Call for applications: Mophradat Grants for Artists’ Practice

The programme has two components: providing artists with flexible financial support that can be used towards their livelihood, periods of research, residencies, the production of new work and curating and presenting shows, amongst other forms of artistic work. It also provides an opportunity for a structured dialogue between the participating artists as well as one-on-one dialogue with peers from the advisory committee.

Each year, the programme provides grants of either $4 000 or $8 000 to approximately eight artists, who also participate in six conversations, organised by Mophradat. The conversations take place once a month during the first six months of the grant period as follows: three individual conversations with peers and three sessions where participants share about their personal project or practice, in conversation with the rest of the group, and following this timeline.

The programme is only open to artists who are interested in an ongoing conversation with the professional peers that Mophradat is engaging for this purpose and to those committed to take part in all the scheduled conversations during the programme.

Specific eligibility criteria

In addition to complying with the general eligibility criteria which can be read here, applicants should note the following:

• Artists must be able to demonstrate their engagement with a specific project that they are developing.
• Artists’ working methodology must be compatible with a progressive and inclusive approach to work.
• Artists must have previously completed art works and be involved in an artistic scene.
• Institutions are not eligible to apply but artists can apply to develop, collaborate or present a project with an institution.
• The proposal must have a clear intended outcome, whether practical, intellectual, or philosophical.
• The proposal must be achievable within 12 months of the grant submission deadline.
• The programme does not cover production and post-production projects for feature films, producing LPs, degree-based study programmes (such as MAs or PhDs), nor literary projects, which are notably eligible for the Writing Sabbaticals programme.
• Aiming for balanced professional relationships, Mophradat does not support applications to cover the costs and fees of artists invited to run a workshop, administer or curate projects in Europe or North America that fall under categories of (temporary) employment in those contexts, and should be covered by those hosts’ institutional budgets.

Process

• Once applications are deemed as having fulfilled the programme’s general and specific eligibility criteria, they are evaluated and selected by a group of peers. The peers’ names are communicated after the programme recipients are announced.
• Shortlisted applicants may be invited for an online conversation to discuss their application before a final selection is made.
• All applicants, whether selected or not, receive a response to their applications one month after the application deadline.
• Upon selection, the programme participants will sign a grant agreement with Mophradat.
• Selected artists participate in six follow-up conversations organised by Mophradat during the course of the grant.
• Funds will be released in a two-stage process: 90% when the grant agreement is signed and the remaining 10% upon project completion.
• A narrative and financial summary describing how the proposal developed over the grant period and how the programme was experienced and how it fulfilled (or not) its overall objective must be submitted by the end date of the grant agreement.

Note: Due to the high volume of applications and the confidentiality of the selection process, Mophradat cannot provide individual feedback explaining why an application was not selected.

By applying to this programme, applicants agree that, if selected, they will endeavour to realise their proposal. If the proposal is not realised to an appropriate level of completion within the agreed-upon timeline, they may be asked to partially or fully reimburse Mophradat.

Application

In order to prepare for the process, applicants may check out the questions here.

Interested applicants can apply by filling an online form here before 1 October. Any material sent by email will not be considered.

View the original call here.