Call for applications: Prince Claus Fund Building Beyond Mentorship programme

Building Beyond Mentorship is an alternative educational programme aimed at fostering thought leadership, promoting criticality and reframing design-based practices. The programme consists of peer group sessions, masterclasses and two mentoring intensives in the form of Lab Weeks – one on the African continent and one in the Netherlands – where there will be opportunities for exchange and to build participants’ network in different scenes.

In addition to this, each participant receives an award of €10 000 (about $10 400) and guidance from mentors to work on the concept for a body of work that is outlined in their application.

The call is open to emerging artists, designers, creatives or thinkers whose individual practice relates to design, public space, architecture, activism, policy and the digital space.

Artists who are from, living, registered and working in the following countries should apply: Algeria, Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Egypt, Ethiopia, DRC, Ghana, Kenya, Libya, Mali, Mauritania, Morocco, Mozambique, Niger, Nigeria, Uganda, Rwanda, Senegal, Somalia, Tanzania, Tunisia, Chad, South Africa and South Sudan.

How to apply

The application includes questions relating to the programme and the artists’ practice, a concept outline of work to be developed within the mentorship, a portfolio of previous work, and a pitch/motivation.

To apply, applicants need to: 

• Create an account on the Prince Claus Awards Platform and start a new submission for the Prince Claus Mentorship Award: Building Beyond.
• Fill in all required fields and attachments. They can save the application and complete it later up until the deadline. If they have any questions along the way, they should refer to the platform’s FAQs or email awards@princeclausfund.nl.
• The application deadline is 4 August at 23.59pm CAT.
• Applicants will receive the outcome of their applications by mid-November.

Note: Due to the nature of the programme, the Prince Claud Fund will only accept applications in English.

Participation

The programme is set to begin in February/March 2023 and will be consistently ongoing for the duration of the year. The Prince Clause Fund will communicate the expectations in a timely manner, and the schedule for the programme will be shared with the participants in November 2022 in order to afford the participants time to make arrangements for their participation.

From the outset of the programme, in February/March 2023, the selected participants are expected to be available to actively engage in all aspects of the mentorship programme, including scheduled meetings, general communications and travels. In general, this will require participants to prepare for and partake in the mentorship for about 2.5 hours per week, in addition to three weeks set aside for the in-person and online mentoring intensives. Continued participation is dependent on this active engagement.

The financial award is meant to be invested in the development of the concept outlined in the application. The Prince Claus Fund and the Creative Industries Fund-NL will cover the costs related to the mentorship programme itself, including travel expenses, visa costs and accommodation during travel. Participants are responsible for their own travel insurance. Further details on the covered expenses are communicated with successful applicants at a later date.

Criteria for selection of applications

The following criteria are used for assessing applications: 

• Original: The work is innovative and artistically interesting.
• Transformative: The work engages with pressing social/political issues, is challenging and thought-provoking, and aims to create lasting change.
• Context-specific: The work is important in and relevant to the local context.
• Inclusive: The work is linked to the ultimate aim of more inclusive societies, connecting people in ways that resist marginalisation, oppression and division.
• Impactful: The award will make a real difference to the professional development, engagement and impact of the individual’s practice.
• Potential to accelerate: The individual has the potential to become a leader in the field, the work is engaged and focused on relevant social issues within context.

Note: Previous grantees of the Prince Claus Fund are not eligible to apply unless their previous project is finished and closed before the end of 2022.

“We are specifically looking for individuals with around five to 10 years of experience in design and/or spatial research and/or spatial practice,” the Prince Claus Fund said. “We are excited by experimental work that moves beyond disciplinary and thematic boundaries, and especially welcome applications that consider community needs and desires while promoting the inclusion of marginalised groups and identities.”

View the original call here.