Open call: Prince Claus Fund mentorship award

The call is designed for artists or cultural practitioners whose practice envisions alternative, community-based models of climate justice for the planet. View the list of eligible countries here.

Successful applicants will join 12 artists and cultural practitioners (with plus or minus 8 to 15 years of relevant professional experience) for a year-long programme aimed at accelerating engaged community-based cultural practices that acknowledge the social, political and economic dimensions of the environmental crisis.

The cohort is supported by four mentors and each artist receives an award of €10 000 to work on the concept for a body of work that they outline in their application. Through this programme, Prince Claus Fund will create an interdisciplinary platform to support critical artistic work, connect engaged practitioners, stimulate cross-disciplinary exchange and centre non-hegemonic forms of knowledge to envision alternative models of climate justice worldwide.

To encourage collaboration within the cohort and to support each artist in their individual practice, this programme incorporates various forms of interaction, including workshops, guest talks and peer-to-peer sessions. Since participants come from different locations, most activities are conducted online. However, twice during the programme, they convene in person for two Lab Weeks, which are week-long mentoring intensives. Additionally, there is a collective project in the form of a publication and a web space. 

The programme activities require an average time commitment of 10 hours per month, though this varies throughout the year. Moreover, participants should be comfortable sharing ideas in spoken English to foster a space of mutual learning and exchange.

“The climate crisis is here, affecting millions in various ways and magnitudes,” Prince Claus Fund and the Goethe-Institut said in a joint statement. “However, it is the Global South that is disproportionally faced with the most extreme outcomes of our climate collapse, exposing the social and political inequalities entrenched within our societies. Now, with the launch of call for applications for Cycle 4, and after seven fruitful years, the partnership with the Goethe-Institut has come to an end.”

Interested artists and creatives should apply here before 21 March. Applicants should read here for more information about how to apply and the application process. They should also read the guidelines on the eligibility criteria here.

About Cultural & Artistic Responses to the Environmental Crisis

The Mentorship Award was set up by the Prince Claus Fund and the Goethe-Institut, building on the valuable experience gained from their collaborative project-based support. This joint initiative provided backing for a total of 54 exceptional projects worldwide from 2018 to 2020, with examples of these showcased on takemetotheriver.net. In 2021, the programme was transformed into a mentorship, through which we have jointly supported 36 artists.

View the original call here.