Art Moves Africa – Retracing Roots and Tracing New Routes: Mobility and Touring in North Africa

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Country-Specific Information
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FUNDING FOR MOBILITY
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Public administration
Tunisia has invested significantly in its Ministry
of Culture since the Revolution. Individual artists
and organizations are technically eligible to
receive funding for projects including mobility.
However, this potential funding source is weakened
by a serious lack of transparency and poor
administration.
In the face of poor funding from public
administration, the Tunisian independent sector
relies substantially on international funders,
principally the European Union. Tunisia has been
the main beneficiary of EU funding for arts and
culture in the Maghreb. Funding is intended to
support culture as a lever for democratic transition.
EU funding is distributed through three channels:
1) A partnership between the French Ministry
of Culture and Tunisian Ministry of Culture;
2) Tfanen – Tunisie Créative (budget of 6 million
euros). Launched in 2015, Tfanen’s “Fonds
d’appui à la création” can support mobility projects.
Finally, 3) as of 2018, Tunisia is a member
of Creative Europe. Tunisian organizations have
full eligibility to apply for funding through the
Culture sub-programme and are partially eligible
for the Media sub-programme.
Bilateral cooperation
Bilateral cooperation institutes are present in Tunis
and other major cities. The Institut Français has
the strongest presence, with branches in Tunis,
Sousse and Sfax. The Goethe Institut is present
in Tunis. Respondents noted the impact it has
had via training programs for cultural managers.
The British Council, the Italian Institute for Culture
and the Cervantes Institute are also present.
Local foundations are also emerging
to support cultural projects, with very promising
beginnings. Launched in 2015, the
Fondation Rambourg is building up capacity to
support mobility projects via several schemes:
1) partnerships; 2) grants; 3) scholarships; 4)
projects initiated by the foundation. Fondation
Kamel Lazaar has a grants programme for
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practitioners in the fields of Visual arts, Heritage,
Music and performing arts (theatre, dance, etc.)
and Cultural and civic education.
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IMPEDIMENTS
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Administrative
· Parental permission for travel is necessary for
all travellers under the age of 35 years.
· Travellers leaving Tunisia must purchase a « timbre
de sortie » (exit stamp), at a cost of 30 dinars.
· Tunisians must purchase a « timbre de voyage »
(traveller’s stamp), at a cost of 60 dinars.
· While small, these amounts may place an additional
burden on artists who are already in a
precarious financial situation and may not receive
coverage from institutions inviting them.
Several artists were arrested at the airport and
missed their flight because they didn’t have the
parental authorization document. – Asma Kaouech,
executive director, Fanni Raghman Anni, Tunis*
Currency and funding
· The Central Bank controls all transactions in dinars.
Dinars cannot be traded outside of Tunisia.
· There is a ceiling of 6.000 dinar (approx. 1760
euros) imposed on purchases made in foreign
currencies. This imposes a serious limit on the
number of travels that can be made outside the
country, especially considering the high costs of
travels. Travellers must purchase tickets through
a local travel agent, unless the inviting institution
purchases the tickets or the traveller makes
arrangements via a colleague, friend or family
member outside the country.
In Tunisia, we can’t buy tickets that we find online
at low prices, since we have to buy them in euros,
which the law prohibits. Furthermore, we get a
tourists’ allowance of only 6000 dinars per year.
Consequently, if we travel 6-8 times per year, as
I did last year, we have to split that sum over all
the trips. We have to travel with 200 – 300 euros
per trip, which is not a comfortable amount. –
Wadi Mhiri, visual artist, Tunis*