"In Tripoli, people have been turning more to culture again for a few months," says Reem Alfurjani, founder of the NGO Scene for the Preservation of Cultural Heritage in Tripoli's historic city centre. "This is an excellent development," she continues. Alfurjani's initiative was among those supported by the Cultural Academy Libya project, implemented in 2017 by the Goethe-Institut as part of the Ta’ziz Partnership funded by the German Federal Foreign Office.
The project aims to qualify Libyan cultural managers and to network them with the Arab and German cultural scene, to give them the tools to make their current projects more sustainable or to put new cultural and art projects on a solid foundation, despite the political instability and precarious situation in the country since 2011.
The basic concept of the Culture Academy Libya dates back to 2012, shaped by other projects implemented in Egypt and Tunisia between 2012 and 2017 to rehabilitate and network between private and state cultural actors in the Arab world. In 2014, the project “Cultural Management” was initiated in Libya but was not continued in the following years until the conditions for launching the project were met in 2017.
In the past four years, the Culture Academy Libya received 91 applications, from which 24 participants aged 19 to 41 were selected. Gender equality and the best possible representation of all regions of Libya were taken into account, which had a noticeably positive impact on the participants. “We participants come from very different backgrounds and different regions. The workshop confirmed my belief that dialogue is possible despite all differences”, says Mohamed Essul, an organizer in the cultural sector.
The participants attended seminars teaching the basics of Cultural management (project management, audience development, time management, digital communication, presentation techniques, fundraising). Additionally, trips to Berlin for sightseeing and visiting cultural institutions were organized, giving participants the chance to discuss with Germans experts and professionals engaged in the cultural sector. Participants completed in-depth modules and networking activities, in which Tunisian, Moroccan, and Algerian graduates from the previous years and Libyan graduates from the 2014 project “Cultural Management” took part. Like that, participants had the chance to get to know other cultural professionals from neighbouring countries and exchange ideas away from prejudices.
During the past four years 20 projects have been initiated as part of the Cultural Academy program, among them culture projects such as: "Youth and Peace-Building Workshop in the remote region of the Nafusa mountains“, "Libyan Old Cities Cultural Heritage, Community Development and Conservation“, "Trace by Scene“ and "Kashkoul“ and art projects including: "Tilwan – the flame of art must spark again“, "Vandals“, "Art Space“, "Shalaleet“, "Bring to Light“ und "Taba’od“, and music projects: "Rhythm I and II“ and "The revival of Libyan Music“, in addition to photography projects: "Si Isnayen – From the Heritage (mountain region Nafusa)“ and "AinZara (Vertical Cinema for the Youth“, as well as projects addressing various topics: "Green Talk (Tripoli): an environment-aware and sustainable event in Libya “, and “Encaustic Tiles Workshop Setup (Tripoli): Reviving the Production of traditional Tiles“, "Aktay nneɣ aktay nnev (Our memories)“, "From North to South – Clothes of Libya“ and "The forgotten Jews of Nefusa Mountain“.
In promoting the various projects, appropriateness and feasibility of the topics presented, as well as the diversity of the regions in which the projects will be implemented and gender balance among those receiving funding were taken into account.
The project Cultural Academy Libya was able to achieve most of the desired goals; many cultural managers gained knowledge about cultural management through "learning by doing". The joint participation in various in-depth seminars and the exchange among each other also contributed to refining the participants' skills and developing their knowledge. The participation of cultural professionals from neighbouring countries also played an important role in sharing experiences and broadening the perspective of all participants. "Through the program, I got important food for thought and learned new approaches to better implement our ideas," is how architect Aya Assalhi sums up her experience at the Cultural Academy Libya.