International conference organized by Art/Switch
With AHM at the University of Amsterdam and Nyenrode Business University
Location: University of Amsterdam
Dates: Friday 30 – Saturday 31 October 2020
Submission Deadline: 20 April 2020

Ongoing global developments and the rapid growth of the art world highlight the need for a continuous questioning of sustainability in the arts, in terms of actors and methods. In 2020, art institutions and professionals are just beginning to wake up to their role in contributing to climate change. Recent reforms and calls for action, such as the climate emergency declared by the Tate in July 2019, generally focus on the front of house aspects of the art world and the environmental impact of museums. Accompanying these reforms are guidelines and papers from museum associations and NGOs, for instance Resolution No. 1 “On sustainability and the implementation of Agenda 2030, Transforming our World” adopted by ICOM’s 34th General Assembly in 2019. However, the pressing issue of environmental sustainability is still greatly missing from major sectors of the art market, including art transport, storage, insurance, as well as the commercial art flow. In line with the urgent call for action established by the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals in 2015, this conference aims to open up an interdisciplinary space for practitioners and academics in order to connect debates, enhance networks and initiate an international platform for the field of sustainability in the arts. Possible topics for contributions include, yet are not limited to:

1. CARBON FOOTPRINT OF COLLECTION INSTITUTIONS
New building materials; renewable and green energy; museum architecture; waste management/reduction; establishment of effective environmental guidelines.

2. SUSTAINABLE ORGANIZATION OF ART INSTITUTIONS
The vision of art organizations and their commitment to sustainability: management; marketing; catering; digitalization; public programming; education.

3. DEVELOPMENT OF SUSTAINABLE ART STORAGE
Rethinking existing guidelines concerning climate, light and humidity control; sustainable architecture; storage management; green transportation methods.

4. QUESTIONING THE SUSTAINABILITY OF CONSERVATION PRACTICES
Object management; sustainable conservation; collection management; a decrease of collection size in favor of sustainability.

5. CREATING SUSTAINABLE EXHIBITIONS AND OPERATIONS
Sustainable materials for exhibitions, including circular architecture design and the recycling or reuse of exhibition materials.

6. REDUCING ART TRANSPORT AND DEVELOPING SUSTAINABLE METHODS
Questioning shipping practices linked to fairs, exhibitions, and a growing international online market. Thinking of creative and lasting solutions for a more carbon neutral transportation.

7. SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENTS IN ART HANDLING
Innovations in art handling: environment-friendly materials; reusable packaging designs; research into the conservational aptitude of these new materials.

More info and to apply

Submission

Academics, researchers, designers and art professionals – e.g., curators, art handlers, gallery directors, collection managers, architects, art insurers, shipping coordinators, operation managers, heads of sales, fair coordinators – are invited to submit a short bio and abstract (250 words) for an oral presentation (20 minutes average) at info@artswitch.org by 20 April 2020. 

We encourage diverse formats of presentations, including but not limited to talks, videos, workshops, music or performances. Files should be saved as follows: [last name, first name_abstract title]. All contributions will be considered for publication in the conference proceedings. For more details, visit: artswitch.org The conference fee is €200; full-time students €50

Our Interdisciplinary Residency in Art and Ecology Program has been around for 14 years, granting space and production support for people who are doing innovative work worldwide, across the arts and sciences. During their stay (3 weeks), participants use the hacienda grounds as a laboratory for the creative process and engaging with the local community. They are free to work whenever desired in the provided studios and anywhere in the property. Experimentation is encouraged as is discourse and collaboration. 

