Call for applications: House on Fire CollaboNation grant

The grant was secured from the EU-supported Sound Connects Fund to support an innovative new and groundbreaking project that will support continental musical collaborations called CollaboNation.

CollaboNation is funded by the Sound Connects Fund, an initiative by the Music In Africa Foundation (MIAF) and Goethe-Institut. The Sound Connects Fund is made possible with funding from the ACP-EU Culture Programme, a project implemented by the Secretariat of the African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States (ACP) and funded by the European Union (EU). The grant is also co-funded by Goethe-Institut and Siemens Stiftung.

CollaboNation will connect and unite the Southern African region through a series of unique music collaborations, supporting the weaving together of Africa’s rich and diverse musical genres and inspiring a game-changing creative narrative, contributing to the development of new audiences, inspiring social cohesion and building linkages between cultural industries and networks.

Interested artists should apply here before 23 January 2023.

Eligibility

The grant is open to artists from eSwatini, Lesotho, Zimbabwe, Mozambique and Botswana for the opportunity to collaborate with each other to record original and inspirational songs, in line with the social and environmental values of House on Fire and the MTN Bushfire Festival. It seeks to extend the reach of Southern African artists, exposing them to new audiences, media, promoters and other industry professionals in order to access new markets and communities while developing artist brands.

House on Fire will provide:

• Travel costs for the collaboration.
• Professionally recorded and produced song.
• Professionally recorded and produced music video.
• A distribution contract with Paradise Africa Distribution for the song.
• International flighting of the music video on international TV stations.
• Paid performance at the MTN Bushfire festival, in eSwatini.

Timeline

Artists must be able to travel and be free for recording and performances around the indicated dates:

• 8 December 2022 – 23 January: Artist applications.
• January 2023 – Artists identified. Note: Only successful applicants will be contacted. Artists who haven’t been contacted by 10 February 2023, should consider their applications unsuccessful.
• March 2023: Studio recording.
• 26 to 28 May: MTN Bushfire Festival.
• July 2023: Music video launch.

CollaboNation will facilitate a range of upskilling and training opportunities for eSwatini music industry professionals involved in the project, such as record producers, sound engineers, photographers, videographers, fashion designers, graphic designers and other creative professionals, with a focus on youth-led and women-led creative services businesses, as part of House on Fire’s local arts development goals.

“CollaboNation will be a content and artist-driven journey, showcasing the creative and collaborative process of the artists before and during the song’s studio recording,” a statement reads. “The journey culminates in a live performance by the artists on the internationally celebrated stages at MTN Bushfire 2023, resulting in a complete, professional, music video. Distribution will be handled in partnership with the world-wide distributor Paradise Africa.”

View the original call here.