Featured Organization
Culture Resource (Al-Mawred Al-Thaqafy)
Lebanon
Founded in 2003, Culture Resource (Al-Mawred Al-Thaqafy) is a regional, non-profit organization that supports and enriches artistic creation and cultural exchange in the Arab region and beyond. Rooted in deep knowledge of the cultural life, context, and history of the region, Culture Resource works to strengthen cultural ties and defend artistic expression through a myriad of channels. The organization is led by a diverse staff representing a range of backgrounds and skill sets, and under the governance of a general assembly composed of thirty-four cultural leaders from the Arab region and a seven-member artistic board.
Even in their institutional practices, Culture Resource is dedicated to representing diversity in the Arab region and committed to their belief in cultural freedom as a human right. Culture Resource emphasizes six core values in their work: community engagement and inclusiveness, collaboration, trust, diversity, transparency, and support and preservation. With these values in mind, Culture Resource takes on its mission to empower, engage, and unite communities for the development of a diverse and open cultural landscape.
Culture Resource awards a number of grants to artists and cultural practitioners, such as the Production Awards, which support creative projects of young artists and writers in the Arab region. Other grant programs focus on increasing cultural mobility and defending artists at risk. The Wijhat program, for example, assists Arab artists and cultural actors who need to travel within the Arab region or abroad for professional purposes. Meanwhile, Culture Resource’s Stand for Art program offers both monetary and networking assistance to artists and cultural actors in physical danger because of their work. Furthermore, in response to the toll the COVID-19 pandemic has taken on the Arab cultural sector, Culture Resource opened applications for their Exceptional Grants, which target artists and writers in the region involved in the production of individual or collaborative artistic or literary projects. In response to the port explosion in Beirut, Lebanon in September of 2020, Culture Resource also collaborated with the Arab Fund for Arts and Culture to launch the Lebanon Solidarity Fund to support the arts and culture institutions and spaces affected by the tragic blast.
One vital program at Culture Resource is All Around Culture, which offers an environment for young people in seven countries across the Arab region to collaborate and develop their skills as cultural actors over a four year period. The program includes five main components: Cultural Alliances, Youth-led Cultural and Civic Initiatives, Collaboration Fellowships, Ecosystems Academy, and Dissemination and Exploitation. In addition to grants and support for individuals, Culture Resource has a number of development programs for cultural organizations and managers. In 2011, they launched The Abbara program with the intent to support independent cultural groups and organizations as key actors in the processes of societal transformation in the Arab region. This program assists organizations with financial support, management training, technical support, and networking. Inspired by the desire to address the commonly shared difficulties that often obstruct growth of cultural organizations, Culture Resource also launched Wasl, a program which promotes networking between independent cultural organizations. This program is designed to bolster the culture of collaboration and mutual learning between these organizations through collaborative projects with clearly conceived visions and specific objectives.
One of Culture Resource’s core initiatives is their Cultural Policy Program, launched in 2009 with the aim of developing a cultural environment that bolsters freedom of expression and creativity, and stimulates the role of the cultural sector in social and political change in the Arab region. Through this program, Culture Resource supported 12 local working groups dedicated to developing cultural policies in their respective countries. The Cultural Policy Program also sponsors surveys and studies contributing to various branches of the field of cultural policy. While Culture Resource supports established organizations and cultural professionals, it also fosters growth of the budding cultural professionals. Through its Master of Cultural Policy and Cultural Management Program, Culture Resource aims to develop a new generation of researchers, cultural managers, policy makers, and academics capable of contributing to cultural practices in their countries and in the Arab region.
Another ongoing project at Culture Resource is its Mudawanat podcast, “a living archive of contributions that document the contemporary culture scene in the Arab region.” Culture Resource launched the project in partnership with the British Council in 2020, inviting artists and cultural actors from the Arab region to contribute, and recently closed its call for contributions to the second installment.
Culture Resource provides not only an extensive pool of resources, but offers events and exhibitions to showcase artists’ work and cultural development initiatives. The REDZONE Festival, launched in 2013, is an annual event that is located in a different city each year. The multidisciplinary festival offers a new model for building local, regional and international cultural collaborations through artistic activities. Previously held in Cairo, Beirut, Tunis, Tangier, and Oslo, the REDZONE Festival offers a space for artists of all kinds to showcase their work in the context of a movement for freedom of expression in arts and culture.
Culture Resource is one of ARC’s key partners, not only in the Arab region but in its operations at large. Helena Nassif, director of Culture Resource, currently sits on ARC’s Advisory Committee, and is a frequent partner during events, conferences, and other programming. Furthermore, ARC regularly collaborates with Culture Resource on cases of Arab artists at risk, and we are immensely grateful for the vital assistance they continually provide to cultural actors in the region. They are also a member of Amani: Africa Creative Defence Network, where they collaborate with the network to monitor and provide assistance to cases of artists at risk in North Africa. ARC looks forward to continued collaboration with Culture resource.
By Piper Morrison, February 2021. Piper is currently pursuing a B.A. at Oberlin College, concentrating on American Studies and Arts Management.