Eligibility

* Open to professionals from all countries, cultural backgrounds and aesthetics.
* Language requirements: BOTH English and Spanish (at least beginner level).
* Up to 10 people per session are selected from a mix of the following disciplines:

• Performing Arts (Music, Dance, Performance, Theater, Puppetry, etc)
• Visual Arts (Painting, Drawing, Mixed-Media, Photography, Film/Video, etc)
• Sculpture and Installation
• Design and Architecture
• Humanities and Social Sciences (Anthropology, Philosophy, Writing, etc)
• Natural Sciences (Ecology, Hydrology, Biology, Geology, etc)

Award

• LIVE/WORK SPACE: Single or double occupancy bedrooms and studios, plus common areas at the hacienda, at NO COST.
• PRODUCTION SUPPORT to realize one or more projects while in residency. 
• PUBLIC EXHIBITION at the Open House event on the last week of the residency.
• DIGITAL CATALOG showcasing each participant’s work, with a review written by a guest curator or writer.
• CONNECTIONS with Mexico’s cultural and academic presenters.

Costs

• LIVING EXPENSES: All utilities, cleaning services, drinking water and three meals per day at NET COST: $1,000 USD for the 3 weeks.
• TRANSPORTATION: We do not cover transportation expenses, but can assist you in pursuing additional funding with other sources, to cover such expenses.

APPLY

2020 SUMMER SESSION : July 6-26
APPLICATION DUE: March 1st at midnight
NOTIFICATION OF RESULTS: March 15th

FAQ

Apply by March 9 here

This article was originally published in 2019 to announce the launch of Year 1 of Ferment. Since then over $65K has been distributed to creators through Ferment. Ferment also does not seek public funding and operates as a stand-alone space experimenting with new ways of making culture.

Ferment: Space for Cultures to Grow

Incubators exist to help startups grow. Incubators are being increasingly leveraged globally to catalyze economic and community development. This is an admirable pursuit but raises important questions about the types of activities that are being supported and the forms that positive development takes. The moral foundations of capitalism are dominating more and more aspects of our culture. Unsurprisingly, incubators echo this, with an emphasis on economic growth, competition, and acquisition.

We will need systems and institutions focused on more than competition and growth if we hope to overcome the massive challenges we face as communities and as a species.

Culture is a collective resource upon which we all draw to make sense of the world. A society that lacks diversity in cultural narratives is a society that lacks the imagination to deal with the massive issues of our times. Incubators, even when ostensibly aimed at solving issues like climate change or inequality, are often deeply rooted in capitalist assumptions about wealth and growth.

New incubators embodying new values are necessary to build our collective resilience and to generate new ideas and approaches to move us forward.

Fermentation is a practice known in most cultures. In fact, there is evidence of beer making in a cave near Haifa, Israel from 13,000 years ago. Fermentation refers to the conversion of sugar into alcohol but is also applied to the leavening of bread (carbon dioxide from yeast activity) and in the preservation of foods through the production of lactic acid (like in pickles and cheese). Ultimately, fermentation serves five basic purposes: to provide greater diversity of flavors, aromas, and textures; to preserve food for later use; to increase the health benefits of a food or drink; to get rid of anti-nutrients, and to reduce the need for cooking and the associated need for fuel.

Ferment therefore becomes a useful metaphor for the work we are trying to do. We seek to:

1. increase the diversity of stories available to us to make sense of the world.
2. preserve stories and ways of knowing so that they are not lost to future generations.
3. offset the trend toward algorithmic optimization of culture at the expense of the hard work and education required to develop personal taste.
4. offer time and support to approaches that the market might not currently support
5. accelerate projects that disrupt how we deal with massive problems affecting us and subsequent generations

Fermentation takes patience and there are few quick fixes. Also, we won’t know what we’ve got until adequate time has been given. Ours is a slow and immersive process.

Ferment is an effort to help people outside traditional and institutional spheres of cultural production do their work and contribute to our collective well-being. We are doing this through research and experimentation on emerging business models, new platforms for collaboration, and unexpected sources of income.

Ferment is an effort to understand and enact a different format for ‘incubation’. Ferment is a space for new culture to grow. We intend to create alternatives to state and corporate forms of incubation.

We are following the advice of Noam Chomsky, who calls for, “spontaneous and free experimentation with new social forms”. Furthermore, we are pursuing Chomsky’s goal of “possibilities for reconstruction of society in the interests of those who are now, to a greater or lesser extent, dispossessed”.

