To respond to the risks posed by the health crisis to the livelihoods of cultural professionals, UNESCO launched the ResiliArt global campaign and social media movement on 15 April 2020 with a high-level inaugural debate that featured interventions from national policymakers and international artists, as well as UNESCO Director General. The debate called attention to the impact of COVID-19 on the cultural sector and established a platform for artists worldwide to ensure their input on the policy level and within the crisis-response and decision-making of Member States.
Hosted under the EU-funded Cash for Work Project, ResiliArt Yemen will raise awareness about the far-reaching impact of COVID-19 across the creative value chain and on the livelihoods of young creators. It will present interventions from Yemeni artists, cultural experts, and representatives of UNESCO and the European Union on how to respond to the crisis to promote a sustainable cultural sector in Yemen. The webinar aims at connecting the high-level discussion started at the global level into concrete channels for dialogue among young cultural operators from Yemen and the diaspora.
The webinar will build upon the EU-funded cash for work project’s regular exchange with the community of young Yemeni creators, and raise awareness about the far-reaching impact of COVID-19 across the creative value chain (from artists, technicians, cultural managers, private businesses to the public). The event will offer testimonies from Yemeni artists and also benefit from keynote interventions by renowned experts in the cultural and creative industries as well as inputs from UNESCO and the European Union with regards to the health crisis and proposed response for the culture sector in Yemen. The outcomes of the webinar will inform future plans to support Yemeni artists and cultural associations through small grants, tailored capacity building workshops and outreach platforms.
The event will be held in both English and Arabic (including simultaneous interpretation).
Impact of the Covid-19 Crisis on Culture
The COVID-19 health crisis that emerged in early 2020 has led to a global recession, with early estimates forecasting a contraction of up to 1% of the global economy or a loss of up to USD 4 trillion. Governments have enacted travel bans and containment measures for public spaces and workplaces in an effort to control the exponential spread of the virus, causing a decline in aggregate demand for non-essential goods and services and supply disruptions.
Travel and mobility restrictions have borne the largest impact on tourism and entertainment industries, which have been immediately affected by the crisis, and the shock is expected to compound the pre-existing vulnerability of the cultural sector as a whole. This is on account of the higher proportion of labor in the cultural sector that is self-employed, contracted on temporary, non-paid, gig arrangements, or engaged in the informal sector. As a result, this workforce is less likely to have access to social security or insurance or possess sufficient contingency savings to independently survive shocks to earnings in the face of expected cuts to employment, a fall in demand for cultural products, and higher rates of the closure of micro and small enterprises.
For Yemen, which has suffered a recent financial collapse and protracted armed violence since 2014, the health crisis poses the most acute economic risks in the world. Within the context of a devastating conflict that has set back Yemen’s human development by more than 20 years and a low-capacity health sector overwhelmed by war-related famine and disease outbreaks, the current COVID-19 crisis threatens serious damage to the country’s fragile prospects for development and effective humanitarian response.
Due to short-term conflict-related factors as well as long-term causes, Yemen has faced obstacles in government and civil society efforts to promote cultural development in creative industries. Development in these industries is already affected by the mobility constraints of Yemenis based in the country and the international diaspora. Separation in the Yemeni cultural community has impeded professional networking, the personal development of young professionals, and the ability of cultural managers to recruit and partner with young Yemeni talent. The COVID-19 crisis will likely isolate and weaken the potential for productive connectivity between Yemeni communities.
The resurgence of threats to basic livelihoods under the recession may also favor the international media’s narrative of Yemen, which views the country as merely a place of violence and famine, against the efforts of young Yemeni artists to represent with sophisticated nuance and empathy the stories of life, displacement, and resilience under the war.
The impact of the crisis is expected to contribute to the dearth of income-generating opportunities in cultural production for young artists. Under economic shocks to employment and incomes that create unfavorable conditions for micro-level youth entrepreneurship, young artists are forced to engage in creative work as only volunteerism. International assistance to Yemen should provide support to young creators that will create opportunities for viable, sustainable employment and promote resilience and youth livelihoods in this sector.
