Διαγωνισμός Επιχορήγησης Κινητικότητας | 2018 Mobility First!

To commemorate its 20th anniversary in 2017, the Asia-Europe Foundation (ASEF) builds upon its support to cultural mobility over the past 2 decades by launching Mobility First! - ASEF Cultural Mobility Initiative, a new fund that supports the movement of Asian and European artists and cultural professionals in Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) partner countries.

UNESCO reiterates that limited availability and access to funding remains a huge challenge for cultural mobility, and ASEF continues its efforts to narrow this gap through its Mobility First! grant. In its latest Reshaping Cultural Policies report (2nd edition), the only global document on trends in cultural development launched by the new UNESCO Director-General Ms Audrey Azoulay on 14 December 2017, limited funding for cultural mobility has yet again been recognised as a key challenge to international cultural co-operation. However, a positive trend is been observed in mobility opportunities provided through transnational cultural collaborations, with a renewed interest in South-South mobility.

In this context, ASEF's Mobility First! travel fund has been acknowledged, in its 1st year, as a "success story" by an a multilateral intergovernmental organisation to bridge existing gaps in support for artists' mobility. ASEF's Mobility First! is funded by 51 Asian and European countries, the European Union and the ASEAN Secretariat in the framework of the Asia Europe meeting (ASEM).

In its pilot year, Mobility First! has enabled the participation of a total of 73 artists and cultural practitioners in the ASEM region for a wide range of cultural activities, including from networking and capacity building (training, study visits, partnership meetings) to artwork creation (artists' and writers' residencies) to public presentations (festivals, biennales, conferences). An equal number of males and females were supported as well as a balanced selection of fields including film, visual arts, contemporary dance, and theatre. In addition, trainings for museum professionals and different kinds of arts managers, including heritage professionals, were also supported. In terms of mobility routes, Asia-to-Europe and intra-Asia routes were prioritised.

2018 marks the second year of Mobility First! - the Asia-Europe Foundation (ASEF)'s travel grant for arts practitioners in Asia and Europe. In this year's edition, Mr Ferdinand RICHARD and Mr TAY Tong are joining ASEF in making the selection of artists, cultural professionals & arts organisations that will be supported by the fund.

Αναλυτικές πληροφορίες: http://asef.org