All posts by ACAR

Germany: Scholarship for Artists and Cultural Actors at Risk

The Martin Roth-Initiative supports worldwide artists and cultural actors at risk by providing financial support for temporary relocation to Germany or within their region of origin. Until 15/04/2024, artists and cultural actors at risk can apply together with Germany based non-profit host organisations for safe and creative residencies in Germany of up to 15 months.

The sholarships are channelled through designated host organisations. An application can only be made in tandem by an artist or cultural actor with a host organisation. Host organisations can be cultural institutions or collectives in Germany (e.g. museums, theatres, festivals etc.) and other relevant organisations. They host scholarship holders and provide support for their personal wellbeing and professional development. Direct grants without a host organisation are excluded. Only one application per host organisation can be accepted.

Application deadline: 15/04/2024, 23:59 Berlin time/CEST
Start of scholarship from 01/09/2024 onwards

Application website  for artists and host organisations

Supporting Artists on the Frontline

In March 2023, at the Salzburg Global Seminar session “On the Front Lines: Artists at Risk, Artists who Risk”, a global assembly of fifty artists, activists, and representatives from supporting organizations spanning forty countries united to create the Salzburg Statement on Supporting Artists on the Front Line. The session explored the intersection of contemporary art, activism, politics, law, research, technology, ethics and organizing.  The final statement urges institutions shaping social and cultural policies to create an enabling, human rights-based environment that supports artists at risk.
By the end of 2025, policymakers, funders, and international organizations are called upon to:

  1. Conduct a comprehensive study of factors inhibiting creative workers’ artistic freedom and cultural rights.
  2. Produce a detailed report on best practices for identifying, evaluating, and addressing the needs of creative workers at risk.
  3. Establish legal frameworks for Emergency Artistic Freedom visas, ensuring entry and work authorizations for creative workers at risk.
  4. Allocate resources to support the relocation and professional development of at-risk creative workers.
  5. Integrate artistic and cultural rights into international policy work, prioritizing them in state and human rights NGO agendas.
  6. Recognize artists as essential partners in addressing sustainable development, democracy, and innovation, prioritizing their collective expression and activities in the human rights field.

Sources:  Meeting report (PDF), The Salzburg Statement (PDF)

Iran: Germany Refuses Visa to Actress Soheila Golestani

Director and actress Soheila Golestani was imprisoned and banned from working in Iran for her public performance on the web about her refusal to wear a head covering in public (November 2022).
One year later, she was invited to the festival “Three Days to Liberation” by the Volksbühne Berlin for a preview screening of scenes from her film “There Were Three of Us” and her VR installation about flight and migration “If You Go Away”. Her visa application was rejected by the German embassy in Tehran and only approved two days after the end of the festival following an intervention by the German Foreign Office.

Sources: Volksbühne Berlin, Instagram, VOA

Russia (update): Detention Extended for Yevgenia Berkovich and Svetlana Petriychuk

Another court hearing took place on 2 November. The public prosecutor’s office again applied for an extension of the pre-trial detention without presenting any evidence that the theatre makers were guilty. The court granted the public prosecutor’s request and extended the period of pre-trial detention until 10 January 2024.
In solidarity with those arrested, Berlin-based Russian-language theatre director Oleg Hristolübskiy staged a staged reading of “Finist, heller Falke” with Berlin actresses Katharina Spiering, Suse Wächter and Elisabeth Heckel, which was shown in Berlin on 28 November and 7 December, followed by discussions.

See also ACAR post 1 and 2

 

Sources: Finist heller FalkeDeutsche Welle (TV Report in Russian)

 

Israel/West Bank: Ahmed Tobasi and Mustafa Sheta Arrested

On Wednesday, 13 December, the Freedom Theatre Jenin was once again raided by Israeli security forces. Artistic director Ahmed Tobasi, producer and general manager Mustafa Sheta, and Jamal Abu Joas, who recently graduated from the Freedom Theatre Performing Arts School, were detained.  Ahmed Tobasi was released the next day, Sheta remains in detention.

In January, Yahya Zubeidi, the brother of the Freedom Theatre co-founder Zakaria Zubeidi, was arrested with no news on his release since.

According statements of the Freedom Theatre Jenin in the last few weeks three members of their company have been killed: Yamen Jarar, a 16-year-old Freedom Theatre participant, by drone fire on Nov. 3, theatre member Jehad Naghniyeh Torokman, 25, by an Israeli military officer, also on Nov. 3,  and Mohammed Matahen, an usher and front-of-house staffer, killed on Nov. 9.

PEN international calls for Ahmed Tobasi and Mustafa Sheta to be immediately and unconditionally releases and for an end to the targeting of writers and artists in Palestine.

Sources: PEN international, American Theatre