Rabat — UNESCO, the Hiba Foundation and their partners have signed an agreement in Rabat to launch the NUMUN project, an initiative aimed at expanding access to digital cultural practices and strengthening young people’s skills, particularly those of young women.
Supported by UNESCO’s International Fund for Cultural Diversity (IFCD), the two-year project will give young people opportunities to discover, reinvent and develop their digital practices through workshops and artistic activities.
Alongside these activities, NUMUN will also involve documentation and data collection to better understand digital uses and practices, while encouraging discussion around the role of digital arts in cultural policies.
Digital Arts Unit on Wheels
Through a mobile digital arts unit, the project plans to reach audiences in six neighborhoods in Rabat and three rural areas, providing free access to digital activities, works, as well as introductory and training activities on the use of creative tools.
In a statement to Morocco’s official press agency (MAP), Charaf Ahmimed, UNESCO’s Regional Director and Representative for the Maghreb, said that this initiative aims to promote digital arts and make them more accessible to young people, particularly in regions where cultural infrastructure remains limited.
He added that “NUMUN” aims to promote access for young people, particularly young women, to digital creation practices and tools, notably by enabling them to discover and embrace new forms of artistic and cultural expression.
For his part, Marwane Fachane, Executive Director of the HIBA Foundation, welcomed the support provided to this project by the IFCD, noting that “NUMUN” aims, in particular, to reduce disparities in access to digital cultural and artistic practices between urban centers and suburban and rural areas.
Mr. Fachane explained that the project is based on a bus that has been completely converted into an immersive, mobile studio, designed to reach audiences in outlying neighborhoods as well as in several rural areas.