Ferment is composed of creators that are advancing ways of understanding and describing the world that might not find a home in institutional creativity (or incubation). This includes diasporic practices, hybridized approaches, creative work that spans disciplines and sectors, and art and design that draws on traditions that do not privilege capitalist models.  

Ultimately, we hope to offer a new marketplace for solutions. Traditional approaches to incubation should not be dismissed. Our offer is a way of supporting entrepreneurial activity that is centered in different values and approaches. In farming, mono-cultures are fragile. The same argument applies to entrepreneurship and incubation.

Reach out to find out more or check out the 2019 cohort here.

Apply by March 9 here

Creative New Zealand’s latest artist residency in Fiji is now open for proposals from mid-career or established Aotearoa-based artists of Pasifika heritage to work on an arts project themed around climate change.

The new partnership with the University of the South Pacific (USP) in Suva has been established as part of the Pacific Arts Strategy 2018 – 2023.

The successful applicant will be based at the Oceania Centre over three months from August to October 2020.

The main aims of the residency are to:

• allow the artist to share their skills with the Fijian arts community and to develop a deeper understanding of Fijian culture, arts practice and the arts community across Oceania
• encourage the development of contemporary arts skills among students and peers at the Oceania Centre, Fijian artists and the wider community through their engagement with the selected artist
• build professional networks in Fiji and across Oceania for future opportunities.

Arts Council member Luamanuvao Dame Winnie Laban says that it’s an exciting development as part of the Pacific Arts Strategy to continue to foster cultural exchange between New Zealand and Fiji.

“This is a first for Creative New Zealand and the Arts Council of New Zealand Toi Aotearoa, where we can provide support for an artist and their project focusing on such an important global issue, especially for our peoples across Oceania.”

Director for the Oceania Centre for Arts, Culture and Pacific Studies Frances Koya Vaka’uta says, “It offers a wonderful opportunity for the recipient artist and for the arts community in Fiji and the USP region.”

“We also look forward to exploring new ways of engaging in arts discourse not just between the artists in the islands and Pasifika artists in New Zealand but also about their arts practice. The success of this first offering will help us to shape similar island-based initiatives for other member countries of the University in the future,” she says.

Creative New Zealand is investing $25,000 for the residency in 2020. Find more information on our website.

Key dates:

• Fund opens for applications: 24 January 2020
• Applications close: 3 April 2020
• Notify results: 22 May 2020

For funding queries and advice on applying to the fund, please contact:

​Simonne Likio
Funding Services Adviser 
Freephone: 0800 273 284
E: simonne.likio@creativenz.govt.nz  

For media queries please contact:

Paul Lisi
Senior Communications Adviser – Pacific
Creative New Zealand | Toi Aotearoa
Mob: +64 27 218 6382 | DDI: +64 9 373 3090
E: paul.lisi@creativenz.govt.nz | W: creativenz.govt.nz

Berliner Künstlerprogramm des DAAD (Berlin, Germany)

Application deadline: March 8, 2020 

Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research
Telegrafenberg 
14473 Potsdam
Germany 

www.berliner-kuenstlerprogramm.de
www.pik-potsdam.de
Facebook / Facebook / Twitter

Climate change is no longer a scientific, but a societal and policy problem. Consequently, various societal groups need to be involved in solution development as well as in debates on what sustainability may look like. To foster exchange and discussion between artists and scientists, the DAAD Artists-in-Berlin Program, the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) and the City of Potsdam Department of Culture and Museums have joined resources to offer an artistic residency at PIK.

Founded in 1992, PIK addresses crucial scientific questions in the fields of global change, climate impact and sustainable development. Researchers from the natural and social sciences work together to generate interdisciplinary insights and to provide society with sound information for decision making. The main methodologies are systems and scenarios analysis, modelling, computer simulation and data integration. The historic buildings of the institute and its high-performance computers are located on Potsdam’s Telegrafenberg campus, a unique ensemble of research facilities built in the nineteenth century. Since 2011, PIK has used the building formerly housing the “small photographic refractor” as a studio for visiting artists and as a place for scientists and artists to come together.

