Open Call Prince Claus Mentorship Awards

Thana Faroq Arab Documentary Photography Programme small

The Open Call is now closed! You can find out more about the Mentorship Awards here.

Prince Claus Mentorship Award for participation in the Arab Documentary Photography Programme (ADPP)

The Arab Fund for Art and Culture and the Prince Claus Fund, in partnership with the Magnum Foundation launched the Arab Documentary Photography Program (ADPP) in 2014. The ADPP is a program jointly funded by AFAC and Prince Claus Fund (in the framework of the Fund's Mentorship Awards), targeting creative documentary photographers in the Arab region. A jurors’ committee comprised of Arab and international experts will select up to 12 grantees to receive financial and professional support to complete their proposed photography projects.

Documentary photography sheds light on important neglected and unknown narratives. However, in the Arab world, it remains an under-developed genre. With most current visual production going to journalistic mass-media outlets, there is little opportunity for documentary photographers to explore creative, personal, long-term, and analytical approaches to their work. Additionally, there is little access to the needed resources and adequate professional support to initiate and complete compelling documentary photography projects.

The focus of the Arab Documentary Photography Program is to support compelling non-stereotypical and unconventional visual documentation of important social issues and narratives relevant to the Arab region. In recognition of the image’s power to document, educate and advocate, the ADPP will also explore ways by which documentary photography can reach out to wider audiences and engage with them in compelling and impactful ways. Photographers may propose to work in a range of non-fiction narrative styles, from classic documentary photography to more experimental visual storytelling, and may propose to include audio and video elements.

Objectives

To raise the level of creative documentary photography in the Arab region;
To train photographers and expand their approaches to visual storytelling;
To share strong visual narratives from the Arab region regionally and internationally;
To explore wider access to documentary photography and a more active engagement with its audiences

Timeline: Deadline to apply: 30 April 2021 Announcement of selected grantees: 15 July 2021.

We invite all interested and eligible photographers to apply to this programme. Please consult the AFAC website before applying.

How to apply? Applications can be completed via the AFAC website. Please login to the AFAC website with your username and password. Once logged in, you will be directed to the applications page. If you don’t have an existing account, please create one here.

For projects by past ADPP grantees, visit the Arab Documentary Photography Programme website: www.arabdocphotography.org