ASEF Mobility First! x Cambodian Living Arts: A Special Joint Open Call for Arts Organisations

CULTURE OVER COFFEE – Let’s talk culture over a cuppa!

A joint initiative of the Asia-Europe Foundation (ASEF) and Cambodian Living Arts (CLA) to support small gatherings for people in the arts to connect, exchange and learn.

The art world has shown strong resilience by going digital in the new normal. Holding performances and exhibitions online or in hybrid events have enabled artists to engage in creativity throughout this crisis.

However with most available funds focused on supporting productions, networking and building new connections have largely been missing in the programming.

Given this new reality, the Asia-Europe Foundation (ASEF) and Cambodian Living Arts (CLA) aim to fill this gap through Culture over coffee - a joint open call for organisations to organise small, closed gatherings whether physical, virtual or hybrid. These gatherings are intended for discussion and exchange between the participants – like the kind of conversation you may arrange to have as a follow up after meeting at a conference and discovering some shared interests or concerns. The gathering could be focused on developing something you want to work on together, or it could be to explore an issue about which you have shared concerns or questions, or to exchange knowledge and experience in a certain field. The gathering does not need to be open to the public, although streaming it would be welcome if you find that relevant.

The joint call aims to:

Promote cultural exchange by allowing free-flowing conversations to happen
Enhance the professional development of cultural professionals by bridging new and strengthening existing connections
Expand the diversity of cultural professionals participating in exchanges and collaborations

Eligibility and Requirements:

Organisations are invited to submit their proposed topic, agenda, format, and participants through the Proposal Template (download here: Culture Over Coffee-Proposal Template) and submit via email to grants@cambodianlivingarts.org
Arts organisations should be based and operating in any of the ASEM partner countries
Each application should have at least 6 and a maximum of 8 participants
All participants must also be from ASEM partner countries
Organisations may identify & list all the names of participants in their proposal. Alternatively, they may identify at least 50% of the participants and ASEF and CLA can recommend the remaining participants
For applications that identify all participants, they should have a mix of at least 3 nationalities from ASEM countries
For applications that identify 50% of participants, they should have a mix of at least 2 nationalities from ASEM countries
At least 50% of the participants should be women
Selected organisations will organise and host the gatherings
Selected organisations are required to submit a post-event online report, programme/agenda, images and/or video clips from the event within 2 weeks of the event.

Grant coverage:

Each selected organisation will be awarded a grant of USD 500 (US Dollars Five Hundred)
Grant will be paid in full upon completion of the event and submission of the requirements. The grant is meant to cover for expenses incurred in organising the gathering including speakers’/presenters’ fees, refreshments, logistics and other administrative costs.

Timeline & Selection:

The open call will be accepting applications from 8 June to 8 October 2021
Applications will be received and reviewed by both ASEF and CLA on a rolling basis and you can expect to hear feedback about your application within 2 weeks of submission.
Events should be held between 28 June to 30 October 2021
We aim to select 1-2 events per month from June-October 2021
Selected organisations are required to submit post-event reports within 2 weeks of the events. Grants will be disbursed within 2 weeks of submission of post-event reports