40 art, culture practitioners reflect on cultural ecosystem in MENA region

AMMAN — The All-Around Culture Programme www.allaroundculture.com recently launched its first regional networking event for the “Ecosystems Academy” component, which was attended by over 40 art and culture practitioners, institutions, collectives, alliances and youth-led initiatives. 

Co-funded by the EU, the first edition of “Ecosystems Academy” was implemented by MitOst at Mohammad and Mahera Abu Ghazaleh Foundation for Arts & Culture, (MMAG) Foundation in Amman, according to a statement from the programme.

The Ecosystem Academy facilitates learning methodologies based on peer-to-peer exchange to strengthen the awareness of the cultural ecosystem by mapping and reflecting on the diversity of the actors working in arts, culture and civil society working in the MENA region, their roles and interconnections and how it contributes to the resilience of their sectors. 

Over three days, participants discussed several topics including organisational capacity building, community development, partnerships and cooperation in addition to collective sustainability  within and beyond organisations. 

The Ecosystem Academy followed an open and participatory approach which enabled the attendees to set their own agendas and choose the topics they would discuss. The academy provided methodologies for dialogue and exchange based on peer-to-peer learning, learning by doing and mentoring support, according to the statement.

Attendees of the Ecosystem Academy came from different countries including Tunisia, Algeria, Jordan, Palestine, Lebanon, Egypt, Morocco and Libya, in addition to grantees from the “Youth-Led Cultural & Civic Initiatives” and “Cultural Alliances” components alongside enablers and facilitators. 

Participant Aseel Issa, from MedeArts Network (one of the beneficiaries of the “Cultural Alliances” component from Jordan), expressed how happy she was to participate in the Ecosystem Academy, she noticed a great similarity between the challenges faced by organizations working in the cultural sector in different countries. 

“The discussions provide a room for learning about how other organisations address common challenges in varying contexts,” she said.

Mohamad Abotera from Culture Resource in Lebanon assured that the topics discussed were diverse, the most important to him was questions around funding provided to cultural institutions, the laws governing their work, to questions of autonomy and sustainability for cultural and artistic work. Also among the topics that were raised, as Abotera mentioned, was “the work of cultural organisations under occupation and war”.

To Youth-Led Cultural & Civic Initiatives grantee, photographer Fethi Sahraoui from Collective220 in Algeria, the academy is a chance to get to know artists and organisations working in the arts & culture field in other countries. The academy was Fethi’s first participation on a regional level within the MENA which gave him the opportunity to network and introduce his work to other practitioners. 

As for Shorouk Elhariry from Byn Collective from Egypt, who is also a beneficiary of the “Youth-led Cultural & Civic Initiatives”, she stressed on the importance of having a “space for dialogue between individuals and institutions” and the exchange of experiences and opinions. She pointed out to the importance of combining entrepreneurship with arts, which was a topic discussed in the academy. 

All-Around Culture Programme www.allaroundculture.com  aims to foster a vital cultural ecosystem as an enabling environment for social and economic inclusion of young people in seven countries across the Arab region, including Algeria, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Palestine, Tunisia, and Libyan and Syrian communities in these countries, the statement said.