What is the Production Awards program?

The program supports artists and writers from the Arab region, below the age of 35, by offering grants to enable them to produce their first creative projects. Grants of up to €8,500 are available for projects in literature, music, performing arts and visual arts and of up to €13,000 for projects in cinema and video. Every year, 25 projects are selected for the grants, five in each artistic category.
The program helps give young people the opportunity to create original works and develop new forms of artistic and literary expression.

Since it was first launched in 2004, the Production Awards program has provided around 300 grants to artistic innovators in the Arab region.

Program Goals

The Production Awards program aims to support and encourage the artistic and literary productivity and creativity of a new generation of young artists and writers from the Arab region.

Grants are available for the following disciplines:

  • Performing arts: Development and production of theater, dance and other performing arts works.
  • Visual arts: Development and production of art works, exhibits, installations and books in the various visual arts disciplines, including sculpture, engraving, photography and light art
  • Literature: Creation and publication of novels, shorts stories, poetry collections and theater texts.
  • Music: Creation and recording of audio and audiovisual music works.
  • Cinema/video: Production of short, medium-length and feature fictional, documentary, animated and
    experimental films and videos works. Grants are available for projects in the production and post-production stages.

The program schedule

The online application form is available once a year.

  • The call for application will be open in the beginning of August, 2023.
  • The application deadline is 24 October 2023 at 16:00 Beirut time.
  • The Production Award recipients will be announced in mid-March 2024.

How to apply

  • Please read the application guidelines carefully before completing the application form.
  • The application must be completed entirely in Arabic, apart from the blanks that require English.
  • Include all necessary supporting documents (see the guidelines) with the application form.

Note: Applications that do not meet the eligibility requirements and that do not include all required attachments, supporting documents and examples of previous works will be eliminated and not be forwarded to the jury.

Who is eligible to apply?

  • Applicants must be between 15 and 35 years old as of the next first of January. Applications submitted by individuals not in this age bracket will be discarded;
  • Applicants must originate from an Arab country regardless of ethnicity and citizenship status or whether they are currently residing in the Arab region or abroad;
  • Application is open to artists of all disciplines: Performance arts, visual arts, literature, music, cinema/video, etc.

Application terms

  1. The application must be submitted by: a film director for projects in the cinema/video category, a theatre director, choreographer or dance performance director for the performing arts, a writer for the literature production award, a musician or performer for the music category, and the main artist or curator for the visual arts.
  2. The applications must be completed in Arabic on the form available on the applications website.
  3. Applicants under the age of 18 must include with their application a copy of their birth certificate, a letter of approval signed by a parent or guardian, and a copy of the identity card/passport of that parent/guardian.
  4. Applicants must attach a detailed budget projection, in the local currency of their country, for the project they plan to carry out.
  5. Applicants must include a detailed CV.
  6. They should also include a photocopy of their identity card or passport.
  7. Applicants may not apply for support for more than one project, whether in a single discipline or more than one discipline.
  8. Work on the proposed project can not begin before one month after the results are announced as the program does not cover project expenses incurred prior to the announcement of the results.
  9. The program offers grants of up to €8,500 for projects in the following categories: literature, performing arts, visual arts and music. In the cinema/video category, the program offers grants of up to €13,000.
  10. Should the applicant have another funding source, he/she must clarify this in the application form and in the projected budget for the proposed project.
  11. Applications that are incomplete or lack the necessary attachments and supporting documents will not be considered.
  12. The Production Award program does not cover the reproduction of a project that has been previously produced or presented, or a project in the following domains: websites, workshops, support for entities or organizations, research.
  13. Applications will not be accepted from previous recipients of Culture Resource production awards until three years have lapsed after they received their previous grant.

