Western countries such as Switzerland have slashed foreign aid, including funding for creative programmes. Cultural institutions argue the impact of these cuts will be felt far beyond the art world, and the Global South. For more than three decades, artists from developing countries have been coming to Switzerland to showcase their work thanks to a programme called the South Culture Fund (SKF). But come 2028, this will no longer be the case. The Fund – fully financed by the Swiss Development and Cooperation Agency (SDC) since 2010 to the tune of CHF700,000 ($830,000) a year – is set to disappear. The SDC made this decision after parliament voted in late 2024 to cut development aid. For cultural industry leaders such as iLiana Fokianaki, director of the Kunsthalle art museum in Bern, the news is devastating. “What do you do if you find an amazing artist and you want to bring them over?” she said. “This is where the Fund is pivotal.” The SKF is one of roughly a dozen Swiss programmes ...
