Unlocking 20 Years of Data
As we mark 20 years since Mawred’s foundation, we share with you a series of visualizations summarizing the organization’s work from its inception to the present day. Drawing on data we collected and analyzed over the past four years, these posts provide documentation in numbers of twenty years dedicated to fostering creativity and celebrating cultural diversity across the Arab region.
Given the scarcity of data on arts and culture from the Arab region, we’re making our database accessible to support your research, studies, and projects. We also invite you to participate in our data-related activities, whether through data collection, entry, analysis, related discussions, or other collaborative ideas you may propose.
Through this initiative, we aspire for our database to become a valuable resource supporting artists, cultural actors, researchers, and anyone else interested in knowledge production and sharing. This aligns with our vision of working towards commons-based practices and participatory approaches in cultural work. Most importantly, it stems from our belief in the importance of preserving cultural data, especially in light of the challenges facing the region. It contributes to fostering collective memory, understanding and analyzing the cultural reality, and supporting the development of cultural policies.
Contact us at resources@mawred.org for more information or to share your data-related collaborative ideas.
Our database and data sharing are built upon responsible data practices that prioritize consent, privacy, security, and ownership, ensuring the ethical handling of all data shared with us.
Phases of Mawred's Work
Since its foundation 20 years ago, Mawred has developed a wide range of programs and projects. These are explored through three interconnected phases, highlighting the organization’s commitment to advancing professionalization and promoting knowledge production in the arts and culture sector, as well as supporting creative organizations and initiatives in an increasingly complex landscape, ultimately contributing to the development of a vibrant, cohesive/integrated, and united cultural ecosystem/environment across the Arab region.
The outlined points represent the programs and projects launched by Mawred over the past 20 twenty years, while the lines indicate their timeline. They are categorized according to their core objectives within each phase.
Programs & Projects
In 2004, Mawred launched its first program, the Production Awards, which continues to this day. Since then, it has introduced 43 programs and projects, all designed to inspire artistic expression, support creative projects, build capacities, and foster knowledge production in the field of arts and culture.
We present here the names of these programs and projects, along with their start and end dates.
Disciplines & Beneficiaries
Over the past twenty years, Mawred has supported artists and cultural actors, primarily young individuals based in the Arab region. The support covered various key disciplines, including music, performing arts, cultural management, visual arts, cinema, and literature.
This video traces the evolution and diversification of the organization’s areas of support over the years and the percentages of the beneficiaries under the age of 35 and those based in the Arab region, where Mawred’s efforts are primarily focused.
The percentages may vary slightly due to the unavailability of some data.
Support & Production
Mawred’s work spans two main areas: supporting individuals, groups, and organizations to produce their projects, and undertaking its own productions/initiatives, including training workshops, conferences, artistic performances, as well as research and publications.
We highlight here the organization’s evolving focus, shifting from production to support, while showcasing the types and number of projects it has funded or produced over the past twenty years.
The numbers may be higher than stated due to gaps in available data.
Mawred’s Network
actors, experts, and organizations – a community it values as a source of solidarity, collaboration, and collective imagination. This network remains central to strengthening the vibrant cultural ecosystem in the Arab region.
This video highlights the number of network members and their geographical distribution worldwide.
The numbers may be higher than stated due to gaps in available data.
Visit the Mawred Network webpage to learn more about the members.
Program & Project
OPEN CALL
Reclaiming Our Commons:
A Proposal for Cultural Collaboration Across
the Arab Region
Culture Resource is launching the open call “Reclaiming Our Commons: A Proposal for Cultural Collaboration Across the Arab Region,” which was formulated in partnership with A.M Qattan Foundation and has been developed by a number of fellow and partner organizations, including Ettijahat – Independent Culture, Aflamuna, and L’art Rue, which constitute a nucleus contributing to project funding and programming.
“Reclaiming Our Commons” is a call to contribute to building a participatory creative process addressed to initiatives, cooperatives, independent cultural and artistic organizations, as well as artists and cultural actors. It seeks to support artistic and cultural projects across diverse artistic and interdisciplinary domains, provided they adopt cooperative, participatory, and/or commons-based approaches, whether at the project development level, project ownership, project interpretations and outputs, or project revenues.
Culture Resource and the project partners will provide grants ranging from €8,000 to €30,000 to fund approximately 12 projects (the funding will be determined based on each project’s needs). The projects will be implemented and showcased in various cities across the Arab region in 2024 and 2025. Subsequently, specific projects will be selected to participate in central events in Beirut and Ramallah, the details of which will be determined later.
