Call for applications: Prince Claus Seed Awards 2023

Prince Claus will offer 100 Seed Awards to emerging artists and cultural practitioners, who will each receive €5 000 (about $5 400) to develop their artistic and cultural practice.

Applicants can find out here if they are eligible for the grant.

The organisers encourage applications from creatives who:

• Empower free expression and create safe spaces that cultivate the creativity and confidence to challenge norms.
• Generate exchange, cooperation and knowledge-sharing related to current global crises.
• Generate participation and alternative narratives for minority and marginalised identities and groups, particularly those censored for political, religious, identity, cultural or economic issues.

For the Seed Awards, Prince Claus seeks early-career artists and cultural practitioners who are talented, dedicated and determined to improve their societies through their socially and politically engaged work.

Prince Claus welcomes applications from eligible applicants who:

• Are in the early and exploratory stages of their career, within the initial one to five years of their professional career (study years not included).
• Have found their own voice with an innovative and interesting artistic practice that addresses pressing social/political issues important within their local context.
• Have received little to no institutional recognition/support for their artistic/cultural practices.

Eligibility and applications process

Applicants are eligible for a Prince Claus Seed Award if they meet the following criteria:

• If an applicant is living and working in countries on the eligible country list. Individuals applying for the call must both be from and living in one of these countries.
• If an applicant is an artist or cultural practitioner with on average one to five years of professional artistic/cultural experience (study years not included).
• If an applicant is an individual artist or cultural practitioner. Collectives, groups and organisations are not eligible for the Prince Claus Seed Awards.
• If it is an applicant’s first time to receive a Prince Claus Seed Awards. Seed Awards are awarded on a one-time only basis; successful awardees from previous years are not eligible for another Prince Claus Seed Award.
• If an applicant’s practice relates strongly to art and culture and is dedicated to addressing contextually relevant societal topics or issues.

Prince Claus does not accept applications from individuals whose work:

• Revolves around academic research.
• Is purely developmental (and not cultural).
• Is not societally engaged.

Eligible expenses

The Prince Claus Seed Awards give each recipient €5 000 to invest in the development of their artistic and cultural practice/career.

Activities and expenses directly aimed at the further development of artistic practices could, for example, include, but are not limited to:

• Participation in residency programmes, festivals, workshops, etc.
• The development of a personal project.
• An investment into (materials needed for) ongoing work.

Expenses that are not eligible for a Prince Claus Seed Award are:

• Tuition fees for participation in activities that focus on the academic sector or represent traditional approaches to research and education (e.g. school/university programmes, scholarships or education firmly located within a traditional institution).

How to apply

Applicants should create an account here to begin a new submission for the Prince Claus Seed Awards.

The submission deadline is 23 February.

The application should contain:

• A completed application form, including the personal details of the applicant.
• A pitch that answers the question “What drives you as an artist/author/cultural practitioner?” This pitch can be submitted in video and audio formats, and should be a maximum of three minutes long (Note: In fairness to other applicants, Prince Claus will stop any pitches longer than three minutes after the three minute mark). If for any reason (such as accessibility or lack of resources) applicants are not able to provide a pitch in audio or video form, they should get in touch with Prince Claus at [email protected].
• A reference letter from a person or organisation that knows the applicant’s work and/or has worked with the applicant in the past (this should be signed and contain the contact details of the referee).
• An up-to-date CV.
• Supporting materials related to the applicant’s work. This should include, but is not limited to, samples of the applicant’s artistic/cultural work (videos, images, texts, portfolio), reviews and interviews.

Note: Prince Claus accepts applications in the English language. Supporting materials can be submitted in the applicant’s language of preference and video pitches can be subtitled to English (software such as Otter, Subly, Jubler and Amara provide free transcript and subtitling tools).

View the original call here.