A Question of funding
http://www.artresearch.eu/2023/09/13/the-question-of-funding-26-10-2023/

Yazan Khalili: showing up as a way of holding ground

Khalil Sakakini Cultural Center = Total Institution

The failure of internationalism
the end of internationalism
structures for creating other forms of funding
the total institution or the total work of the cultural institution

last 30 years: the institution has been shaping art production

QoF is a global question

funding/not funding
from ngo to crisis

crisis embedded in the institution
becoming the acting director

institutions also die

crisis as an ongoing situation

after the crisis, all parts of the structure became available to be used

useless but obligatory planning documents in volatile situations

refusing project funding, or programmatic funding

bringing the vegetable market in
speaking through economies to culture

hierarchies that are not flat nor steep
balanced, in motion

intersecting communities and activities

we need to move away from the what to the how

how do we manage agreement
how to understand solidarity, does it make sense

health insurance
make an institution into a resource. ngo's taking out collective health insurance. A coop/membership structure

expanding in an economical sense

too much dependence on funding but in moments of political tension this becomes an issue

political agility at the moment operates through funding: pre-censorship
in NL funding for individuals goes through institutions.
How to politically engage with funding?

first act since latest genocide started was cutting funding, this is eviction

After cutting funding: scaling down but not in non-neoliberal sense
- shrinking salaries from the top
- get printing paper from home
- other orgs doing services

people recognized this economy
paying for events, tickets; no need to pay but many did

Asking for funding for the institution. What are you working on? The total institution!
stopping separation between activities and running of the center. So the proposal was always the same.

Began creating a language for itself. Every meeting was adding to an organic language of the institution. Ways of expressing the institution. 

"Question" in Arabic = question/dilemma/crisis (of funding)

Q: what about custodianship? And can it be replicated?

A: How to be rigid against pressure to become what others want you to be and how to be flexible as well

this specific crisis allowed the center to "open", it created the collective. It could not have worked through an open call :-)

when there is no funding, things are easy to changes
when we stopped applying, we suddenly had so much time.

the amount of time needed to apply, report, ...
and also: if you receive funding, you need to find the next fund

Funder: "you need to grow"

Failure of internationalism: not that it does not exist, but it does not work

its not about critiquing power, but about how do you practice power?

(and then a foucault quote)