Grant for Supporting Artists and Cultural Actors at Risk from Culture Resource

Culture Resource is offering programs for artists and cultural actors in the Arab region who are at risk. At-risk means that they are threatened and in physical danger because of their artistic output or cultural activities or that they are in grave peril due to conditions in their environment (such as war or civil strife). Culture Resource launched this program in 2016 after conducting a study of the risks facing artists and cultural actors in this region and the types of support available to them locally and internationally.

Program Goals:

This program aims to support the physical and mental wellbeing of artists and cultural actors in the Arab region and to safeguard their inalienable rights to free speech and creative freedom. Towards this end, it works to secure their right to live and work in a safe environment that upholds their dignity and ensures their ability to pursue their artistic and cultural activities.

Who is this program for?

• Artists or cultural actors who are in physical danger because of their artistic or cultural expression or production
• Artists or cultural actors who, regardless of their artistic and cultural activities, are in peril or who are seeking asylum due to sociopolitical violence, warfare, and political instability.

Additionally, the program targets artists or cultural actors who are unable to sustain their artistic and cultural activities due to precarious economic circumstances, psychological, legal, or health conditions, or an environmental disaster, by granting them exceptional, nonrecurrent support specially designed in response to such circumstances or changes.

The Emergency Fund, which covers the following types of financial support:

• Living expenses (including accommodation expenses) in any country in the Arab region or abroad for up to six months
• Airfare (round trip) to any country in the Arab region or abroad and related travel expenses (internal transportation expenses, visa costs, etc.).
• Legal support (expenses for professional legal advice or hiring lawyers).
• Other types of support that require expenditures (medical or psychiatrist fees, enrollment fees for a skills development program, etc.)

Non-monetary support:

• Putting beneficiaries in touch with short-term artistic residencies in the Arab region or abroad so as to guarantee them a temporary safe haven where they can live and work, or putting them in touch with organizations that offer residencies so that they (beneficiaries) can apply themselves.
• Putting beneficiaries in contact with international organizations that support artists at risk or that offer them temporary residency in a host country. Backing their applications to these organizations as well as to rights advocacy organizations and lawyers for free legal support and advice.

• The applicant must originate from an Arab country regardless of ethnicity and citizenship status or whether they are currently residing in the Arab region or abroad;
• The applicant must be an artist or a cultural actor;
• The applicant must be in peril or face a tangible and verifiable threat.

The Selection Process:

• The program team evaluates the request for meeting the eligibility criteria and sends the applicant the program’s application form to be filled,
• Once the program team receives the complete application form with supporting documents and links, they evaluate the information by inquiring with individuals or organizations that know the artist or cultural actor in question and that can shed light on the crisis or confirm the applicant’s description of it,
• Once the accuracy of the information contained in the application is verified, the program team and the program’s advisory board will determine the type of support that is commensurate with the severity and urgency of the case.
• The program team will then notify the applicant whether or not he/she has been accepted. If accepted, the applicant will be informed of the type of support that the program will provide.
• After the applicant agrees to the proposed support, an agreement is signed between Culture Resource and the beneficiary.

About Culture Resource:

Founded in 2004, Culture Resource (Al Mawred Al Thaqafy) is a regional, non-profit organization that seeks to support artistic creativity in the Arab region and to encourage cultural exchange between intellectuals and artists within this region and abroad. The work of Culture Resource emanates from a deep appreciation of the renewable value of Arab cultural heritage, in all its ethnic, religious, and linguistic diversity, and from faith in the importance of generating a new Arab spirit of creativity as a key to liberating the imagination and stimulating progress. Culture Resource also believes that artistic and literary activities are a social necessity that demands moral and material support on the part of all effective forces in society.

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