Art Rights Truth (ART) and CIVICUS: World Alliance for Citizen Participation invite collaborative proposals from artists and activists working together seeking to communicate the value and contributions of civil society through art. The focus is mainly on the visual arts, although other formats can be considered.

In articulating what exactly it is that civil society stands for, proposals can:

• Go beyond dry, technical and jargon-laden arguments to present the case for civil society in a way that appeals to people’s emotions, passions and hopes.
• Outline ways in which the language of human rights and civil society can be reclaimed from illiberal actors and causes.
• Identify macro-narratives to contest populist and authoritarian narratives such as ‘NGOs/civil society groups are foreign agents’, ‘we are under siege’ (from refugees, terrorists, etc.) and ‘make our country great again’.
• Consider the need to go beyond reactive responses (to abuses, new laws, etc.) to include proactive responses.
• Imagine alternative futures, for example from innovative ideas and interventions in the past or present.
• Suggest ways of moving beyond human rights and civil society each being understood in as a zero-sum game, where gains for one group are seen as entailing losses for another.

Ten selected proposals will receive up to 4,000 GBP each, which can be used as seed-funding to get a project off the ground or to boost an ongoing initiative. Successful applicants will be expected to make new arts-based work or interventions using the funding.

Application guidelines 

Deadline: 15 September 2024