The project encourages the use of documentation as a main practice throughout the implementation of the projects. This is to ensure engagement with a broader audience and contribution to collective learning by adopting various mediums such as texts, videos, podcasts, radio, comics, or any other mediums. The project also necessitates adherence to cultural and artistic work ethics and the adoption of a fair economic model that ensures the rights of authors and workers.
Why Reclaim Our Commons?
The project suggests the commons/publicness as a concept, approach, practice, and value that does not necessarily provide immediate solutions. Instead, it establishes creative pathways for inclusive cultural work and collective social change. Through its participatory process, the project aims to generate new approaches that inspire individuals and organizations within the cultural sector to explore sustainable ways forward. It also seeks to contribute to producing a discourse and/or practices that advocate for reclaiming communal space, memory, and imagination by transforming the private or official into participatory, collective, and public.
The project is built upon the premise that non-consumerist cultural production has succeeded in critiquing consumerism and mainstream culture. However, it failed to achieve sustainability. Despite several organizations in the sector ensuring institutional independence from donors, non-consumerist cultural production still operates within marginal economies, rendering it unviable, with infrastructure that is either limited or fragile. Additionally, it clashes with several intellectual currents that oppose pluralism, and functions within an extremely violent colonial reality. Therefore, the project suggests exploring communal cultural practices as a potential avenue for addressing these challenges.
About Commons/Public
In this project, we avoid adopting a single definition for commons or its approaches. Instead, we offer the project itself and the projects falling under it an opportunity to interpret it and approach it as ideas and practices that vary across cultures and geographies. We acknowledge the fact that those who determine the meaning of commons are the actors and the people who produce and work within it. The concept of commons is often associated with “democratization” or defined as natural resources or neutral properties and spaces organized and codified by society.
Moreover, our political and economic systems have created social and geopolitical challenges leading to the commodification of arts and the erosion of the rights to commons and publicness. In the Arab context, in particular, the commons are receding either because of their privatization or the loss of traditional practices that once safeguarded the right to use them. This right, in many cases, was tied to a collective within a community in a voluntary and participatory way. It was also governed by a set of laws, customs, and agreements that fulfilled the needs of all individuals.
These challenges are associated with the commons as shared communal spaces. Therefore, the attempt to reclaim the rights to these spaces and material and non-material resources requires the development of broad and collective solutions that do not erase individuals but rather encourage increased collaboration among them. Achieving this calls for an innovative reclamation of the commons in both theory and practice.
Numerous studies in our region are attempting to dismantle the top-down approach to management that replaced the traditional collective systems and led to their destruction. An example of that is the concept of “Jma’a” or group in rural Morocco as a “pre-modern” democratic structure. Anthropologists have worked to observe the characteristics of collective management within these communities, particularly concerning water, land, and other shared resources. The most prominent example today is of Palestinians in Gaza and the outstanding forms of communal practices that persist under siege, carnage, and starvation.
The concept of the commons also addresses the dialectic of the Universal and the Local. It imperatively leads us to local contexts and raises new questions about the relation of humans to life and the living, outside the prevailing capitalist and colonial contexts. Regarding culture from this perspective obliges us to shed light on regional and international conflicts, such as those related to the Palestinian cause, where settler colonialism and apartheid are attempting to limit the significance of cultural work and knowledge in Palestine or what revolves around it abroad.
It is imperative to acknowledge that adopting a commons-based approach in the cultural field reinstates the link between the political economy and the creative sector by reshaping the dynamics of initiatives, funding, and production. It places creatives at the core of the cultural practice and transforms it into more than mere entertainment and consumption; thus it becomes a means to reclaim public space and fosters the production of alternative creative and critical discourses that challenge prevailing norms.
Eligibility Criteria
- Individuals:
Artists from diverse artistic disciplines and independent cultural actors, provided they are from the Arab region (regardless of ethnicity and citizenship status), whether they are living inside or outside the Arab region.
- Groups:
Independent non-governmental initiatives, cooperatives, and artistic and cultural organizations in the Arab region or abroad, whose work serves artistic and cultural production in Arabic.
Recipients of any other grant from Culture Resource’s programs may still apply to this project.
Application Guidelines
Applicants should fill out this form, which includes the following:
- ◯ Project idea;
- ◯ Linking the project to the broader context of its community;
- ◯ Explaining how the project approaches the concept of commons;
- ◯ Defining the project’s objective;
- ◯ Specifying the group/s that the project targets;
- ◯ Outlining the proposed activities;
- ◯ Defining the project’s outputs;
- ◯ Identifying the resources you propose sharing;
- ◯ Describing how the project’s outputs will be documented.
