Against the background of the ongoing pandemic, which disproportionally impacted the livelihoods of artists and cultural professionals globally, the Fifteenth Session of the UNESCO Intergovernmental Committee for the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions held this week approved over US$730,000 in funding for cultural projects.
The funding, from the International Fund for Cultural Diversity (IFCD) will benefit 9 projects from Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Guinea, Indonesia, Nigeria, Palestine, Seychelles and Timor-Leste, from a total of 615 project proposals submitted. This brings total support from the IFCD to more than US$ 9.4 million, resulting in funding for 129 projects in 65 Member States since 2010.
The Committee’s decision is in line with UNESCO’s policy to support the creative and cultural sector, which has suffered from the pandemic, as shown in the recent report, Re|Shaping Policies for Creativity.
“This period of profound upheaval is presenting all of us with a choice. Either we try to merely patch up the holes, which will undoubtedly lead us to face the same challenges in the near future, or we seize the opportunity to transform the cultural ecosystem in an integrated manner to make it more resilient, more inclusive, and more sustainable.” said Ernesto Ottone R., UNESCO Assistant Director-General for Culture.
COVID-19 highlighted challenges faced by artists and cultural workers in accessing decent work, especially in countries with limited or no social infrastructure. UNESCO assistance targets support to reach young people, women and the most vulnerable groups in developing countries in order to provide them with a more stable work environment.
The projects benefiting from the IFCD funding are:
To learn more about the 9 IFCD beneficiary projects for 2022 please click here.
The IFCD empowers the civil society actors and public sectors behind these projects to drive robust and sustainable creative economic growth. Through reinforced fundraising efforts, UNESCO expects to double contributions to the Fund over the next three years so that more eligible projects can be supported. The IFCD is part of the UNESCO Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions (2005), which has 151 Parties.