Istikshaf

The aims

Since the inception of the Roberto Cimetta Fund, regional mobility actors have grown. This mushrooming is inevitably a result of a great need for resources to support the mobility of artists around the Mediterranean as is evident by the great demand on the limited resources available to these organisations.

The Roberto Cimetta Fund develops partnerships with artistic and cultural organisations in the Euro-Arab world to strengthen its action.

The Fund is the main partner of a scheme launched in January 2010 entitled “Istikshaf” (meaning exploration in Arabic), initiated by the Arab Education Forum (Jordan) in the framework of a partnership programme funded by the Anna Lindh Foundation in 2010 and 2011 and the European Union, EuropeAid from 2012 to 2014.

The project Istikshaf aims to create a platform that favors synergies, joint projects and cooperation between mobility operators in the Euro-Arab region.

Together these partners aim to:

-        Support artistic process (training, creation, production and distribution) and to address issues of common interest in the region through a long-term process of collaboration and exchange between mobility operators.

-        Develop integrated approaches putting in relation different thematic issues and associating stakeholders using inter-cultural methodologies

-        Disseminate a new discourse that values mobility as a central tool for learning that underscores the liberation of the individual from the constraints of a pre-designed format.

-        Build bridges between people encouraging dialogue, exchange and cooperation. It is this kind of leadership that this platform will promote and foster among the Alumni of mobility programmes who will become the beacon carriers of future mobility schemes in the Euro-Mediterranean region.

The partners

Members and observers of this platform include: Safar Fund (Jordan), I-Act (Egypt), On the Move (Belgium), Art Moves Africa (Morocco), Al Mawred Al Thaqafi (Egypt), the Tamasi Performing Arts Network (regional Arab-based platform), King Abdullah II Fund for Development (Jordan), Naseej-Resources for Community Youth (Jordan), the Studio Emadeddine (Egypt), the Dramtiska Institutet (Sweden), the Arab Theatre Training Centre (Lebanon). The Arab League and the Organisation of Arab Towns (Kuwait) have become actively engaged in the work undertaken by the platform.

The initiator of the project: The Arab Education Forum

The Arab Education Forum is a non-governmental, not-for-profit organization active in the Arab World in the field of community and youth work. The mission of AEF is to contribute to an Arab cultural regeneration project that springs out of the inherent knowledge and experiences within the Arab societies. AEF constantly attempts to develop a shared vision related to learning in the Arab world.

The Arab Education Forum works on 4 different themes:

1. Promoting Arab youth initiatives through the “Safar Youth Mobility Fund”:

 www.safarfund.org

2. Reclaiming the importance of the story/narrative in art, learning and life through the Hakaya network and project: www.hakaya.org

3. An electronic resource centre and marketing outlet for educational and cultural NGO production in the Arabic language: www.theotherarabia.com

4. Constant formal and informal dialogue and exchange through meetings, seminars and apprenticeships on education and learning through the concept of Al Jami3ah: www.almoutaqa.com/aljami3ah.

The Arab Education Forum is registered as an NGO in Palestine since August 2005 and a non-profit company in Jordan since 2006 and is governed by an independent board in each country but shares an advisory board from different countries (Rifaq ad Darb).

The Arab Education Forum depends on a number of volunteers as well as international and regional organisations to best utilize available resources.

General Manager: Serene Huleileh

Regional coordinator: Tala Nabulsi

Address: 6 Fares al Khoury Street, Shmeisani, Amman, Jordan

Tel: +962 6 5687557

Website: www.almoultaqa.com

Email: info@almoultaqa.com   

Activities

In 2011, The Arab Education Forum and the Roberto Cimetta Fund organized a Symposium exploring mobility in the Arab World and around the Mediterranean on 1-2 June 2011 in Amman, Jordan. Over two days, 36 participants from 12 countries met to discuss concepts relating to mobility around the Euro-Arab region reflecting personal and collective experience as well as research that had been conducted to explore the various meanings, obstacles and benefits of artistic mobility. The symposium aimed to expand on and develop a renewed understanding of contemporary mobility by bringing together people able to think mobility in its widest sense. The report of the symposium and a booklet published before the meeting are online.

A report on Mapping Mobility Funds in the Mediterranean was commissioned by the Arab Education Forum/Istikshaf Program with the objectif of exploring mobility networks/programs operating within the Arab world or extending the region. This final report is available here.

Another meeting of 25 mobile artists and cultural operators from 10 European and Arab countries who conceive mobility as an integral part of their artistic and cultural work took place in Roubaix (Lille), France, on 24^th June 2011. The report is available here.

Members are also actively engaged in building an advocacy campaign for key common issues: difficult visa opportunities and high costs, limited opportunities and participation of women, lack of information on mobility initiatives… During 2012, they met in Alexandria, Amman and Beirut to define and adopt a regional policy agenda for mobility. This agenda describes the priorities and actions to be undertaken on the following challenges: mobilising institutional actors, funding of mobility, free circulation and the repositioning of mobility at the heart of Arab societies. The agenda was officially adopted in Beirut on 20^th November 2012 at the Madarat exchange platform and a series of actions were defined that the members will undertake.

The final aim of the project is to encourage the diffusion of reliable resource information, to structure artistic and cultural projects around key partners and to build long-term multilateral relations.