Call for applications: Project grants for the MENA region

The programme aims to support and encourage the artistic and literary productivity and creativity of a new generation of young artists and writers from the Arab region by offering grants to enable them to produce their first creative projects.

Grants of up to €8 500 ($10 000) are available for projects in music, literature, performing arts and visual arts and of up to €13 000 for projects in cinema and video.

Since it was first launched in 2004, the initiative has provided about 300 grants to artistic innovators in the Arab region.

The application deadline is 8 November. 

Who can apply?

• Applicants must be between 15 and 35 years old as of 1 January 2022. 
• Applicants must originate from an Arab country regardless of ethnicity and citizenship status or whether they are currently residing in the Arab region or abroad.
• Applications are open to artists of all disciplines: Performance arts, visual arts, literature, music, cinema/video, etc.

How to apply

• Interested individuals need to read the application guidelines carefully before registering to complete the application form.
• The application must be completed entirely in Arabic, apart from the blanks that require English.
• The application must include all necessary supporting documents

Note: Applications that do not meet the eligibility requirements and that do not include all required attachments, supporting documents and examples of previous works will be eliminated and not be forwarded to the jury.

How grantees are selected

• After the deadline for submissions for each round, all applications submitted for that round are screened in terms of the eligibility of the applicant and the fulfilment of the application requirements, including the full completion of the application form and inclusion of the required supporting documents and attachments.
• Applications that meet all the requirements are submitted to an independent jury for each of the five categories. The composition of the juries changes with each round. Each jury consists of three artists and writers with recognised expertise in their disciplines.
• The juries assess the applications and select the grantees on the basis of a set of established assessment criteria that are applied in each round. The criteria include the quality and relevance of the project, originality, practicability of the projected budget and feasibility of completion by deadline.

Further enquiries can be emailed to awards@mawred.org.

For more information, visit the official website.