Submission Deadline: November 22nd 2013
Why does culture matter? How does it matter? What role does culture play in our lives, as individuals, and as members of a community? Some of our most profound, invigorating, and provocative moments are experienced while we live art or take part in a cultural event. And yet, it is no easy task to name why culture is important and why we need to give it our full support.
There are some who believe that arts and culture address the burning and relevant issues of the day while others hold arts and culture as a space apart, not to be limited by temporal reality and the pressures of current event. Some value culture as an important part of economic development while others say it is a stand-alone unquantifiable human activity.
Some highlight art as a reflection of community while others insist that art is an individual expression of universal value, not to be categorized by collective or tribal labels. The intriguing pull of arts and culture is an open discussion … Why is culture important to you?
AFAC began 2013 with a ‘Why Culture’ campaign inviting the general public to engage with this intriguing question. The first part of this campaign, the AFAC “Why Culture?” Poster Design Competition, was open to professionals and amateurs alike and called for submissions of visual designs and slogans answering the question “Why Culture?”
On June 14th, 2013, the two winners were announced: Bouchahed Mohammed Amin from Algeria won the online Voter’s Selection and Ibrahim Brimo from Syria won the AFAC Selection. Visit our Facebook Page to view the shortlisted entries and the winning results.
Carrying this campaign further, and responding to feedback from AFAC followers, AFAC is now tossing the question into the field of pictures in motion, videos and animation. Today, we are opening the call for the ‘Why Culture? Video Competition,’ and the challenge is: can you create a 2 minute video that delivers a concept on why culture matters?
How can you participate?
– The competition is open to the general public as well as to professional filmmakers, animators and video artists. There are two categories to win: The Voter’s Selection Award and The AFAC Selection Award.
– Videos can be filmed using professional, semi-professional, amateur video cameras or smartphones.
– If there is language use in the video, it must be, partially or entirely, in Arabic. Both formal and colloquial Arabic are acceptable.
– Video submissions should be sent through password-protected links on Vimeo, YouTube, DropBox or other similar websites.
– Video duration should not exceed 2 minutes and the submitted file size should not exceed 100 MB.
– Send your submission link to the following email address: whyculture@arabculturefund.org and be sure to mention your full name and your country of origin.
– Deadline for submission is November 22nd , 2013.
– Stay tuned for results!
What happens next?
– On November 27th, the top ten submissions will go live on AFAC’s social media platform dedicated to the Why Culture Video Competition (follow us on Facebook and YouTube).
– Voting will be held over one week and will close at the end of the day on December 4th.
– On December 5th , the entry with the most ‘likes’ will be declared the winner of The Voter’s Selection Award and, on the same day, AFAC will also announce the winner of the AFAC Selection Award.
– The winners’ names will be given recognition on our news bulletin and will receive an award of $1,000 each. They will also be invited to attend an AFAC event to be acknowledged for their work.
– The two winning videos and the shortlisted top ten will be displayed on AFAC’s website, YouTube channel, and Facebook page giving recognition to their directors.
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