CLOSED: CALL FOR PROPOSALS Cultural and Artistic Responses to Environmental Change

Alarming changes in nature and our environment are all around us: forests and wildlife are disappearing; air and oceans are increasingly polluted; sea levels are rising; and the frequency of extreme weather phenomena is increasing. While causes and consequences are being hotly debated by politicians, scientists and the broader public, the most affected people are often those who are least able to stop the process.

Cultural practitioners, artists, architects and designers in many parts of the world are initiating projects, exchanging ideas and rethinking responses to environmental change, while actively engaging their communities. Now, more than ever, we need the arts and culture to help us respond; to inspire and motivate us by offering new ideas that challenge our perceptions and change our habits by introducing radical and transdisciplinary perspectives and envisioning models of climate justice in the world.

This call for proposals is aimed at Africa, Latin America, Asia, the Caribbean and Eastern Europe, please refer to the list of eligible countries below. It seeks to support initiatives that enable local communities as well as global institutions to engage with the threatening changes of nature and our environment through contemporary artistic and cultural interventions. We encourage ground-breaking cultural initiatives by individual artists, creative professionals as well as cultural organisations; especially initiatives that express how the arts and new media can propose solutions to environmental issues and create alternatives that support sustainability and foster cooperation and an exchange of new ideas globally.

We are specifically looking to support initiatives that:

• Employ new media to re-imagine a more sustainable world, and provide space for different perspectives within the sustainability discussion
• Promote the inclusion of women and minority groups
• Support concrete cultural initiatives that enable local impact while encouraging a global exchange on culture of sustainability and climate justice
• Encourage out of the box initiatives by artists and cultural practitioners looking to re-imagine conventional approaches to environmental sustainability and climate justice
• Support the development of artistic and creative initiatives that reinforce and rethink traditional knowledge and methods as a means to promote sustainability and climate justice
• Stimulate and inspire communities to use sustainable materials and resources within their own contexts and practice

With this call for proposals we would like to invite artists and cultural practitioners to envision a future for our planet that is more environmentally friendly , and to propose their cultural/artistic responses to how we can jointly get there. We would like to challenge all interested in this call to create innovative concepts that link artistic cultural engagement to environmental sustainability and climate justice.

The Prince Claus Fund and the Goethe-Institut will support initiatives within the financial range of €15,000 – €20,000.

The deadline for the submission of project applications is 14 June 2019 at 17:00h Amsterdam Time.

Please send project applications with supporting materials to [email protected]. Only applications filled out in the application form, sent to the email address above and received before the deadline will be considered.

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About the Prince Claus Fund: The Prince Claus Fund has a track record of 20 years of excellence in supporting cultural and artistic initiatives in the most challenging spaces. We have been a successful actor and liaison in the arts and culture sectors globally, generating possibilities for critical discussion and boosting creative expression. Because of our track record and autonomy, the Fund is seen as a global leader in supporting independent cultural initiatives of the highest quality with a broad social impact. Additionally, our geographical spread has allowed us to accrue an invaluable, extensive network of local contacts – artists, cultural practitioners, institutions and experts.

About the Goethe-Institut: The Goethe-Institut is the cultural institute of the Federal Republic of Germany with a global reach. With our network of 159 institutes around the world we promote knowledge of the German language abroad and foster international cultural cooperation. We convey a comprehensive image of Germany by providing information about cultural, social and political life in our nation. Our cultural and educational programmes encourage intercultural dialogue and enable cultural involvement. They strengthen the development of structures in civil society and foster worldwide mobility. 

Photo:  Hopes of fish at high tide. Ghoramara, West Bengal, India. © Arko Datto