Cultural operators and professionals from different fields in Egypt have met in Alexandria to discuss the general state of culture in the region, as part of a series of meetings organised in the southern Mediterranean region by the EU-funded MARSAD project.

MARSAD is a project sub-granted by SouthMed CV, implemented in Morocco, Tunisia, Egypt and Lebanon and led by the Racines Cultural Association from Morocco, in partnership with El Madina Arts from Egypt, Our Culture First from Tunisia and Me’zaf from Lebanon. The project aims to create a collective platform of research, monitoring and observation of cultural policies in the region. SouthMed CV is co-funded by the EU within the framework of the regional programme Med Culture.

The meeting in Egypt included a debate about defining artistic and cultural work, followed by the presentation of ‘Art Map’, a cultural cartography platform developed by Racines, and a discussion about Moroccan cultural practices. Finally, a presentation of MARSAD took place with a discussion about ways for Egyptian cultural professionals to participate and collaborate with the platform.

Before the encounter in Egypt, MARSAD had organised two other meetings, in Tunisia and Lebanon. The exchange and dialogue during these encounters have provided MARSAD with a better knowledge about the state of culture in these countries, to establish the Observatory of Cultural Policies in the Southern Mediterranean, which is the ultimate long term goal of project.

Med Culture is part of the regional programme “Media and culture for development in the Southern Mediterranean” which has been allocated a total budget of €17 million over a four-year period, of which €9 million for the award of grants on a co-financing basis, and €8 million for one capacity-development mechanism on media (Med Media) and one capacity development mechanism on culture (Med Culture).

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Press release

SouthMed CV website

Med Culture website