In addition to including the following:
The deadline for applications is 15 April 2024 at 16:00 Beirut time.
To facilitate the process of project formulation and application, a series of meetings will be organized in March, including an in-person meeting in Ramallah and three online meetings with potential applicants. The objective is to present the concept of cultural commons and examples of it, discuss the proposed projects and their approach to commons, and connect them within the context of the project of building cultural collaboration across the Arab region. Details of the meetings will be announced later.
Selection Process
A jury composed of independent experts in the field of arts and culture will evaluate the applications and select the projects based on the following set of eligibility criteria:
- ◯ The project’s quality and the innovation of its concept;
- ◯ The way the project approaches the concept of commons and its relevance to the call’s objective;
- ◯ The project’s relevance to the general social and political context;
- ◯ The feasibility of the project’s implementation and the adequacy of the proposed budget.
The selection takes into consideration the possibility of connecting the projects within the context of building cultural collaboration in the Arab region, while taking into account geographical and gender diversity.
Timeline
- Open call: 6 March, 2024
- ◯ Online sessions to introduce the concept of the Commons and its application within the context of the open call:
First Session: Tuesday, 19 March 2024, 15:00 – 17:00 Beirut time
Second Session: Wednesday, 27 March 2024, 15:00 – 17:00 Beirut time
Please register here.
Third Session: Thursday, 28 March 2024, 15:00 – 17:00 Beirut time
Please register here.
- ◯ In-person meeting with potential applicants in Ramallah, Palestine: 23 March, 2024
- ◯ Deadline for applications: 15 April, 2024 at 16:00 Beirut time
- ◯ Results announcement: mid-July, 2024
- Projects implementation: From July 2024 to July 2025
Project’s Advisory Committee
Culture Resource has invited five artists, curators, and cultural researchers and actors to form the project’s advisory committee in charge of artistically conceptualizing the project and employing the concept of cultural commons as a methodology. The committee will also present and discuss this concept with the applicants through online meetings and/or in-person meetings to be held in several cities across the Arab region. The committee also sets a process and criteria for selecting the projects and contributes to curating the central events that will take place in Beirut and Ramallah.
Committee members:
Driss Ksikes / Morocco, writer, playwright, and researcher;
Hadia Gana / Libya, visual artist and academic;
Kinan Azmeh / Syria, clarinet player and composer of contemporary music;
Maha Maamoun / Egypt, visual artist and curator;
Yazid Anani / Palestine, academic, researcher and curator.
What kind of projects and activities are eligible to receive support?
Any artistic or cultural project that adopts cooperative, participatory, and/or commons-based approaches and whose methodology and scope of work are based on the creative commons in terms of project development, project ownership, project interpretation and outputs, or project revenues. The project must meet the following requirements: the use of material and non-material resources in a communal manner, proposing conventions for shared resource usage, and establishing a clear connection to the public domain.
Project outputs can include, but are not limited to, one or more of the following examples:
- ◯ Book
- ◯ Live performance
- ◯ Art exhibition
- ◯ Lectures and discussions
- ◯ Podcast
- ◯ Documentary film
- ◯ Intervention in a public space
What’s the difference between project outputs and documentation processes?
If the project outputs entail a documentary nature (video, podcast, book, etc), the outputs themselves will serve as documentation. For outputs lacking this characteristic (lectures, discussions, live performances, interventions in the public space, etc), it’s encouraged to incorporate documentation to engage with a broader audience and foster collective learning.
What are the examples of commons-based cultural practices?
- ◯ Syria Music Map
- ◯ Palestine Open Maps
- ◯ The Communist Museum of Palestine
- ◯ Mansion (Beirut)
- ◯ Mreijeh Social Cooperative was founded by a group of cultural actors, including the playwright and actor Roger Assaf in Mreijeh, Lebanon. This cooperative was an example of collective participatory management that worked towards finding solutions for the growing everyday challenges in 1975 and 1976 during the Lebanese Civil War. It also inspired the establishment of the Lebanese Hakawati Theater.
- ◯ An example of a project that was implemented in Morocco during the 1980s: A group of artists working within the framework of a cooperative in Casablanca designed a project that focused on collecting archives to examine the experience of a psychiatric hospital and reclaim collective memory and imagination. The group invited several artists and cultural actors specialized in anthropology to conduct individual readings of this archive. The project resulted in an archival and artistic exhibition, lectures, and talks. The way this project approaches the concept of commons:
- Organizational structure:
- Cooperative;
- Collaboration in envisioning the project;
- Assigning multiple readings and interpretations;
- A multitude of outputs;
- Engaging the public by organizing on-site events;
- Using prohibited materials (hospital archives) and making them accessible to the public.
