love, and War: Art and Life for Children at Risk (Egypt), Liv’Art (Tunisia)
- Creative Africa: Association Phoenix for Arts (Morocco), The Mask (Tunisia)
- Al Mukhtabar: L’Atelier de l’OBservatoire (Morocco), La Maison de l’Image (Tunisia)
- Réseau Régional pour la Promotion des Talents Féminins dans les Musiques Electroniques de la Région MENA : Notre Culture d’Abord – La Fabrique Art Studio (Tunisia ), Association 4S Fest’ (Tunisia), Future Female Sounds (Denmark)
- Sister Cities: Collaborations and Exchange in Music / Algeria x Egypt: Eka3 (Egypt), Simsara music (Egypt), Sarl Loutart (Algeria)
- Mapping, Networking and Knowledge Dissemination Platforms - North African Horizon: Cairo Lab for Urban Studies, Training and Environmental Research - CLUSTER (Egypt), Bluefish (Tunisia), Think Tanger (Morocco), Atelier SCAR ( Tunisia), Le 18 (Morocco), Cartographie Citoyenne (Tunisia)
- Reel Steams: Cinéfils (Tunisia), Zawya Cinema and Distribution (Egypt), Metropolis Cinema Association (Lebanon)
- Near East, Middle East, Far East / Contemplations on Contemporary Cinema: Wekalet Behna (Egypt), Association de Volontariat, Echange Culturel et action des jeunes (AVEC) (Tunisia), SAVVY Contemporary (Germany)
- Kayan: Collectif Mon Autre École (Algeria), Association of Arts for Cinema and Theater of Kef - ACT Kef (Tunisia), Collectif Azart Prod (Algeria), Association Madariss, Art et Transmission (France)
- African Forum for Social Theater: Gorara for Arts and Culture (Morocco), El Madina for Performing and Digital Arts (Egypt), Artivistes (Tunisia)
The North Africa Cultural Program (NACP) is a three-year program launched by AFAC in 2019 and funded by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation. The program is dedicated to the five countries of North Africa - namely Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya and Egypt - and comprises two support schemes, a National Fund and a Regional Fund. Together, the two funds aim to strengthen independent arts and culture entities (institutions, collectives, networks, spaces…), encourage regional collaborations, and focus on supporting distribution, circulation and dissemination of artistic works in all fields. Over the next three years, the program will be accompanied by a series of convenings and events that focus on exchange, peer-to-peer learning, case studies, and lessons learned among the program’s grantees but also with the larger public.