| Lebanon Solidarity Fund Fundraising Campaign for the Arts and Culture Community Beirut – August 12,2020 Following the devastating explosion that rocked Beirut on August 4, 2020 and the unprecedented loss of life, injury and damage to homes, offices and workspaces across the city, Culture Resource and the Arab Fund for Arts and Culture – AFAC launch an international fundraising campaign to support the culture and the arts community within Beirut. Both Culture Resource and AFAC will contribute to the fund with seed capital and handle its management and distribution to institutions and individuals in the arts and culture sector. WE NEED THE SOLIDARITY OF PARTNERS AND FRIENDS AND WE THEREFORE CALL FOR THEIR CONTRIBUTIONS. The August 4 catastrophe has struck an astounding, unprecedented blow to all aspects of life including the arts and culture sector. The survival and sustainability of the once vibrant creative field is now in a critical condition. Recovering from the shock will require time, as will the reconvening as a community to identify priorities, articulate visions and bolster the myriad ways in which people will rebuild their lives from the ruins of devastation. This campaign builds on the recent joint solidarity initiative, Solidarity Fund to Arts and Culture Structures in Lebanon, by the two regional organizations and supported by three generous donors – Drosos Foundation, Ford Foundation and Open Society Foundations – to respond to cumulative pressures related to an economic collapse, restrictions on financial transactions, and uncontrolled inflation. Subsequently, the thorough mappin of arts and culture entities in Lebanon and the experience with an existing funding mechanism can effectively respond to the latest emergency needs. An early recovery is as critical as an immediate response to the impact of this disaster. Sustaining a viable arts and culture fabric requires a medium- and longer-term accompaniment which is only possible through diverse, consistent and recurring support. The raised funds will be channeled to support affected arts and culture organizations and spaces based on identification of urgent needs. Our preliminary assessment of organizations damaged by the explosion includes the following: Emergency reconstruction to ensure safety of premises and assets or rental in the case of temporary relocations when property is lost or severely damaged; Protection, housing and transfer of invaluable collections (images, films, and musical archives); Rehabilitation of premises (mainly furniture and other assets owned by the organizations including mechanical and electrical networks); Repair and/or replacement of equipment (computers, monitors, external drives, specialized libraries The fund will also support individual artists who lost their homes, instruments and equipment and who need to fix them or replace the equipment/relocate to new homes or workspaces in order to continue. You can make your donations online through this link: https://www.givingloop.org/afac or through bank transfer: https://mawred.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Bank-Transfer_Accounts.pdf |
CULTURE RESOURCE
Culture Resource (Al-Mawred Al-Thaqafy) is a regional, non-profit organization founded in 2003 that seeks to support artistic creativity in the Arab region and to encourage cultural exchange within the region and beyond. It aims to support artists, cultural actors and cultural institutions through grants, capacity building, publications and networking, to promote independent creative works outside the commercial mainstream on a regional and international level, and to improve the environment for cultural work through policy research and action.
The work of the organization is predicated on the belief in the critical role of culture in the development of civil society, the importance of access to culture for all, and in the rights of artists to freedom of expression.
Culture Resource has been able to support the work of over one thousand artists and cultural actors and to reach thousands of audience members and communities through its activities and services, and continues to serve as a positive model of a credible and transparent independent organization.
AFAC
The Arab Fund for Arts and Culture – AFAC was founded in 2007 through the initiative of Arab cultural activists as an independent foundation to support individual artists, writers, researchers, intellectuals, as well as organizations from the Arab region working in the field of arts and culture. Since its launch, AFAC’s programs have steadily expanded to cover cinema, photography, visual and performing arts, creative and critical writings, music, documentary film, in addition to funding research, trainings and cultural events. Based in Beirut, AFAC works with artists and organizations all over the Arab region and the rest of the world. AFAC strives to build a flourishing cultural and artistic scene across the Arab region that contributes to establishing open and vibrant societies, where young and seasoned voices engage with each other in the wake of the massive transformations being witnessed by the region.