Museum, Theatre, and Art Gallery in Each City

Museum, Theatre, and Art Gallery in Each City (10% of Project Funding)

Total Allocation: €320,625,000
Estimated Number of Projects: 54 complexes (one in each major city)
Average Cost per Project: €5,937,500

Project Description

GiveBack to Algeria (GBTA) proposes a national cultural renewal through a network of integrated cultural complexes in Algeria’s major cities. Each complex brings together three pillars: a museum, a theatre, and an art gallery. This is not only about constructing buildings. It is about launching a long term cultural ecosystem that honours Algeria’s heritage, enables contemporary creativity, supports local economies, creates jobs, and connects communities across 69 wilayas through a reinvestment driven model.

Why museum, theatre, and an art gallery?

Culture is a powerful driver of learning, belonging, and social cohesion. Theatre, in particular, has always been a mirror to society, reflecting values, struggles, and hopes while creating a shared communal experience. Museums protect memory and identity. Art galleries create credible platforms for visual artists and high quality crafts, turning creativity into opportunity.

This project responds to clear needs in many cities: uneven access to cultural infrastructure, limited regular programming, few structured exhibition spaces, and weak pathways into the creative industries.

Algeria’s theatrical heritage

Algeria has a strong theatrical tradition, with landmark institutions such as the Théâtre National Algérien (TNA) associated with Mahieddine Bachtarzi, and major figures including Kateb Yacine and Abdelkader Alloula. GBTA builds on this legacy by expanding access beyond major centres, turning theatre into a living, local, and continuous cultural force.

A multi-use cultural complex

Each complex is designed to be active all year and flexible enough to serve multiple audiences:

1) Local or wilaya museum
A museum that tells the story of the place: history, heritage, crafts, key figures, and local identity. Permanent and rotating exhibitions, education programmes, school visits, documentation, digital archiving, and university partnerships.

2) Theatre
A properly equipped venue for performances, talks, seasonal mini festivals, and community events. It also includes training and skills development for emerging talent in acting, writing, directing, and stagecraft.

3) Art gallery and crafts showcase
A platform for visual arts and high quality craft, including painting, photography, sculpture, calligraphy, ceramics, textiles, woodwork and metalwork. The goal is cultural and economic: a credible market and professional visibility for creators.

The complex can also host workshops, exhibitions, film screenings, and public forums, ensuring it becomes a daily part of city life rather than an occasional venue.

Benefits to communities and creators

Regular cultural access enriches everyday life and strengthens local pride. The complexes create direct and indirect jobs, stimulate nearby businesses, build skills through workshops, and support social cohesion. Artists gain a stable platform to present work, reach wider audiences, and earn sustainable income.

GBTA circular economy and reinvestment

Revenue streams include ticketing, events, room hire, retail, training programmes, partnerships, and sponsorship. Under GBTA’s principle, returns are not privately distributed. They are reinvested into maintenance and programming first, then into new projects, enabling sustainable growth of the national network.

Implementation phases

Phase 1: local assessment, city and site selection, museum storytelling by wilaya.
Phase 2: pilot complexes to validate operations and programming.
Phase 3: gradual roll-out of 54 complexes, touring exhibitions and theatre exchanges.
Phase 4: connected national network, festival calendar, and integration with other GBTA projects.

Note on concept visuals

Any concept design images linked to this project are illustrative visuals intended to communicate the ambition, aligned with GBTA’s transparency and visual clarity approach.

Call to action

Share the idea, propose museum themes for your wilaya, recommend artists and craftspeople, and mobilise Algerians at home and abroad. When you post, use: #GiveBacktoAlgeria