Speakers
Ordered by their appearance in the webinar
Asim Abdulaziz
Asim Abdul-Aziz is a freelance artist, content creator for social media marketing, and production assistant at Adenium film production company based in Aden, Yemen. Asim has always been interested in expressional photography. Photography for him is a mirror reflecting his feelings and thoughts. He views the readiness of his art in putting his emotions in every piece created. Besides his artistic contributions, Asim spent the past four years in Kala Lumpur, Malaysia, pursuing a bachelor's degree in International Business Management.
Mariam Al-Dhubhani
Mariam Al-Dhubhani is a Yemeni-Russian award-winning journalist, filmmaker, and curator. Al-Dhubhani is currently doing an MA in Museum and Gallery Practice at UCL Qatar. She first pursued her passion for media during the 2011 Arab uprisings and co-founded her first media production. Al-Dhubhani’s films have been screened globally in festivals such as Carthage, Interfilm, and Oaxaca. She also utilizes Virtual Reality in highlighting stories from Yemen.
Shaima Jamal
Shaima Gamal is the Executive Director of the Basement Foundation for culture and social development. She has over eight years of experience in managing art programs in Yemen. Her Approach is to embed art as a tool for social change and peacebuilding in local communities. She is a consultant on art programs in Yemen works with several international and local organizations.
Basma Al-Husseini
Basma El Husseiny is a cultural manager, an activist for social change, and a UNESCO expert in cultural governance. For the past 30 years, she has been involved in supporting independent cultural projects and organizations in the Arab region. The two main organizations she founded; Al Mawred Al Thaqafy and Action for Hope, are proof of her commitment to culture and artistic creation as resources that enable people to attain social justice and freedom and endorse positive social change.
Alessandro Leone
Alessandro Leone is the attaché for Local Governance and Stabilisation at the EU Delegation to Yemen, based in Amman. Prior to this Alessandro worked as a Programme Manager for the European Commission in Brussels, where he was in charge of the regional programs for the so-called Easter Partnership, covering Ukraine, Belarus, Moldova, Armenia, Georgia, and Azerbaijan. In this position, he engaged in connecting these countries on a number of topics, among which Culture and Youth. Before that, Alessandro worked in Kosovo as a Religious and Cultural Heritage Officer at the EU Special Representative office and as a Civil Affairs Officer at the UN Mission.
Contributors
Mazen Al-Saqqaf
Mazen Al-Saqqaf is a content creator and a social media influencer. Mazen produces satirical videos on Youtube addressing social, cultural, and economic issues. Mazen received the Yemen Youtuber of the Year Award in 2018 and two awards from the regional competition for content creators Sadeem in 2019.
Ahmed Baider
Ahmed Baider is an award-wining journalist producer and nominee for several Awards including Fighting Famine, EMMY and Amnesty International. He is an entrepreneur with 10 years of business development and operational experience in logistics and the journalism industry. He holds a Bachelor's degree in Business Administration. He is the national coordinator in Yemen for the French Media Development Agency (CFI).
Nasser Almang
Nasser Almang is a producer, social, and cultural activist. He is the founder and CEO of YWT organization. Nasser is studying marketing and film making at San Francisco City College. He has 6 years of experience in nonprofit, media, and campaign management on Social Media. He believes in the power of art, culture, media, and technology to create change that matters.
ResiliArt Campaign
ResiliArt sheds light on the current state of creative industries amidst crisis through an exclusive global discussion with key industry professionals while capturing experiences and voices of resilience from artists – both established and emerging – on social media. Together, it raises awareness about the far-reaching ramification of COVID-19 across the sector and aims at supporting artists during and following the crisis.
Cultural industry professionals are encouraged to join the movement and replicate the ResiliArt series in their respective regions and thematic focus by following publicly available guidelines. The devastation brought to the entire culture value chain will have a long-lasting impact on the creative economy; ResiliArt aims to ensure the continuity of conversations, data sharing, and advocacy efforts long after the pandemic subsides.
For any questions or inquiries about the Resiliart movement, please contact UNESCO at resiliart@unesco.org