“I believe art’s job is to bring peoples together.” So writes Riad Abdel Gawad, the recipient of a grant from the Arab Fund for Art and Culture, about “Peace Poem”, his AFAC-funded album-in-progress which incorporates poetic Islamic, Coptic, and Nubian perspectives to “bring together religious minority and majority communities.”
Global peace-building through music is just one of AFAC’s endeavors, which since 2007 comprise 500 projects in 15 countries, enriching contemporary art and cultural production and exchange and encouraging investment in and patronage of the arts.
September 1st marked the latest call for proposals in music, research and training, and cinema. These grants allow filmmakers like young producer-director duo Majd Hajjawi and Ahmad Amin to complete documentaries such as “A Few Days in Syria,” which portrays the difficulties of ordinary Syrian civilians facing displacement and war. Whoever this year’s grantees turn out to be, the AFAC will surely help them shine.
For more info – www.arabculturefund.org