Application rules

  • Applications are accepted once a year and they are evaluated once a year as detailed in the program schedule, above.
  • To apply, please register on the Production Awards online application website (see link below) with a username and password. Please bear in mind that the production awards for the cinema/video category have a separate application form.
  • Applicants may save their applications in progress at any point and return to them later.
  • Application forms that are incomplete or lack the required attachments and supporting documents will not be considered.
  • The projects proposed in the applications must be completed within at most 18 months after the date the contracts are signed between the grantee and Culture Resource.
  • The grant may not be used to purchase machinery or equipment.
  • By accepting the grant, recipients commit to citing Culture Resource, its logo and the phrase, “This work has been produced with a grant from Culture Resource” in all outputs of the project.

Application instructions

Please follow the following steps in order to create an account and register on the online applications platform:

  1. Enter the online applications site and fill in the required registration information.
  2. After clicking the “register” icon, you will receive a link by email. Click on the link to activate your account.
  3. Once you activated your account, you can re-enter the online application platform using your email address and password. You will then find the application form which you can fill out online.

How are grantees selected?

  • After the deadline for submissions for each round, all applications submitted for that round are screened in terms of the eligibility of the applicant and the fulfilment of the application requirements, including the full completion of application form and inclusion of the required supporting documents and attachments.
  • Applications that meet all the requirements are submitted to an independent jury for each of the five categories. The composition of the juries changes with each round. Each jury consists of three artists and writers with recognized expertise in their disciplines.
  • The juries assess the applications and select the grantees on the basis of a set of established assessment criteria which are applied in each round. The criteria include: the quality and relevance of the project, originality, practicability of the projected budget and feasibility of completion by deadline.

Contractual procedures and obligations

  • Once the results are announced, Culture Resource sends contracts to the selected grantees. The contracts explain, in detail, the scope of coverage, conditions and duration of the support. Grantees also receive a document explaining the intellectual property rights of both parties.
  • Disbursal of the grants: The first instalment (60-70 per cent of the total amount of the grant) is paid upon signing the contacts. The second instalment (15-20 per cent) is paid when grantees furnish Culture Resource with the contractually stipulated reports and materials that document the progress of the project. The remainder (15-20 per cent) is paid once grantees furnish Culture Resource the required financial and narrative reports following the completion of their projects.
  • If a selected recipient does not sign the contract within 45 days after it was sent, the grant will be cancelled.
  • In the event that the Culture Resource grant does not cover the full amount budgeted for the project, the grantee must clarify his/her other sources of funding for the project within 90 days after obtaining the grant or else the grant will be cancelled.
  • In the event that the project is not completed, whether for personal, health or other reasons, either the grant will be cancelled or the recipient may apply for an extension. Culture Resource reserves the right to approve or reject the request after studying the case.
  • Should a grant be cancelled for whatever cause, the program will cover only the expenditures the grantee made before the date of cancellation. The grantee will be obliged to return the remainder of the payments he/she has received.
  • Culture Resource has the right to halt payment of the second and third instalments to the second party (the grantee) should that party fail to submit the required reports or meet other agreed upon commitments.
  • The deadline for completing a project may only be extended once and on the condition that the application for an extension is submitted at least 30 days before the end of the contract period. The one-time extension shall not exceed six months in the performance arts, literature, music and visual arts categories and one year in the cinema/video category. Extension requests should be emailed to: [email protected]. Culture Resource reserves the right to accept or reject extension requests without citing cause.
  • A grantee must pledge to furnish two guarantors for his/her project. At least one of the guarantors must be fully aware of the nature of the project to be carried out and an expert in the relevant field. The guarantors shall agree to all the articles of the contract, cosign it, and pledge to guarantee the implementation of the project and to return any grant money disbursed in the event that the project is not completed by the contractually agreed upon deadline.
  • The Production Awards program and Culture Resource must be referenced clearly in all publications and media (including social networking media), news items, reports and publicity pertaining to the project that was awarded support.

If you have further question, please contact the Production Awards team: [email protected]

For further questions, please contact the Production Awards team: [email protected]