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NAFAS

Residency

Multidisciplinary

NAFAS

Foreign professionals
The NAFAS programme ran from September 2020 to December 2022. It provided support for 101 Lebanese artists and cultural professionals from 21 different artistic disciplines (visual arts, cinema, digital creation, books, music, theatre, etc.). The artists were welcomed by 56 host organisations throughout mainland France.

In the context of the acute crisis that hit the Lebanese cultural scene following the explosion on 4 August 2020 in the port of Beirut, and as part of the emergency aid announced by the French Head of State, the Institut français, the Association des Centres culturels de rencontre and the Institut français du Liban joined forces to invite 100 Lebanese artists to take up residencies in mainland France, through the "NAFAS" emergency programme. The programme, whose name means "breath" in Arabic, enabled the artists to develop a research and creative project in all areas of contemporary creation.

The programme was co-financed by the Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Culture. Several partners joined the initiative, including GALOP, Hermès' exclusive dealer in Lebanon, whose patronage enabled the deployment of a scheme dedicated́ to arts and crafts.