Call for applications: ColabNowNow 2019

ColabNowNow is a digital arts residency developed by the British Council as a space for the leading minds in digital art in Africa and the UK to connect, collaborate and learn from each other in a safe, supportive and enabling environment.

ColabNowNow will select 11 digital artists from Africa and the UK to develop cutting-edge digital artworks through collaborative artmaking and storytelling.

Applicants will apply with proposed projects that will then be developed with artistic and technical facilitators. Artists will create a collaborative exhibition to be launched on 11 October at the opening of the Maputo Fast Forward festival.

Interested artists should click here. The application deadline is 24 July.

Requirements

• Applications are open to artists and storytellers working in digital media who are aged between 18 and 35 years.
• You must live in and have a valid passport from one of the eligible countries (below).
• You must be available to travel to Johannesburg from 3 to 8 September, and Maputo from 2 to 12 October – including travel time before and after said dates. Full attendance is required.
• Previous selected ColabNowNow creatives are not eligible to apply.

The eligible countries are as follows:

• East Africa: Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, South Sudan, Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda.
• West Africa: Ghana, Nigeria, Senegal and Sierra Leone.
• Southern Africa: Botswana, Malawi, Mauritius (Indian Ocean), Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
• North Africa: Algeria, Egypt, Morocco and Tunisia.
• The UK: England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales.

Interested artists should ask themselves the following questions before they apply:

• Are you a daring artist or storyteller working in a digital medium and living in Africa or the UK?
• Are you open to collaborating with other artists/storytellers?
• Do you want a chance to see your collaborative work shown across Africa, the UK and extensively online?
• Artists can include, but are not limited, to: music/sound artists, visual/graphic artists, architects, technical artists, programmers/coders, performers and animators.
• Storytellers can include, but are not limited, to: writers, photographers, filmmakers, videographers, bloggers and vloggers.

The process

Selected creatives will meet at Fak’ugesi African Digital Innovation Festival in Johannesburg from 3 to 8 September. Creatives will use the event to share their creative work with each other and the public through workshops and presentations.

“These days will set the groundwork for the collaborative work over the next month, where an artistic and a technical facilitator will engage with the creatives online to develop the work from 9 to 31 September,” the organisers said. “Creatives will then meet in Maputo, Mozambique, from 2 to 12 October, to work collaboratively in the lead-up to the opening of the ColabNowNow exhibition, which coincides with the opening of the Maputo Fast Forward festival.”

Support

Creatives will receive artistic and technical support from two facilitators, who will work with the creatives to develop complex collaborative works in both their conceptual and technical forms.

• All travel, accommodation, meals and VISA costs are covered by the British Council.
• Artists will be paid a fee of £500 ($630) for their participation.
• A technical and installation budget is available for the collective use of the ColabNowNow team.

Selection process

The jury will be made up of representatives from Fak’ugesi African Digital Innovation Festival, Maputo Fast Forward, British Council (UK, EastAfricaArts, SouthernAfricaArts, WestAfricaArts) and the artistic and technical facilitators.

“Applications for ColabNowNow go through a strict and anonymous blind-jury process where gender and country balance are developed into the shortlisting process,” the organisers said. “Applicants will be judged solely on their artistic proposals and their ability to work collaboratively with others in order to develop new work from their proposal.”

View the original call here.