AFAC’s Creative and Critical Writings grant provides support to critical arts and culture writing, theatrical writing, children’s and youth literature (including both adaptation and original work), graphic novels, short stories, and poetry, in addition to analog and digital publishing platforms. The final product must be in Arabic.

Launched in 2018, Creative and Critical Writings is a program that builds on AFAC’s previous support for literature through the Literature Grant (2007–2013) and the AFAC Novel Writing Program (2014–2016).

About the grant

The program provides annual grants up to USD 20,000 for individuals and teams and USD 35,000 for institutions and collectives.

AFAC reserves the right to distribute its resources for wider impact. Given the high demand for support, it is not guaranteed that potential grantees will be awarded the requested amounts in full. It is therefore encouraged that applicants diversify funding sources for the submitted project.

When the amount solicited from AFAC is above USD 10,000 yet only covers a portion of the project’s overall budget, the grantee is requested to raise 70 % of the remaining budget in order to be awarded the grant.

The grant will be canceled in the event that the grantee is unable to procure that sum within 90 days of being awarded the grant.

The grant will be canceled in the event that the grantee does not sign the grant contract within 60 days of receiving it.

Projects must be completed within two years of signing the contract, during which time grantees are expected to submit the necessary financial and narrative reports.

No grantee will be awarded more than two deadline extensions during the grant period. Such extensions should be justified by the grantee and approved by AFAC.

AFAC does not offer mobility grants. Travel expenses may be covered by the AFAC grant only as part of project implementation.

Eligibilible candidates

AFAC is open to receiving project applications from all individuals from the Arab region working in arts and culture irrespective of age, years of experience, country of residence (the Arab region or the diaspora), race, ethnicity, gender, or religion.

AFAC also accepts proposals from local, regional, and international institutions whose projects are related to arts and culture from the Arab region.

These include artistic, cultural, social and educational institutions, galleries, centers and both governmental and non-governmental organizations that engage with regional arts and culture.

Ineligible candidates

AFAC will not consider applications submitted by:

• Members of the AFAC board of trustees, their business partners or family members.
• AFAC staff members, their business partners or family members.
• Members of the current year’s reader and juror committees.
• Applicants with a current open grant.
• Recipients of grants in two consecutive years will not be eligible to apply for the next two consecutive years. For example, if you received a grant in 2020 and another one in 2021, you will only be eligible to re-apply in 2024.
• Applicants whose submission is being processed. They may not submit another application in any category until the result of the current application is announced.

Eligible expenses

The AFAC grant covers project-related expenses, including artist fees of up to 30 % of the total grant amount. In the case of institutions, up to 30 % of the grant amount can be allocated for certain running costs. AFAC and the jury reserve the right to determine whether the proposed running cost items are relevant.

Place and duration

AFAC will not provide support retroactively to projects that have already been completed.

For projects that have already started, AFAC will cover the expenses starting from the signature of the contract, if the project is selected.

Projects may be implemented anywhere as long as the applicant fulfills the above-mentioned eligibility criteria. The project’s timeframe should not exceed 24 months.

How to apply

Applications are only accepted through our online forms available on our website. Applications submitted via regular mail or email will not be considered.

The applicant will receive a confirmation email once the online application has been submitted. Applicants are advised to follow up on the full completion and delivery of the requested material, as AFAC will not contact applicants if any part of their application is incomplete.

Incomplete applications will not be considered.

To apply, please login with your username and password. Once logged in, visit the page of the program you are interested in applying for and click on “apply.”

If you don’t have an existing account, please create one, here.

The deadline to submit applications is April 6, 2023 at 5:00 pm (Beirut time — GMT+3).

Please note that we will not be able to respond to any inquiries communicated with us after April 5, 2023.

Application form previews:
Creative and Critical Writings Grant - Application for individuals and teams
Creative and Critical Writings Grant - Application for institutions and collectives

Supporting material

Applications lacking supporting material will not be considered, nor will the applicant be contacted to send the missing material.

The submission of supporting material/samples for the project you are applying with is required:

• A detailed budget must be included for all projects.
• It is mandatory to submit samples of previous works/projects (up to three maximum) unless the project you are applying with is your first work.
• For theatrical writing, the project must be submitted by the playwright, and the final output should be a theatrical text published as a book. The following supporting materials are required:
  - CV of the applicant
  - One or two acts from the play
• For critical writings, including literary criticism, art criticism, film criticism and writing on other cultural and artistic subjects, the project must be submitted by the author, and the final output must be a book. The following supporting materials are required:
  - CV of the applicant
  - The work methodology and timeline
  - One or two chapters from the book
  - The writer’s references
• For children and youth literature submissions, the following supporting material is required:
  * For adaptations:
  - A brief summary of the source text and its author
  - a sample of the applicant’s previous work, if available;
  * For original works:
  - Copy of manuscript
• For graphic novels, the final project must be submitted by the author, and the final output should be a published book. The following supporting materials are required:
  - A synopsis of the work;
  - One or two chapters from the work, including text and illustrations
  - CV of the applicant
• For short stories and poetry, the project must be submitted by the publishing house or the author. The full manuscript(s) to be published is required.
• For digital publishing or digital literary platforms, the project must be submitted by the platform. The following supporting materials are required:
  - A description of the platform previous work
  - A description of the proposed project, including details about the content and the editorial line
  - CV of the editorial committee
• Supporting files/samples of submitted project and/or previous work smaller than 10 MB can be uploaded directly to the application.
• Supporting files/samples of submitted project and/or previous exceeding 10 MB should be included as links to files on sharing websites (such as Dropbox, Vimeo, YouTube…). Only when supporting files/samples of previous work cannot be shared through online links does AFAC accept to receive them by physical mail.
• For further inquiries regarding supporting material, contact AFAC grants management team.

Evaluation and selection process

Following the submission deadline, AFAC will conduct an administrative check to ensure that applications are complete and adhere to the guidelines. Only applications that pass the administrative check will be processed. An independent readers committee will then assess the submitted proposals and select the applications to be sent to the independent jurors committee. The jurors will assess the selected applications and choose the projects to be awarded grants. Please see the AFAC Evaluation Process document for more details.

An automatic email will be sent to the applicants whose projects do not pass the initial selection phase.

Grants announcement

The grant winners will be announced and published on the AFAC website and social media platforms after the jury meetings conclude. An automatic email will be sent to applicants whose projects are not selected to receive grants.

Grant contract

As soon as the grant awardees are announced, AFAC will draft a grant contract to be signed by the grantees. The contract will include start and end dates, grant amount, budget breakdown, financial requirements, payment schedule, general provisions, implementation and amendments, required reports and project results.

Payment conditions and schedule

For grants up to USD 10,000, 70 % of the grant amount will be transferred to the grantee upon signing the contract. The remaining 30 % will be transferred upon completion of the project and submission of deliverables as well as narrative and financial reports. For grants exceeding USD 10,000, grant installments will be disbursed only after the grantee submits proof of securing 70 % of the remaining total project budget from a source other than AFAC. When the latter condition is fulfilled, grantees will receive 50 % of the grant amount as a first payment. When 80 % of the first payment has been spent, the grantee must submit an interim narrative and financial report to AFAC. Once the report is approved, grantees will receive 35 % of the total grant amount as a second payment. With submission of the final deliverables and reports, the remaining 15 % of the total grant amount will be transferred and the grant will be closed.

Grantees should provide AFAC with 10 copies of the final outputs of the project, where applicable.