Culture Resource has closed the Exceptional Covid-19 Component of the Stand for Art program after providing urgent support to 212 artists, cultural actors and technicians who have suffered hardship due to the unusual circumstances precipitated by the Covid-19 pandemic, above all by the cancellation of the cultural and artistic activities and the closure of the spaces that host and/or organize them.
The exceptional component was launched on 19 May, 2020 and continued to receive applications until the end of December. 379 were evaluated by an independent jury consisting of the director of Al-Harah Theater Marina Barham (Palestine), writer and university professor Boumediene Belkebir (Algeria) and the novelist Hammour Ziada (Sudan).
The exceptional component supported 56% of the applicants. The beneficiaries were distributed geographically as follows: (21%) were from Palestine, (16%) from Egypt, (15%) from Syria, (14%) from Morocco, (11%) from Yemen, (10%) from Tunisia, (6%) from Lebanon, (3%) from Algeria, (2%) from Iraq, Sudan and Jordan (1%) each.
The support was distributed across the artistic disciplines as follows: performing arts (36%), visual arts (19%), music (17%), literature (15%), cinema (10%), (3%) multidisciplinary projects; and 80% of the total 212 beneficiaries had dependents.
The Stand for Art program continues, with its main component, to support artists and cultural actors in the Arab region who are at risk or in peril due to their artistic and cultural production or activities, or who are present in an environment, whether in their home countries or abroad, that jeopardizes their safety and wellbeing.