Artists-in-residence at PIK are provided with accommodations in the city of Potsdam and studio space at PIK, as well as a stipend paid in three monthly installments in order to offset living expenses and costs for materials and travel. During their residency, guest artists are expected to interact with the scientific community and present their work to the public in Potsdam and Berlin.

Applications are welcome from international contemporary artists working in a wide range of disciplines including visual art, film, literature, music/sound, curating, design and theory. This year, the residency will take place for a three-month period from September to November 2020. Awardees are selected by representatives from the DAAD Artists-in-Berlin Program, the City of Potsdam Department of Culture and Museums and PIK, along with two independent jury members.

To apply, please submit the following documents via email only:
(1) Letter of motivation outlining your research interest and what mutual benefits you would like to see
(2) Letter of recommendation (from an institution or person)
(3) Your CV and portfolio

All documents must be in PDF format, 9MB max filesize
Please submit to: residency.berlin@daad.de

The PIK Artists-in-Residence Program is a cooperative project between the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, the DAAD Artists-in-Berlin Program and the state capital of Potsdam and is financed by funds from the German Federal Foreign Office and the state capital of Potsdam.

(Top photo: Margret Boysen. Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research photographic refractor.)

OAC: 2020 Summer Institute

July 10-17, 2020
Takoma Park, Maryland

General Rate: $850 | Alumni Rate: $750

*Limited Work/Study & Scholarship available 

Please contact Sam Horning at samh@danceexchange.org 

Part of our Organizing with Artists for Change initiative, the Dance Exchange OAC: Summer Institute embraces process and performance, dialogue and dancemaking, and the role of artists as changemakers in and beyond the studio.

Work with Dance Exchange artists in daily movement classes and workshops to build creative tools and practices for researching and generating artwork and action. Join Executive Artistic Director Cassie Meador and Dance Exchange collaborators to explore dancemaking and performance through research and engagement connected to Cassie’s new project, Future Fields, funded by the National Endowment for the Arts.

This will be a supportive environment for focused training and development for movers and thinkers of all ages and physical capacities—for those coming to dance through another field, returning to dance after many years, or currently in a daily dance practice.

To register, please click HERE. 

About Dance Exchange’s Institutes

Dance Exchange’s Institutes are a part of our Organizing with Artists for Change initiative and focus on responding to important issues and opportunities of our time. Together we build capacities and connections for artists to ignite inquiry and inspire change in our communities by sharing practices, collaborating on ideas, and growing the network of socially-engaged arts practitioners. 

Application deadline: Feb. 16, 5pm EST

The inaugural Public Voices Fellowship on the Climate Crisis is now accepting applications.  This year-long fellowship aims to accelerate the ideas and impact of 20 new and necessary thought leaders, the majority of whom will be women and people of color.  They will be provided with extraordinary support, leadership skills and knowledge to ensure their ideas shape the greatest and most urgent conversation of our age.

The dire impacts of global warming are being felt across the globe.  The climate crisis affects every aspect of society.  But the consequences are unevenly distributed.  Those with the greatest power to mitigate its effects and adapt have the least incentive to do so.  This is true across geography, wealth, age, race and gender.

We need better and faster ideas from a more diverse set of people across all these divides including those who are most impacted by the uneven effects of global warming, and thus most likely to see new solutions and envision a more just future.

The curriculum explores leadership, power, and action in an unfair world. Fellows will learn how credibility works, how ideas spread, when and why minds change, and how ideas play out over time and space. The goal of this project is to bring new, diverse voices into the national climate conversation.

The program includes four in-person, day-long workshops and one-on-one coaching by leading journalists and editors.  All participants will publish at least two written pieces of thought leadership (and hopefully many more) during their fellowship. Attendance at all four workshops is required – applicants must save the dates in order to apply.

We are looking for new voices from civil society, academia, and the private sector, including advocates, entrepreneurs, community and business leaders, scientists, educators, and writers, among others. We are committed to building a cohort that is inclusive across all identities and backgrounds. We will take into account a variety of factors, including but not limited to race/ethnicity, geography, age, gender and area of expertise.

