Arts Collaboratory announces a call for proposals offering long term support for independent visual arts organisations focusing on collaborative arts practices and social innovation. Open to organisations in Asia.

DEADLINE for submission of concept notes: April 15th, 2013

This call for proposals invites independent visual arts organisations from Asia, Africa and Latin America that are active in the promotion of artistic quality, collaborative arts practices and social innovation, to propose a programme for support.

Organisations that are selected will receive financial support towards their organisation and programme and will participate in the Arts Collaboratory knowledge and exchange platform. Collective applications (by more than one organisation) are welcomed.

Rationale of Call
Culture is a potential driving force or trigger in processes of social innovation.
In current contemporary arts practice the role of artists and arts’ organisations as agents of change is getting more recognized. Artistic practice is further developing and increasingly focuses on researching and addressing societal issues, facilitating relationships and the development of new perspectives. At the same time, and linked to the above, organisational philosophies are changing in and outside the art world. There is an increased development of horizontal platforms and network-organisations that take a more collaborative stand or define themselves as ‘relational’.

Hivos and DOEN believe in the the potential of artists to question what often might seem unquestionable truths or status quo. Culture can potentially be a driving force or trigger in processes of social innovation. This type of innovation aims at challenging and changing the social interaction of people, and their interaction to their environment. It triggers innovation that does not decide on or define the whole process of change, but is the starting point of it. Equally important is the potential artistic processes have to include and facilitate relations with the people that are affected by this change both in the setup and process of change. And thus, enlarging the possibility that this change is meaningful and becomes sustainable. For artists to be able to take this role fully, it is crucial to have high quality artistic capabilities to develop the creative process, include people, connect and innovate artistic languages and finally develop processes and artworks people can relate to, but that also bring new perspectives or thoughts.

The procedure of selection for this call for proposals is divided in two phases. Interested organisations should first submit a summary of their proposal according to the enclosed application format to Arts Collaboratory. The Arts Collaboratory Steering Committee will make a pre-selection based on these short proposals. The selected partners will be invited to send in a more extensive proposal by the 21st of May 2013. Final decisions will be made after thorough research is done and second opinions are collected.

The objectives of Arts Collaboratory

• The improvement of the quality of artistic expression and collaborative art practices through independent visual arts organisations;


• The promotion of the development of social innovation and of new forms of engagement with publics through independent visual arts organisations

Future partners are expected to work and perform on both objectives.

Amount of funding
The maximum amount available for this call per organisation is €125.000 for a maximum period of 28 months. You can also apply in a coalition of organisations in which case higher amounts will be considered.

Criteria for this call
Every of the below criterion is considered in relation to the specific context the organisation is working in.
These criteria are programme specific and will be used next to standard assessment criteria of Hivos and DOEN with regards to governance and financial management.

• The organisation must be based in Africa, Asia, or Latin-America;


• The organisation provides an independent platform for visual artists in its local context, and serves the needs of those in terms of training and/or research, production, platform or presentation;


• The organisation promotes high quality art practice;


• The organisation has a proven interest and activities in the field of social innovation;


• Collaborative attitude: the organisation has a wide reach in its context and a collaborative attitude towards other arts platforms, -groups or -organisations in the country/wider region and possibly towards actors in other sectors in society (in application explain both view on collaboration, existing co-operations, broad network);


• The organisation has an interest in international cooperation and is willing to take up responsibility in this within the Arts Collaboratory platform. It can connect the international network to the local community and vice versa.

Next to funding 10-15 core-partners over a period of 28 months, Arts Collaboratory will have the possibility to apply for project funds. More information on these possibilities can be found from the 15th of March 2013 on www.artscollaboratory.org