Supporting artists and writers during the pandemic

About the initiative

Context

The Covid-19 pandemic has brought all artistic and cultural life outside cyberspace to a halt. It is impossible to foresee, as of yet, how long this will last and what impacts it will have on artistic and cultural practices. The suspension of cultural and artistic activities combined with the economic fallout of the pandemic has compounded the pressures on workers in the arts and culture sector. This is all the more the case in Arab countries which lack cultural policies and governmental and communal structures that support this sector.

But as the pandemic recedes and activities resume and cultural spaces gradually reopen in most countries, it seems important to support artistic production that brings to bear approaches that encourage experimentation, research, interaction and sharing. The pandemic and the threat it poses to prevailing forms and modes of artistic production have raised new questions concerning the role and challenges involved in production. As a consequence, artists, writers and other workers involved in this sector are forced to contend with two potentially intertwined tasks. One is the responsibility to  step up efforts to respond to the novel circumstances by opening up more to virtual space. The other is to simultaneously probe and question the current reality and to investigate new methods of work that would serve, not to reproduce reality as it existed before the pandemic.

In this context, Culture Resource announces an exceptional grant to support and encourage artists and writers in their efforts to sustain their individual or collaborative creativity (not necessarily through digital production) and, in the process, to incorporate activities to enhance their skills and those of the technicians they work with in carrying out their creative projects. The purpose of this initiative is to preserve artistic life and creativity during the pandemic and the subsequent period. In addition, it is set to encourage artists from the Arab region and open opportunities for them to conceive and develop new approaches to individual and collective creativity, thereby laying a fresh cultural and artistic groundwork for the post-crisis period.

What are the exceptional grants?

These grants target artists and writers in the Arab region involved in the production of individual or collaborative artistic or literary projects. Grants of up to $7,000 for individual projects and $10,000 for collaborative projects are available in the following disciplines: performing arts, visual arts, music, cinema and literature. An additional $1,000 may be available for projects that include a skills development component for the applicant artists or fellow artists and/or technicians in their team. The grant covers a period of 6 to 9 months.

What do the exceptional grants cover?

  • Artist’s fees (up to 40 per cent of the requested budget).
  • Production expenses.
  • Subscription fees for internet platforms or costs for purchasing software. For example, the grant would cover an annual subscription to SoundCloud or Vimeo to facilitate the production and dissemination of the creative works.
  • The fees for participating in a skills development program (i.e. an online training program, master class or workshop). The grant could cover all or part of such costs up to a maximum of $1,000.

Schedule

  • Call for applications: Wednesday 10 June, 2020.
  • Deadline for application: Friday 3 July, 2020 at 4:00 PM Beirut time.
  • Results announcement : September, 2020.

Application Guidelines

Eligibility Criteria

  • The applicant must originate from an Arab country, regardless of whether or not s/he is currently residing in the Arab region. No distinction is made on the basis of ethnic/national affiliation or citizenship status.
  • The applicant may not currently have an open grant from the Production Awards program.
  • For individual projects, the applicant may apply as: director in the cinema/video category, director in the theater category, director or choreographer in the dance category, author in the literature category, composer or main performer in the music category, or artist or curator in the visual arts category.
  • For collaborative projects, one person should be chosen to apply on behalf of the group. However, all parties in the collaboration must participate in the project’s conception and design, and not just in its implementation. The applicant must explain the role of each partner in the project and include with the application their CVs and photocopies of their official IDs.
  • The project must be new and not previously published. (Work on the project must have begun in 2020)
  • The project or the phase of the project that requires funding must be able to be completed within 6 to 9 months from the date the contract is signed. The phase of the project that the applicant intends to complete must be clearly defined, have a specific executive plan and result in an output that is ready to be presented to the public.
  • The proposed project may not be a reproduction of a previously produced or presented/published project or a recurrent project (periodicals, series, etc…) . Additionally, the project may not be in one of the following fields: website or computer and/or mobile application design, workshops, research.

How to Apply

  • Fill in the application form with all the required information (marked with an asterisk) in Arabic, apart from the blanks that should be filled in English.
  • Submit all supporting documents mentioned in the application as attachments along with the application form.
  • E-mail the form with the supporting documents to [email protected] before 4:00 PM Beirut time on Friday 3 July, 2020.

Selection Process

After the submissions deadline, all the received applications are assembled and screened to ensure that they meet the eligibility criteria and are inclusive of all the required supporting documents.

Three jurors, specialized in their field, will evaluate the applications in each of the following artistic fields (performing arts, literature, music, visual arts and cinema), based on a grading system and a set of criteria related to innovation, the artistic quality of the project and the extent of its achievement, taking into account geographical and gender diversity.