NATIONAL ARTS AND CULTURE FUND

REPUBLIC OF SEYCHELLES

Department of Culture

NATIONAL ARTS AND CULTURE FUND

TERMS OF REFERENCE

  1. What is the Arts and Culture Fund?

The National Arts and Culture Fund (NACF) aims to support and reinforce the development of the arts, cultural and heritage sector in Seychelles, while fostering creativity, encouraging social cohesion and stimulating cultural and economic development through the arts and culture.

The fund will be used to provide two categories of grants to Seychellois artists, cultural groups, and arts and culture organizations as well as individuals, to  further develop creativity, promote cultural research, enhance heritage protection, conservation and promotion, as well as  enrich how Seychelles as a nation, experience and engage with the arts and culture.

Categories of projects:

Funding will be provided to projects that will promote, develop and preserve the arts and cultural heritage of Seychelles especially projects that:

  • Produce tangible cultural materials (films, books, songs, plays, scripts) that may be consumed by the public
  • Build capacity within arts;
  • Promote the visibility of the arts;
  • Create opportunities through the arts and culture;
  • Explore elements of our cultural heritage;
  • Enhance cultural consumption and participation and
  • Promote meaningful changes and interventions within the communities.

2. Authority

The fund has been set up by the Government of Seychelles and shall be disbursed, and monitored by the Department of Finance.

Representatives of relevant agencies and organizations as stipulated in section 8 will form the Arts and Culture Grant Committee for the evaluation of all applications. They will use specific program criteria to determine which applicants are eligible for the grant and subsequently receive the funding.

The number of grants and amounts are based on the program budget; decisions taken by the Arts and Culture Grant Committee

3. Eligibility Criteria

In order to apply for funding from the Arts and Culture Fund, applicants must be Seychellois and is one of the following:

  • An individual artist or arts and cultural group  (defined as three or more individuals) that have proven significant achievement in the arts and culture programming;
  • Cultural and heritage activists,
  • Researchers, writers, film makers, poets, playwrights, composers,
  • Academic units of educational institutions;
  • Academics

4.Exclusions from Eligibility

  • Political parties
  • Churches and other religious institutions;
  • Applicants that have received funding in the field of arts and culture with the Government of Seychelles, totaling SCR 50,000 or above in kind or in cash will are not eligible for funding within the same calendar year.

5. Eligible Expenditures

The Arts and Culture Fund shall support projects and activities with clearly defined set of objectives and targets within a set timeframe for implementation. Projects should include only costs which directly relate to efficiently carrying out the activities, and adhering to the objectives which are set forth in the proposal. Other associated costs should be sought from other sources.

The budget should be realistic. The budget should include all costs associated with managing and administering the project and is essentially relevant to the current project and indicates a high probability of success. In particular, include the cost of monitoring and evaluation.

“Indirect costs” or administrative overhead costs, such as staff salaries and office rent are not funded by the NACF. These therefore should not be part of the funding request.

All relevant, financial records should be made available after completion of the project .The Committee will approve specific costs of the project, which shall be eligible for support under the Arts and Culture Fund.

The other costs shall be borne by the owner of the project. It would be good to show the efforts for raising any additional funds, and that it is realistic and includes a contingency plan.

6. Exclusions from Eligible Costs

The Art and Culture Fund of Seychelles may not be used for major capital purposes such as:

  • major capital projects including but not limited to the purchase of land, vehicle, equipment, fixtures or physical facilities such as rent and operational costs such as the payment of utilities or administrative overheads.
  • International membership fees

Note that applicants that have received funding in the same calendar year, are not eligible for further funding, unless there is an availability of funds in the context of funding priorities

7. Assessment criteria

The following assessment criteria will be considered for funding of projects:

  • Artistic merit,
  • Program merit with innovation within the project;,
  • National social and community impact,
  • Economic impact
  • Cultural impact

Artistic merit as determined by:

  1. Distinctiveness of the applicant’s activities in relation to comparable activities in Seychelles. Does the project provide unique and innovative opportunities for artists, other arts and cultural organizations, and the public?
  2. Contributions to the development of arts and culture in Seychelles;
  3. Evidence of planning in place to support the proposal and/or ongoing organizational capacity (as per realistic schedules, timelines, planning practices, etc.)
  4. Impact and benefit of the project on the community or/the Nation.

