The third call for proposals by the African Culture Fund (ACF) and dedicated to the Solidarity Fund for African Artists and Cultural Organizations (SOFACO), Batch No. 1: Special Covid-19/Artists was launched on May 23, 2020 and was closed on June 30, 2020.
The results have been posted on the ACF website on August 21, 2020.

Here is the link to access the list of successful candidates: https://www.africanculturefund.net/en/results-of-the-third-call-for-proposals-sofaco-batch-n1-special-covid-19-artist/

The main objective of SOFACO is to strengthen the resilience of artists and cultural organizations through assistance for creation and reconstruction of the social fabric of the artistic sector in Africa facing the COVID-19 crisis.

At closing date, 638 duly completed applications had been registered, originating from 40 African countries and eight from Africans in the Diaspora.

The selection process was undertaken in three stages: the registration and examination of the applications leading to a clean registration file, the preselection by a reading committee, and the evaluation and the final selection by an autonomous and independent selection panel.

The selection panel was made of three members from three African countries (Cameroon; Mali; Togo). They met on August 13 and 14, 2020 to proceed to the final selection.  

At the end of the deliberations, 120 applications were selected, including at least one candidate in each of the 40 countries eligible for SOFACO funding. To these 120 candidates was added a 12-candidate waiting list. Applicants on the waiting list may potentially qualify for a grant if additional funds are available; or if some of the 120 beneficiaries are not able to fulfill the required administrative conditions within two weeks from the date of notification.

The African Culture Fund reserves the right to cancel the Grant Agreement with a beneficiary, or to withhold payment in full or in part, should the use of the fund not comply with the terms of the Grant Agreement.

The African Culture Fund wishes to reiterate its thanks to the donor artists, patrons and its partners, in particular DOEN Foundation, FORD Foundation and Open Society Foundation, as well as BICIM (Mali) and SONAVIE (Mali) for their support.

Regarding SOFACO Batch n° 2: Special Covid-19 / Cultural organizations, it will be launched in the coming days. The announcement will be made on ACF's Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and Instagram pages as well as on the website.  

ABOUT THE ORGANIZATION

The African Culture Fund (ACF) is an initiative that defends the desire of a continent to write new narratives and to take its rightful place on the world stage through the voice of its unique culture. It is a pan-African organization born in February 2018 in Bamako and registered in the Republic of Mali with which a headquarters agreement was established, with the dual function, not only of helping to professionalize the sector, but also that of being an agitator and instigator for the creation of local African philanthropy by stimulating private sector investment from the continent in the field of culture.

The originality of this Fund is that it is an initiative that emanates from artists and cultural actors of the continent who are the main contributors, and who are committed to the professionalization and development of the creative sector, a first experience in terms of taking hand of the development of the African creative sector by the artists and cultural actors of the continent. 

The objectives of the ACF are, among others:
- to fund cultural and creative projects through calls for proposals.
- to mobilize funds for the structuring and professionalization of the African cultural and creative sector.
- to ensure visibility and connection between donors and artists.
- to allow a fair and sustainable distribution of resources for the benefit of cultural and creative sector actors throughout the African continent.