AAPP United States
AAPP United States was a holistic legal and resettlement initiative developed in response to the crisis in Afghanistan. With generous funding from the Mellon Foundation and SDK Foundation for Human Dignity, the project safely relocated and resettled Afghan artists and their families in the United States and enabled them to preserve their livelihoods as artists.
From 2021 through 2024, AAPP US provided Afghan artists, cultural workers, and their family members with pro bono immigration representation including all USCIS filing fees, resettlement support, professional development services, and more. Moving forward, AFI’s attention will increasingly focus on ongoing resettlement services for the increasing proportion of the Afghan arts and culture community who now face prolonged displacement in the US. AFI will no longer cover all USCIS application filing fees for Afghan visa applicants, but our immigration and resettlement efforts for Afghan artists will continue in the United States as part of our general direct services. If you are an Afghan artist or cultural worker seeking legal or resettlement assistance, apply for AFI’s services here.
Since launching AAPP in August 2021, project highlights include:
- AFI took on 280 legal cases for Afghan artists and their family members relocating to the United States, representing 1,298 hours of pro bono legal assistance to 315 Afghan artists, cultural workers, and their dependent family members.
- The project has thus far co-created fourteen fellowships for Afghan artists, partnering with institutions including George Mason University, New York Film Academy, and Bennington College. Through our partnership with The New University in Exile Consortium, we’ve welcomed six Afghan artists for yearlong, customized fellowships at The New School. Fellows have performed for The New School’s community, taught courses, given public talks about their work and background, participated in student critiques, and developed personal creative projects utilizing the research resources, faculty expertise, and facilities of The New School.
- Four Afghan artists have participated in AFI’s NYC Artist Safe Haven Residency Program and received a combined 48 months of housing support, tailored professional development opportunities, and pro bono legal services.
- In 2023, AFI authored “Artistic Exodus: Afghan Artists Fleeing Taliban Rule,” a comprehensive report highlighting the ongoing risks that Afghan artists and cultural workers face in Afghanistan and exposing the serious systemic problems facing refugee artists during migration and resettlement in host countries.
As of 2025, AFI’s support for Afghan artists will be incorporated into our general US legal and resettlement services. Nonetheless, our commitment to the Afghan arts community remains steadfast. We welcome applications from Afghan artists and continue to assist US-based Afghan artists through pro bono immigration representation, holistic resettlement assistance, professional development, public programming and more. AFI’s services for US-based Afghan artists will particularly focus on facilitating professional development opportunities, including university fellowships, artist residencies, and opportunities to showcase their work.
AAPP United States was supported by generous funding from the Mellon Foundation and the SDK Foundation for Human Dignity.
To download a list of individual and organizational partnership opportunities, click here.
Photo credits: Michael Wilson, Nosrat Tarighi.