Arab Fund for Arts and Culture Awards 87 Projects Over USD 1 Million

The Arab Fund for Arts and Culture (AFAC) has announced the results of its first 2025 grant cycle, awarding over USD 1 million to 87 projects selected from a record 1,428 applications, a 17.8% increase from last year. Funding was distributed across Documentary Film (USD 350,000), Critical and Creative Writings (USD 160,500), Performing Arts (USD 255,500), and Visual Arts (USD 250,000). The awarded projects span more than a dozen countries across the Arab region and diaspora, addressing themes such as memory, resistance, and urban transformation. Established in 2007, AFAC is the Arab world’s largest independent fund for arts and culture, currently running 11 active programs, including the Arab Documentary Photography Program, the North Africa Cultural Program, and the newly launched Ecologies of Culture Program. Since its founding, AFAC has raised over USD 70 million and awarded more than 2,400 grants. “AFAC was founded to be a catalyst for Arab artists and cultural practitioners, many of whom work against the odds to tell stories that would otherwise remain untold,” Rima Mismar, Executive Director of AFAC, tells CairoScene, “Support from international partners has helped sustain AFAC for nearly two decades, and we remain deeply grateful for their support. It is now time for Arab donors to step forward, to invest in our artists, and help ensure that Arab cultural production is authored by us, for us.” AFAC distributes an average of USD 4 million annually in support of artistic and cultural initiatives, with the organization continuing to call for greater contributions from Arab donors to sustain and expand regional cultural production.