By Hania Aswad This quote by Suzanne Siskel, also a member of the PSJ&P working group, sums it all for me; “… I don’t think you can talk about social change or social justice – if that includes affecting changes in behavior, belief and attitude – without considering the cultural dimensions of the ways in…
By Mary Ann DeVlieg This post was first published on the World Policy Blog on July 9, 2014 A theatre director is beaten and stabbed to death in front of his apartment. Another is shot to death in front of his wife and child. A filmmaker is kidnapped, his fingers cut off, and he’s left…
by Mónica Enríquez-Enríquez Arts and cultural activism is a key tool to transform attitudes in society and cultivate acceptance for marginalized communities. Creative in nature, arts and cultural activism often enables policy changes that seed new realities and lived experiences, and provides sustainable long-term solutions to human rights challenges. But despite its importance, grantmakers allocate…
“Any form of art is a form of power; it has impact, it can effect change – it can not only move us, it makes us move.” Ossie Davis (American actor and playwright) For the first time ever, Tamil and Muslim students from Jaffna District in the North of Sri Lanka came together and produced…
Fundraising for Arts and Culture in the Arab Region By Oussama Rifahi Why culture? I am sitting in front of a businessman, obviously already pre-occupied with his next meeting. I have about twenty minutes to answer this seemingly straightforward question. There is no room for hesitation: it took me two months of arm-twisting with his…
At a table discussion during a convening of social justice philanthropy practitioners in February 2009 in Cairo, Barbara Ibrahim of the John D. Gerhart Center for Philanthropy and Civic Engagement in Cairo pointed out “… where overt protest is repressed, arts and culture are a subversive way to give people voice… unfortunately from a philanthropic…