The Public Voices Fellowship on the Climate Crisis is a collaboration among The OpEd Project, Ann MacDougall and the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication and is part of the OpEd Project’s national initiative to change who writes history.

• The YPCCC conducts scientific studies on public climate change knowledge, attitudes, policy support, and behavior, and the psychological, cultural and political factors that drive them. We apply this research by developing communication strategies to more effectively engage key publics in climate change science and solutions. We work with governments, the media, educators, companies, and advocacy organizations around the world to implement these insights in their own communication campaigns. Finally, we directly engage a national audience via Yale Climate Connections â€“ a climate news service including a daily, 90-second radio program on climate science and solutions, broadcast on more than 500 stations and frequencies nationwide and an affiliate network of 136 Spanish-speaking stations.
• The OpEd Project is a think tank and leadership organization that expands history by amplifying the ideas and public impact of new and necessary voices, including women of all backgrounds.
• Ann MacDougall is an impact investor, independent public board member and experienced senior executive. She serves as a senior advisor to the Public Voices Fellowship on the Climate Crisis.

SELECTION

We seek leaders working at the intersection of climate change, communication, and social justice, with a demonstrated desire and ability to contribute to public dialogue on climate change. Areas of focus could include activism and movement building, financial risks and opportunities of climate impacts and solutions, local, national or global policy, climate science, sector approaches (e.g., faith, business, health), or many others.

Fellows will be chosen through a competitive selection process to achieve a diverse cohort. We will consider a variety of factors, including but not limited to gender, race/ethnicity, age, geography, area of expertise, work history, and experience as an agent of change.

DETAILS

• Up to 20 fellows
• Year-long program
• Four interactive day-long workshops in or near NYC (dates are: April 23-24, 2020; July 17; October 2; December 9, 2020). Applicants MUST commit to and save those dates.
• Dedicated editors (top journalists) to provide regular, one-on-one support/editing/coaching
• Access to ongoing mentoring for the fellowship year
• A limited number of travel and lodging stipends for those who need them. The workshops are provided free of charge.

APPLY NOW

WHAT IS SUCCESS?

We are not interested in providing a service as much as creating an outcome. Our goal is 100% success: we envision that every participant will produce tangible pieces of thought leadership in influential places (which may include op-eds, speeches, radio/TV appearances, proposals for new initiatives or businesses, and more), and that these will greatly accelerate their impact as thought leaders helping to shape history. Longer term, we aim to build a thriving and connected community of Public Voices on the Climate Crisis Fellows across cohorts.

APPLY NOW

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

These FAQs relate to all Public Voices Fellowships managed by The OpEd Project.

Now Accepting Applications
We’re pleased to announce that we are now accepting applications for our 2020 individual award program.

Application Open: February 1, 2020
Application Deadline: February 28, 2020 5pm EST
Awards Announced: May 15, 2020

We will make awards of $5,000 each to twenty artists and writers with children. Additionally, we will name twenty finalists. Please see our website for all the details and complete instructions:
https://apply.sustainableartsfoundation.org/

The deadline to apply is Friday, February 28th, 2020, 5pm EST.Please note some changes in our individual award program; while we are no longer accepting portfolios from playwrights, we are increasing the number of funded opportunities available  to playwrights in our residency grant program, notably Boulder Ensemble Theatre Company, The Eugene O’Neill Theater Center, SPACE at Ryder Farm, and New Harmony Project, among many others.

Please also see our Residency Grantee page for programs that support parents working in film, video, dance, and music: while we do not accept portfolios in these disciplines from individual artists, many of the residencies we support do.

We will now accept portfolios from artists working in jewelry, wearable textiles, and other crafts.

MORE INFO AND TO APPLY

ecoartspace is looking for writers to review exhibitions of work that addresses environmental issues for our new blog (and website to launch soon). We are also interested in writings on the state of the environment, the science of climate change, and alternative approaches to mediating the climate crisis. Feel free to message us here on Facebook, or you can email info@ecoartspace.org.