Are unregistered initiatives and groups eligible to apply to the project?
Unregistered artistic and cultural initiatives and groups may apply to the project, provided they operate under a clear legal framework (such as a formal partnership with an organization possessing official legal registration inside or outside the country).
What’s the difference between this open call and the Production Awards program?
The call addresses cooperatives, independent cultural and artistic organizations, as well as artists and cultural actors of all ages. It’s open to all types of artistic and cultural projects, provided they adopt cooperative, participatory, and/or commons-based approaches, whether in terms of project development, project ownership, project interpretation and outputs, or project revenues. In contrast, the Production Awards program is addressed solely to individual artists under the age of 35. It supports their first projects within 5 disciplines (literature, music, visual arts, cinema, and performing arts).
Additionally, the Production Awards program requires the production of one final completed artistic output, whereas “Reclaiming Our Commons” can support several production processes for artistic and cultural outputs.
Is it possible to showcase projects in progress during the project implementation period (06/2024 – 06/2025)?
Yes.
Will the “Reclaiming Our Commons” advisory committee evaluate the submitted projects and select the projects that will receive support?
No, a jury composed of independent experts in the artistic and cultural field will evaluate the applications and the selection of the projects, based on the jury criteria mentioned in the application guidelines section.
Can the project’s main objective be artistic or academic research?
No, it cannot: neither as a research about the commons nor as a research about any other topic carried out collectively through a commons approach.
The project’s development and implementation process may rely on research activities. However, the main activity and output of the project cannot be the research itself.
What is the minimum number of participants that can be in the group for the project to be eligible?
While the application can be submitted by one (or more) members, for the project to be eligible, the proposal must involve a minimum of three members as participants (or more). A project involving only one or two participants is not eligible.
What media formats are eligible for the output?
All and any media formats are acceptable in this call. Several types of formats in one project are also acceptable. The importance is not what or how many types of formats are used in the output but the method and approach of creating them, especially how the group of people collaborates in their making.
Is there a specific age limit for applicants in this call?
No, there is no age limit for applicants and participants; they can be of any age above 18 years.
Can applicants or participants in the proposed project be originally from the Arab region (Arab nationals), but residing in the Diaspora?
They can, under these conditions:
The project must be designed to benefit Arab cultural/creative practitioners residing in the Arab region or the Diaspora. The project’s topic and core questions should also be related to the Arab region and/or the Arab nationals in the Diaspora.
Can the proposed project include participants who are not Arab nationals, or who do not identify ethnically/culturally/politically as Arab but who reside in the Arab region? (e.g. Amazigh, Kurds, migrants resident in the Arab country)
Yes, provided they are from the Arab region (regardless of ethnicity and citizenship status), whether they are living inside or outside the Arab region. The project can include participants who are not Arab nationals, as long as the majority of the group members are from the Arab region and provided that the applicant is from the Arab region.
Can the project output be in a language other than Arabic?
It can. However, it must be in Arabic as well (e.g. in English AND Arabic)
Can the project aim to “benefit” or “include” a particular marginalized section of the population?
Yes, however, the project aim should go beyond that, to create a work process that is already inclusive, accessible, and collaborative from design to execution.
Who owns the copyright of the outputs within the commons approach?
The copyright ownership of the artistic or cultural output proposed should be shared within the community of participants who created it, whenever feasible. Any pre-existing sources and resources used in the process of producing the output (e.g. knowledge, documents, archives), should be credited to their authors, creators or owners according to standard ethical practices.
Can creating or reclaiming a common space be considered as an output?
Yes, however, it must be created/reclaimed by a group of people, not an individual, according to commoning principles.
Can the application be for completing a project that has already started prior to the application date?
Yes, provided you explain how the work process was organized in the project before the application; and how you intend to adopt a commons approach in your project and to make the transition from one mode of operation towards the commons approach.
In addition to sharing (resources, outcomes, products, etc), how can the commons approach address the challenge of sustainability, to reduce dependency on external funding in creative and cultural labor?
Sustainability can be envisioned through an ecological approach of finding creative ways for human practitioners in the group to relate to, and integrate into their system:
-
- ◯ The human resources: Each other, such as treating their individual and collective labor as a valuable shared resource.
- ◯ The non-human (living as well as non-living) entities and resources available within reach of the project.
- ◯ Immaterial resources such as knowledge systems or traditional methods known to have yielded sustainability in your context.
-
- ◯ Diversifying productive activities to sustain the creative process. See Sakiya as an example.