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Digitalisation of the National Archive 4 Cultural Heritage and development of an emergency evacuation protocol of the archive
In November 2019, Northwestern Albania was struck by a devastating 6.4-magnitude earthquake with the epicentre around 30 kilometres of Tirana. A total of 51 people were killed in the earthquake, with about 3'000 injured. According to the Post-Disaster Needs Assessment done by the government and donors after the earthquake, nearly 28% of cultural monuments in Albania were damaged.
As part of SDC's cultural engagement in Albania and post-earthquake response, Switzerland joined forced with the UNESCO in supporting the digitalisation of the Albanian National Archive for Cultural Heritage and the development of an emergency evacuation protocol of the archive. The contribution has been part of Switzerland's pledge at the donors' conference in Brussels, February 2020.
The handing over ceremony of this successful cooperation between the Albanian Ministry of Culture, UNESCO, and Switzerland, took place on 26 February 2021, virtually.
Photo: ©UNRC
In April 2022, the Swiss Cooperation Office in Armenia SCO called for creative and innovative project proposals, which contribute to the development of contemporary arts in Armenia in the aftermath of the twofold crisis of the 2020 War and the COVID-19 pandemic. Artists have a valuable role in speaking up for culture, in championing the place of culture, and in helping people make sense of their experiences through creativity and collective encounters of shared experience. More than 60 proposals were received out of which five projects were selected for funding. The selected projects address the current socio-cultural and socio-economic issues faced by the Armenian population in the midst of regional instability, as artistic contributions to a public debate on Armenia’s immediate future. Exhibitions and presentations of the projects will take place throughout the year in Armenia and its regions.
More information on SDCs Website
Photo: Photo: © Gohar Sargsyan
The Swiss Cooperation Office (SCO) in Azerbaijan has supported the local arts and cultural scene by funding cultural projects of various organizations and artists for the last eight years. These projects enable current challenges to be addressed from an artistic perspective and thus contribute to getting more people involved.
In December 2021, the Swiss Cooperation Office called for project proposals, which would contribute to the development of contemporary arts and have a special focus on gender equality, environment, climate change, inclusiveness or digitalization.
More than 50 proposals were received, out of which five projects were selected for funding. Exhibitions and presentations of the below presented projects took place throughout the year in different regions of Azerbaijan. Discover the projects on SDCs Website.
Photo: © Kekalove
In 2017, the Swiss Embassy in Bosnia and Herzegovina supported 16 small-scale projects in the area of culture through the Culture Small Actions grants of the Swiss Cooperation Programme in Bosnia and Herzegovina. One of these projects is the Mostar Rock School Booking Department. Young people in BiH who opt for making a career in contemporary music or associated businesses face different obstacles, which often results in giving up their "dream jobs". With the establishment of the booking department, the Mostar Rock School will provide young musicians with services of booking, touring and legal counselling, which are needed for organizing performances in the country as well the region, thus assuring their livelihood and at the same time contributing to the reconnection of the music scene in the region.
Photo: Acoustic trio Skyscrapers, © Mostar Rock School
En Haïti, la culture joue un rôle majeur dans la société. Elle constitue un facteur de cohésion, de dialogue et favorise la paix sociale dans un contexte fragile. Les arts, la musique, la peinture, la littérature et le théâtre constituent, entre autres, les modes d’expressions les plus populaires de la culture haïtienne. La Suisse entend continuer à promouvoir la diversité d’expressions de l’art en Haïti, à valoriser la culture populaire et traditionnelle et à encourager les arts comme moyen de transmission de messages, de promotion de dialogues, d’échanges et de gouvernance.
The overall goal of DokuFest is to develop Kosovo through culture, by managing the largest cultural event in the country as well as implementing multiple innovative educational projects throughout the year. With events for professionals, young talents and children alike, DokuFest is a courageous film program with music acts stretching across three stages and covering folk to contemporary punk-techno acts, photography workshops and exhibitions, outdoor 3D installations and VR experiences. The project promotes knowledge and debate on human rights, and deals with past issues using the film festival as a platform for reflection, learning and discussion.
https://dokufest.com/2019/
The October 2019 uprising, the unprecedented economic and financial crisis and the COVID-19 pandemic forced Lebanese people to deal with economic calamities and the disruption of normal life, including the arts and culture events. In addition to the above, a devastating explosion rocked Beirut on August 4, 2020 resulting in unprecedented loss of life, injury and damage to homes, offices and workspaces across the city. In the arts and culture sector, the blast affected over 500 individual artists and technicians, 25 organizations and 50 artisan shops, including 30 unique trades and crafts.
