The deadly blast of August 4th shattered Beirut’s once-thriving hip spots in historic neighborhoods where lively minds fueled inspiration to one another and Lebanese creatives flourished.
In a bid to pick Beirut’s vibrant creative community back up, the Lebanese-Parisian entertainment platform ‘MAD’ has launched a ‘How MAD is Beirut’ campaign.
‘How MAD is Beirut’ aims to help develop a source of income for Beirut creatives by helping them promote and sell their art, design, and craft – and fuel life back into the creative community.
MAD plans to support and promote over 50 Lebanese artists and designers of all ages under the USAID-funded IM Capital #من_قلبي_دعم_لبيروت relief initiative.
Through this initiative, MAD says it will train “17 Lebanese artists and designers to structure their business and develop it in France,” through an online workshop over the next quarter.
It also plans to use the funds to promote 35 Lebanese creatives and local brands that were affected by the Beirut blast through MAD digital entertainment content and artistic competitions in France.
“As the new generation of talent hunters and producers in music, arts, and design, our mission is to reveal talented Lebanese creatives to the world and allow them to live from their art,” said Lise Yacoub, MAD co-founder and CEO.
MAD is collecting donations to raise up to $157,000 to provide relief to Beirut and promote its culture by telling the story of 50 creatives through short films to promote their art.
It will also focus on diversity and inclusion, and help senior isolated craftsmen live from their art online without needing to be tech-savvy.
“Whether they are creative women struggling between their home responsibilities and trying to generate revenues from their passion, young independent creatives struggling to emerge alone in the digital world, or senior craftsmen who have lost almost everything in the Beirut explosion and have little to no digital knowledge to promote their craft online,” she indicated.
The deadline for applications is December 10th. The initiative welcomes all creatives, artists, craftsmen, and local brands affected by the blast. They can apply through this link.