Program Merit as determined by:

  1. A comprehensive work plan that is coherent and realistic, with all the major activities required, sufficient time and resources dedicated to each phase that is ready for implementation Quality or value of the project and the implementation team/program;
  2. The relevance of the project in line with Seychelles cultural and art policy as well as strategic plans. Does the project support new and existing arts and cultural celebrations and initiatives.

National and Community Impact as determined by:

  1. Level of public access to the work, activities or services;
  2. Level of engagement with other arts and cultural organizations, artists and community groups in Seychelles.
  3. Evidence of promotional and/or outreach strategies in place to encourage wide public participation, awareness and engagement;
  4. Demonstrated support from the community as determined by partnerships, collaborations, sponsorship support, in-kind support, volunteers, etc.

Economic Impact as determined by:

  1. Employment and training opportunities for Seychellois artists, artisans, contractors …
  2. Direct and indirect spending in Seychelles;
  3. Contribution to cultural tourism;
  4. Strong and successful relationships and partnerships with the local businesses.
  5. The ability to demonstrate how funding from the National Arts and Culture Fund will directly support the project and ability to generate revenue outside the Fund.
  6. Sustainability of Results Achieved

Cultural impact as determined by

  1. Seminal work ; does the project offer new discourse in the cultural debate
  2. Setting new cultural trend of philosophy that assist to consolidate the promotion of Seychellois creole culture
  3. Range of the impact community , national , regional, international
  4. Lasting effects of the impact on the communities specially towards addressing social challenges and adding value to our culture

Originality and innovation

  1. The project must carry a certain level originality and inspiration for our culture

Project with innovative ideas are encouraged The proposal should outline the steps to be taken before, during and at project completion to ensure that once all the NACF funds have been disbursed, the project impact will continue for many years thereafter.

The applicant’s recent activities as well as proposed ones will be taken into account when assessing an application.

8.The Application Process Committee (APC)

A committee will be set up to process the application for the grant. The committee will be composed of the following agencies and organizations:

  1. Principal Secretary from the Department of Culture (Chair)
  2. A representative from the National Arts Council, NAC
  3. A representative from the Cultural Industry and National Events Agency (CINEA)
  4. A representative from the Creole Institute
  5. A representative from the Department of Tourism
  6. A representative of the Seychelles Heritage Foundation (SHF)
  7. A representative from The Department of Local Government.
  8. A representative from the Ministry of Finance
  9. An appointed Representative of all the local arts associations (may alternate)

To safeguard the integrity of the evaluation process, members in direct or indirect conflicts of interest with an application will not participate in the evaluation of that given application.

9 Yearly application cycle

The fund will be available from January to February of each year. This is in line with the government financial cycle as the fund is managed by the Department of Finance.

10. The deadline for the application to be submitted.

The application must be submitted by the 14thof February each year. Applications received after that date will be considered for the following financial year if still relevant.

12. How to apply for the fund?

An application form must be collected at the Department of Culture, or downloaded from the website of the Department of Culture. The application must be submitted to the office of the Principal Secretary, Department of Culture.

13. Limitation

No applicant may apply for the fund two years consecutively.

14. Disbursement of the fund

The funds shall be disbursed according to the projects.. Applicants are encouraged to divide their projects in two clear cut phases. A detailed financial and achievement report shall be should be submitted by all successful applicants.

15. Recycling of applications.

The Arts and Culture Fund will encourage a variety of projects from different fields each year, so that all the categories are represented and that it obtains a balanced representation of all possible cultural projects. For example, if the applications for music production in one application cycle considerably outweigh other forms of application, some of the applications for music may be shelved for the following application cycle, i.e. the following year.

16 . Appeal against non -approval of application

The applicants whose application are not successful may appeal against the decision of the APC in writing to the Minister of Culture, not later than 30 days after receiving notification from the APC. The Minister may direct the Application Committee to reassess the application.

17. Points system for assessment

Below is the rating system for assessing the projects submitted

Criteria Points
Cultural impact 30
Program merit, 30
National social and community impact, 30
Artistic merit, 20
Economic impact 20

18. Report writing

The successful applicant will submit a project completion report (including a financial report) to the office of the Principal Secretary, Department of Culture for review by the Application Process Committee, not later than 30 days after completion of the project. Successful applicants who fail to submit the report will not be legible to apply for more grants from the Arts and Culture Fund.

End of document

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