Netherlands | International Community Arts Festival 2026
The International Community Arts Festival (ICAF) is calling for community arts projects that work with artistic, aesthetic spaces in inspiring, innovative, and/or impactful ways for the 10th edition, to be held in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, from 25 to 29 March 2026. The theme for this edition is ‘Space for Imagination’.
In community arts processes, space for imagination often arises as part of the creation process. In these spaces, we are invited through our own imaginations to express ourselves in our most authentic ways, to revise, explore, and (re)imagine our realities and identities, and to become owners of our own representation. At the same time, spaces for imagination can challenge existing power structures, break through rigid roles, hierarchies, expectations and stereotypes. It can challenge questions like who takes up what kinds of space?
Eligibility
Anyone can submit a proposal: individual artists, thinkers, makers, academics, groups, duos, collectives, organisations, companies, and institutions.
Projects may come from, and include all artistic disciplines, as long as their process and outcome are made through equal and reciprocal relationships with a community of people who are not trained artists.
Submitted proposals can take many forms including, but not limited to, lectures, seminars, workshops, interventions, installations, and small- or large-scale performances.
Support
For every selected project, the organisers always look for suitable financial possibilities and support to cover the following: travel and accommodation costs, an artistic fee, reimbursement of expenses, a festival pass with lunch and dinner, and access to the entire programme.
To cover these costs, after the selection procedure we will enter a fundraising process in cooperation with the selected participants. After this fundraising process is complete, we will know concretely what can be offered regarding all the above.
ICAF 2026 application guidelines
Deadline: 29 January 2025