Applications are currently being accepted for the 2024 edition of the Prince Claus Fund Building Beyond Mentorship Programme. Building Beyond serves as a platform for artists to collaborate, reflect on their work, and activate their practices within their local communities. It aims to foster connections and exchange ideas across the continent, focusing on engaging with the built environment as a malleable and interpretable space.
Eligibility:
The Prince Claus Fund welcomes applications from experienced individual artists and cultural practitioners who:
- Reside and work in one of the eligible countries: Algeria, Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Egypt, Ethiopia, Tunisia, Chad, South Africa, Mozambique, Niger, Senegal, Somalia, Nigeria, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ghana, Kenya, Libya, Mali, Mauritania, Morocco, Uganda, Rwanda, Tanzania or South-Sudan.
- Are artists, cultural practitioners, or creatives whose work relates to architecture, design, spatial practice, public space, and urban communities. This includes individuals with an independent artistic practice, and the program values interdisciplinary approaches. Those in roles such as arts managers, facilitators, or academic researchers without an individual artistic practice are not eligible.
- Possess approximately 7-15 years of relevant professional experience. The Mentorship Award targets individual artists with professional experience spanning this range, regardless of their age. Experience is calculated from the start of their professional artistic practice to the application submission date.
Due to the nature of the mentorship program, proficiency in English is required for effective communication.
Requirements:
- The program brings together 12 experienced creatives with around 7-15 years of relevant professional experience, working across varied mediums, techniques, and interpretations of the mentorship’s underlying theme.
- Supported by four mentors, this Building Beyond cohort will convene over the course of a year to foster conversation, collaboration, and equal exchange. The program aims to support each participant in their individual practice and facilitate exchanges between the cohort, its expanding network, and relevant external practitioners.
The Building Beyond Mentorship Program includes:
- Introduction: Two consecutive weeks at the beginning of the mentorship in January/February 2024, where each participant introduces themselves and their concept or body of work for the program.
- Three Thematic Chapters: These online sessions, which last about 6 to 8 weeks each, feature guest speeches, workshops, reading groups, sub-group sessions, and one-on-one sessions chosen by the mentors depending on the participants’ practices, projects, and aspirations.
- 2 Lab Weeks: In-person meeting moments lasting 6 days (excluding travel), designed to foster a collective atmosphere among the group. Participants engage in workshops, site visits, and situated experiences centered on the themes and disciplines of the group. These Lab Weeks occur in the first and third quarters of the program.
- Group Project: A collective endeavor reflecting the group’s individual and collective interactions and developments throughout the mentorship. It goes beyond documentation to provide a space for expressing creative processes and exchanges to a broader audience through publication and website elements.
- Closing Chapter: Similar to the introduction, the program concludes with online presentations from all participants, highlighting their work’s development and future engagement.
Benefits:
The Prince Claus Fund and the Creative Industries Fund NL cover costs related to the mentorship program, including travel expenses, visa costs, and accommodations. Participants are responsible for their travel insurance. Detailed expense coverage information is provided to successful applicants later.
Method of Application:
- Register on the Prince Claus Awards Platform and start a new submission for the Mentorship Award: Building Beyond.
- Fill in all required fields and attachments. You can work on and save the application until the deadline. Only completed and submitted applications will be considered. Once submitted, no further amendments are allowed. For queries, refer to the FAQ or email awards@princeclausfund.nl.
- After submitting the application, check for an automatic email confirmation.
For More Information and Application:
Application Deadline: May 14, 2024, 17:00 Amsterdam time.
