The Roberto Cimetta Fund (RCF), launched in 1999, aims to support artistic mobility between Europe, the Arab world and Mediterranean countries in order to rebalance the flow of artistic production and respond to the Development Goals by putting into practice the principles of many cultural policy agendas (Agenda 21 for Culture, the UNESCO Convention, European Agenda for Culture) in the spirit of the Declaration of Fribourg on Cultural Rights. Following the “RCF-Mobility” conference in Fès in 2006 and the “Istikshaf” platform meeting in Alexandria, June 2012, the Roberto Cimetta Fund will be organising a platform for exchange in collaboration with the Institut français de Beyrouth from 20th to 22nd November 2012. This meeting receives the support of the Institut français, the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the French Ministry of Culture and Communication. It will also group together members of the Istikshaf platform, a collaboration project led by the Arab Education Forum in partnership with the Roberto Cimetta Fund and I-Act funded by the European Union. This one-day exchange platform and capacity building seminar will take place on Wednesday 21st November 2012 at the French Cultural Institute in Beirut. Participants will be invited to arrive one day earlier to meet local actors and take part in the Istikshaf platform meeting on 20th November. The aim of the exchange platform will be threefold: Aim 1- to offer artists and cultural operators the possibility to set up networks and organise their own advocacy together with non-cultural funders/actors. Contemporary artists and cultural operators are not well represented in civil society advocacy organisations. It is urgent that the artistic and cultural sectors make their voice heard and address the political challenges and framework programmes that are being designed for their region. Non-cultural actors involved in the local economy or local governance for example throughout the region will be invited to develop a dialogue between sectors. Aim 2- to reconsider a geographical area of intervention that embraces the wider Europe, Mediterranean and Arab countries, reflecting the reality of artistic mobility in this region. New axes of exchange are developing from Casablanca to Abu Dhabi or between Arab and other Mediterranean diasporas in Europe, the US and the Gulf, establishing new commercial patterns and exchange flows. The framework of this debate will further investigate these realities and develop proposals. Aim 3- to engage in more mutual and efficient actions between actors involved in artistic and cultural mobility through the Istikshaf platform for example and other forms of cooperation. Here the content of the discussion will focus on professional practices, circulation of artists and works, interdependence that could help to strengthen the capacities of the sector. Istikshaf is just one of the “mutualisation” methods that artists and cultural operators can be part of. Participants at this meeting can discuss and envisage other forms of cultural and artistic eco-systems adapted to their needs and providing the quality conditions necessary to develop and sustain their projects. More information on the Roberto Cimetta Fund website.