Zimbabwe

_{Posted on 8-08-2007}

Funding the arts with billions

Courtesy of The Herald News- Zimbabwe

_{The Culture Fund of Zimbabwe Trust funded by SIDA (Swedish International Development Agency)and other stakeholders will this year disburse $40 billion to organisations, institutions and individuals who applied for funding to engage in cultural activities.  The money will be given to 140 projects that were selected under eight sub-sectors, namely cultural heritage, fine arts and crafts, cultural industries, literature and languages, the performing arts, combined, film audio and multimedia as well as strategic projects.}

_{The performing arts received $9 690 171 330 while fine arts and crafts got $8 425 680 710 with film audio-visual and multimedia getting $8 328 938700. Literature and languages was given $6 008 588 400, cultural heritage has $4 546 351 000, cultural industries received $3 081 600 000 and combined arts got $548 200 000.}

_{The Harare International Festival of the Arts, the Zimbabwe International Film Festival and the International Images Film Festival, which are considered strategic projects, received $2 billion. Hifa got a billion dollars while the other two received $500 million each.}

_{The National Arts Merit Awards received US$20 000 for the 2006 awards in February.}

_{Announcing the recipients in Harare yesterday, Luxon Zembe, the fund's board chairman, said the decision to select the successful projects was guided by the fund's core values, vision and mission. He said that the board received 1300 project applications which were seeking a staggering $1.13 trillion from 58 districts.}

_{The fund's six sub-committees recommended 527 projects to the board, which in turn narrowed the search to 140 of which 35 percent are women-driven projects, 17 were awarded to schools, 32 went to institutions and associations, 37 were given to individual projects in the cultural sector and 50 went to groups.}

 _{"Due to high demand, some US$50 000 was set aside for bulk purchase of musical instruments to capacitate national and provincial institutions and associations for the benefit of their members," Zembe explained. He said also that the fund was mindful of the financial erosion that inflation has had on the amounts applied for and would double the approved amounts for each project. http://allafrica.com/stories/printable/200708020508.html}

<sub>Culture fund of Zimbabwe

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