AAPP Europe
AAPP Europe is a holistic resettlement initiative developed in response to the current humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan. Initially designed to relocate at-risk Afghan artists to the U.S., AFI expanded AAPP’s scope to support Afghan artists’ relocation to Europe.
Since 2021, AFI has taken on 424 cases through AAPP Europe, representing assistance to 1,391 Afghan artists, cultural workers, and their dependent family members. Initially, AFI’s team in Germany facilitated the reallocation of unused German humanitarian visas for Afghan artists facing persecution for their work. In 2022, the German government announced the Bundesaufnahmeprogramm (BAM), a humanitarian visa program for at-risk Afghans. To date, we have assisted in 332 cases, representing 1,020 individuals, in applying for humanitarian visas. AFI’s team continues to submit and process cases for Afghan artists and their families through referrals to humanitarian visa programs in Europe and a continued commitment to cases pending before Germany’s Federal Admissions Program for Afghan Nationals. If you are an Afghan artist or cultural worker seeking legal or resettlement assistance, apply for AFI’s services here.
As AFI continues relocating Afghan artists to Germany, our team is also increasing its resettlement services for Afghan artists in Germany, including through:
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- Connections to university placements, academic scholarships and emergency funds,
- Educational and professional opportunities, and
- Opportunities to showcase artistic works.
Concurrently, AFI is expanding our reach and impact across Europe to assist a broader community of at-risk artists. We have recently initiated efforts to resettle Afghan artists to Spain and France and are hopeful that our program will expand further.
Through AAPP, AFI also platforms Afghan artists in events and showcases across Europe. In 2023, AFI’s legal work enabled a performance of Journals of Exile in Berlin, a joint theater performance by KULA Compagnie and Afghanistan’s Simorgh Theater. In 2024, AFI co-sponsored a presentation of Hidden Statement – Art From Afghanistan at the German Centre for Venetian Studies during the Venice Biennale. Hidden Statement features work by anonymous visual artists living in Afghanistan in a series of virtual exhibits. The event brought international attention to the danger faced by Afghan artists and underscored their lack of representation at international events.
We can’t do this work alone! To download a list of individual and organizational partnership opportunities, click here.
AAPP Europe is supported by generous funding from the SDK Foundation for Human Dignity.
Photo credits: Nosrat Tarighi, Jonathan McPhail.