The “Arab Culture and Arts Network” (ACAN) project won the United Nations Award Competition for World Summit on the Information Society Forum projects, among the top five in the category of cultural diversity, identity, linguistic diversity, and local content, under the slogan “Building bridges of communication between different continents” and organized by the Tiro Association for Arts.
The 18 laureates will be honored during the 2024 WSIS Awards Champions Ceremony, which will be held on May 30 (Thursday) at ITU Headquarters, during the high-level event of the WSIS+20 Forum, in Geneva, Switzerland, in the presence of the Deputy Secretary. General of the International Telecommunication Union, and other elected officials of the International Telecommunication Union. This competition is the only global platform to identify and present success stories in implementing the 18 action lines approved by the World Summit on the Information Society and defined in the Geneva Plan of Action.
The Arab Culture and Arts Network (ACAN) was established during the Corona pandemic crisis, at the initiative of cultural activists, to network individuals and cultural institutions to open a link and channels to exchange events, festivals, expertise, and experiences in art and culture in Lebanon, the Arab region and the world in light of the current crises, and to work to find solutions to enable Cultural communities among themselves to network and cooperate, support creativity, encourage exchange and grants for creative works, improve policies supporting culture and arts, and activate the role of art and culture in changing societies through free expression.
The Arab Culture and Arts Network (ACAN) won the Intercultural Achievement Award in Vienna, awarded by the Austrian Federal Ministry for European and International Affairs. The award was received by the founder of the Lebanese National Theater, actor and director Kassem Istanbouli, at the ceremony held in Vienna, where the network was chosen from among 1,300 projects from 87 projects. State in 2022. It also won an award in the category of cultural diversity, identity, linguistic diversity, and local content, with projects from Rwanda, Bangladesh, India, and Australia, in the World Summit on the Information Society Awards Competition 2021. It is noteworthy that the Tiro Arts Association, which is led by youth and volunteers, seeks to create free and independent cultural spaces in Lebanon. Through the rehabilitation of the Hamra Cinema and the Stars Cinema in Nabatieh, the Rivoli Cinema in the city of Tyre, and the Empire Cinema in Tripoli, which was transformed into the Lebanese National Theater as the first free theater and cinema in the history of Lebanon, and the organization of training workshops and artistic festivals, and it is currently working to rehabilitate the historic Colisee Cinema in Beirut to Connecting the south to the north and the capital, in cooperation with the Drosos Foundation and the Stichting DOEN.
Intercultural Achievement Award in Vienna in 2022