Ned as part of the “Undercurrents” program, which includes a consortium including the Le 18 space (Marrakech), the Dar Bellarge Foundation (Marrakech) and the Maha Art Space (Tangier), the “Sma3 Sawt Alfen” podcast (listen to the voice of art), broadcast every Wednesday since November 27, gives voice to artists and cultural actors from different backgrounds and different regions of the Kingdom.
“A means of advocacy”
“At the beginning, the idea was to make a publication. But I opted for a fun audio podcast format, which is inclusive and which is also a means of advocacy”tells AsIs Mehdi Azdem, researcher in communication and cultural engineering, and creator of the podcast. This also allows “giving voice to artists and understanding their trajectories and their daily lives”he nuances.
As part of Undercurrents, a training and structuring support program funded by the European Union (EU) and Al Mawrid Attaqafi (Beirut, Lebanon), “I provided a training cycle for members of the consortium on cultural governance in Morocco”says Mehdi Azdem.
These training cycles consisted of “understanding the legal mechanisms, the organization of artistic work in Morocco, and other subjects such as the status of the artist, the laws which manage artistic work, as well as the organization at the national, regional level and local »explains the researcher.
“Sma3 Sawt Alfen” therefore aims to be a « restitution » training and work that has been carried out so far, and be a moment of sharing the human experiences of Moroccan artists and cultural actors, with a wider audience. “The main thing was to give an overview of the current situation and above all, that of post-Covid-19”the nuances of Mehdi Azdem.
“A fragile situation”
Indeed, according to the researcher, “the situation of artists and cultural actors in Morocco remains a little fragile and also depends on the artistic sectors”he specifies. So, “ between cinema, literature and the visual arts, the situations are different”. Determining the situation of artists comes down to knowing whether “the sector generates income, if it has a budget and its own regulations”explains the researcher. “In general, we can say that the situation is developing, but I would not say that it is perfect”he decides.
For her part, the author and feminist activist Fedwa Misk, guest of the first episode of “Sma3 Sawt Al Fen”, points out this fragility of the artist’s status, evoking her beginnings in the field, after having studied medicine. . “At the beginning, my mother was proud of me… but when she saw that I was not progressing well in my studies and in my thesis, it became war”remembers the founder of Freeze, collaborative women’s webzine, founded in 2011, who was seduced by the world of writing, theater and comics, thus giving up her profession as a doctor.
Furthermore, the two actors agree that in Morocco, the artist remains frowned upon and “devalued by society”. ” Becauseexplains Mehdi Azdem, in the eyes of the population and society, the work of the artist remains something secondary”. In addition, “at the level of legislation, there is no generalized social coverage or guaranteed retirement for workers or artists”says the researcher.
We must create a public that is initiated to go see theater shows, buy books, in order to get away from this free logic of doing things without any vision.
Mehdi Azdem, researcher in communication and cultural engineering
In these unenviable circumstances, the artist is condemned to multiply the hats, to obtain a sort of “security that art and culture unfortunately do not offer”admits Fedwa Misk. And to add: “I am obliged, despite my job as a consultant to several organizations, to do a lot of things to meet my needs”she tells “Sma3 Sawt Alfen”.
What to do?
“90% of artists do (what they do) out of passion, it’s not because they can’t work or struggle, but it’s (their) DNA that expresses itself”explains Fedwa Misk, who herself has not escaped the weight of stereotypes and clichés that threaten all creativity. Hence the importance of“apply existing legal texts, because it is not enough to put in place organic statutes and laws which remain black and white, they must be applied on the ground and followed up with the actors, with the artists, as well in both urban and rural environments, which we tend to forget”insists Mehdi Azdem.
“We also need to create a public that is encouraged to go see theater shows and buy books, in order to move away from this gratuitous logic of doing things without any vision”recommends the specialist.
For her part, Fedwa Misk calls for the establishment of a “mandatory and symbolic retirement system” and to provide opportunities to artists who are able to contribute significantly to the development of the sector. “Instead of employing civil servants… Better to recruit artists who are there and who need to work”she confides.