The Lebanon Solidarity Fund for the Arts and Culture Community (LSF-ACC), was set up after Beirut port explosion by the organization AFAC (Arab Fund for Art and Culture) to respond to the needs of affected art and culture community in Beirut. The fund is adapting to needs through multiple rounds of support. A first round, aimed at relieving individual artists and institutions who suffered material damages (houses, equipment, workspaces); 207 artists and 23 institutions were supported. The current second round aims at enabling artists to resume creative work, and cultural organisations incl. artisan shops to be functional again.
Through its Small Project Credit Program, the Swiss Cooperation Office in Moldova (SCO-M) supports Small Action Projects and Culture Actions that: (1) complement SDC’s long-term projects in Moldova in three priority domains – Local Governance, Economic Development & Employment, and Health (2) foster and disseminate Moldova’s culture/s according to the SDC Culture Policy. The program gives priority to Small Action projects that seek to: (i) reach out to include and benefit areas beyond the capital city – especially poorer remote regions and areas populated by congregated ethnic minorities (Transnistria, Gagauzia, Taraclia, etc); and (ii) benefit disadvantaged groups and minorities on all lines, support their equal access to and participation in public, social, economic and cultural life, as well as their capacity to advocate for and lobby their interests.
Through its Culture Actions, in addition to the above-mentioned priorities, the SCO-M pursues primarily projects that contribute to fostering social cohesion through culture, and examines opportunities to contribute to creating an enabling environment for the development of cultural and creative sectors. The SCO-M public messages delivered through its Culture Actions promote social cohesion, multiculturalism, and dialogue in diversity.
The main objective of this project is to support and promote professional productions of young artists in Macedonia in three interconnected categories: contemporary dance, music and visual arts. Through a series of workshops and other related activities, the project will identify and support the development of young artists and create a platform that will facilitate the implementation of artistic projects.
The Center for Contemporary Culture in Skopje will host most of the activities, but the productions will be presented in several cities throughout the country.
Through a series of activities, the project will contribute to address the lack of cultural activities for children audiences in smaller urban or rural areas, the lack of basic capacity of local level to deliver good quality cultural programmes for children, as well as the high rate of youth unemployment in those areas. The project will take place in six different locations, located in two different municipalities in the North-Eastern and Pelagonia regions. By etablishing a model of a so called triangular cooperation (village-town-village) in each of the municipalities, the project will enhance the potential of each location to deliver cultural activities for children and build capacities for long-term cooperation in future projects.
Museums in Pakistan host rich collections of antiquities that carry a deep-rooted history of the people of this territory. However, generally the museums are not interactive and engaging and lack capacity to transmit the rich knowledge of the history and achievements of the people from the past to the society and promote the museum as a place of learning. This project aimed at enhancing the educational role of three museums in Pakistan. Hund, Chitral and Islamabad museums contain important collections reflecting the rich history and varied achievements of regional art and culture of the last five thousand years (Indus civilization 5500 BCE and Gandhara civilization 1500 BCE). Various types of stone and stucco sculptures, exquisite collections of jewelry, writing material, metal wares, pottery, tools and implements are a great source of information about the socio economic and religious life of the people living in the region.
All the museums have a great potential to serve as places of research, source of knowledge, innovation and creativity for youth and promote peace, gender equality and cultural diversity as a whole for the society. The overall objective of the project was to improve the governance and exhibit of collections at Hund, Chitral and Islamabad Museums in order to engage the audience in a creative and interactive manner. To achieve this not only the capacity building of the staff was done but also policy recommendations made to enhance the educational role of these museums. The digitalization of antiquities (3D images, data base and assigning of QR codes) of Islamabad museum was also part of the project. This component was later introduced to all the provinces in a series of workshops.
This project aims at establishing a diagnosis of the arts and culture sector in order to develop the Rwanda Creative sector's National Action Plan for Arts and Culture. The project will give the opportunity to engage arts and culture practitioners, stakeholders, institutions in charge of culture, decision makers, experts, and communities in a national reflection on the current state of the sector and its potentials, in order to articulate concrete recommendations and take actions for the development of the arts and culture sector in Rwanda.
The word Ubumuntu can be defined as “Being Human” or “Humanity”. Based on the believe that art as a forum for communication, expression, reflection, innovation and creativity is a key motor for social change, the festival aims at creating an avenue where people from different walks of life can come together and speak to each other in the language of art. It is an interesting added value in the area of conflict prevention and transformation. The festival creates a momentum to discuss on the core issues faced by societies and to find solutions to those using art.
https://ubumuntuartsfestival.com/
The overall project goal is to create a common platform for social, cultural and economic development of IDPs - Crimean Tatars through preservation, revival and development of cultural heritage, ethnic traditions, and national originality. The project has two parts, on the one hand, research and academic work that includes new branches dealing with Crimean Tatars culture, and on the other hand further development of the craft practices to sustainable economic entities through accentuated business orientation.
Article SDC magazine "One World" 3/2018 (DE) (FR)
