Call for applications: Arab world research grants

RAP is now in its second cycle and was launched to support research in all art practices across disciplinary boundaries and methodological approaches on key themes of concern to and in the Arab region.

According to the AFAC, RAP aims to:

• Link the arts, humanities and social sciences.
• Answer a specific analytical question concerning artists, art practices and/or art production.
• Produce knowledge on how social, economic and political processes shape the arts (practices and production) or vice versa and explore the role and status of artists in the wider community.
• Empower the production of different kinds of knowledge and encourage dialogue between academia and practice.

The topics that are eligible for this grant include, but are not limited, to:

• The role of official and unofficial institutional processes in giving rise or constraining the emergence of art.
• The impact of the expansion of art markets, economic restructuring and constrained public funding for the arts.
• The impact of neoliberal models of institutions and organisations on the arts.
• The definition of artistic work, artistic identity and audiences.
• The relationship between artists and the state; the role of official institutions in providing support or undermining artistic production.
• The effect of technological innovations and computer technology on artistic dissemination and the production of new forms of artistic expressions.
• Impact of laws, cultural policies, culture industry and practices on the form and content of artworks.
• Access of diverse audiences to the arts.
• Art spaces as aesthetic and/or political spaces.
• The role of the arts in class and status reproduction; how current social inequalities reflect on the arts.
• The role of arts at particular historical moments and what they reveal about society.
• Meaning, measurement and impact of arts.
• Arts as tools of inclusivity and exclusion.
• Public perceptions of the arts.
• Elitism vs populism in the arts.
• The impact of exile, displacement and migration on art production.

Project eligibility

The grants are for the duration of 18 months for individuals, teams and collectives (starting December 2019 and ending May 2021) and up to 24 months for institutions (starting December 2019 and ending December 2021).

Individual researchers can apply for up to $15 000 while teams of researchers or collectives can apply for up to $25 000. Institutions can apply for up to $35 000.

The RAP supports research projects at any stage of their development. Research proposals can be submitted for new or ongoing projects and may include:

• Preliminary or pilot phases of a project.
• Longer-term projects combining fieldwork and analysis.
• Analysis and write-up of previously concluded data collection.
• Extensions of previous projects that seek to bring in new cases and examples
• Comparative projects extended to include further locations

Who can apply?

Applicants must:

• Be citizens of an Arab country. In the case of teams and collectives, the team leader must be a citizen/national of an Arab country and must be based in the Arab region.
• Be researchers from diverse backgrounds in arts, humanities and social sciences, as well as allied fields.

Requirements

Those who have benefited previously from an ACSS grant are only eligible if their grants were closed before March 2017. AFAC grantees who have a current open grant are not eligible to apply.

Applicants applying as individuals must:

• Be a holder of a PhD degree in the relevant fields.
• Be an art practitioner with at least 10 years of practical experience.

Applicants applying as teams, collectives and institutions must:

• Have at least four research team members.
• Be a PhD holder (principal investigator) in one of the disciplines or fields described above, and up to three team members including (at least) MA degree holders and/or art practitioners.
• Be an art practitioner with at least 10 years of experience after graduation (principal investigator) and up to three team members including (at least) MA degree holders and/or art practitioners.

The application deadline is 1 August 2020. Successful applicants will be notified on 6 November 2020.

For guidelines on the application process, view the original call here.