The British Council in Zimbabwe commissioned a needs analysis for young urban creatives in Harare and Bulawayo in 2015. The research intends to develop arts and education initiatives, primarily targeting youths 18-35 years, based on their needs and desires and, in doing so, encourage urban youths to use creative arts and education to express the challenges they are facing, as well as their creative aspirations, through dialogue and engagement. Major findings from the research informed four critical recommendations as follows:
- Support creative spaces for youth
- Get young artists meeting, talking and critiquing
- Professionalise arts and culture training.
- Support improved coordination of arts sector support
Our aim is at finding new ways of connecting with and understanding each other through creativity. Also to facilitate more collaborative work at community, regional and international levels connecting with UK and Zimbabwe contemporary between 18-35 years. It is against this background, which British Council is putting out a call for project ideas, to develop projects with creatives (individuals/organisations) to respond to these recommendations and in line with our arts strategy in the medium to long term. To access the full report about the needs analysis research visit: https://www.britishcouncil.co.zw/events/young-urban-artists-needs-assess…
Projects must be;
- Devised for our 18–35 audience demographic
- Able to engage and extend reach across multiple digital platforms (social media, website)
- Designed for an urban context and audience
- Collaborative with financial or /and in kind investment from two or more partners
- Mutually beneficial – to artists, participants and audiences in both countries
- Open to both first time collaborator with British Council and those who have collaborated with British Council in the past years.
- Projects would need to see significant activity implementation prior to March 2017
PROJECT CATEGORIES
We have three Creative categories available, supporting our themes and ambitions of developing
Creative People to People: New Partners
Amount: up to £3,500 GBP
This category is open to creative individuals from any art form (either independent or working as part of a company) wishing to develop work in a different context and location with new artists and/or art-forms.
This is also open to small scale companies wishing to invite individuals to collaborate, such as a guest director, sound artist, writer or digital artist that they wish to contribute to their project.
This must be a UK ZW collaboration, may be digital but should culminate in a project with audience reach in one or both countries.
Creative Spaces: Place to Place
Amount: up to £8,000 GBP
This category is for small to medium scale creative organisations in both the UK / ZW wishing to collaborate with each other on new projects that develop art form practice and stretch artistic boundaries and genre. Relooking at space: Physical space, Pop-up spaces, digital spaces that could be re-purposed to generally support young artists and communities. Projects should focus primarily on Live Performance and/or Visual Arts and/or Moving Image.
Creative Skills: Practice to Practice
Amount: up to £10,000 GBP
This category is for UK and ZW medium – large scale institutions, wishing to collaborate with each other, crossing boarders, sharing excellence and expertise on ground breaking projects that raise the profile and awareness of institutions and their place in the cultural landscape.
We welcome applications that extend beyond the institutions and engage new audiences for arts and culture in the public realm.
INCLUSION CRITERIA
We are offering new partners the opportunity to submit project proposals that meet our criteria and agree to adhere to the following:
- Demonstrate creative quality, innovation and excellence
- Offer a rewarding creative experience for artists, participants and audiences
- Support the British Council ZW ARTS CONNECT themes and ambitions
- Have a lead applicant in either Zimbabwe or UK
- Are a partnership between creative/enablers in the UK and Zimbabwe
- Support for creative careers of developing aspirant artists (18-35 years) guided by the needs analysis recommendations
- Awareness between artists and audiences in Zimbabwe and the UK
- An innovative approach to digital communications as an integral part of the project
- Have a proven track record and experience of arts project delivery
- Fit within the agreed delivery timeline – all projects must start before March 2017
- Agree to our Monitoring and Evaluation process and gather appropriate feedback
- Adhere to the British Council’s equal opportunities and diversity frameworks (as outlined on our website)
CROSS CUTTING ISSUES
Projects can be from any genre and cross genre projects are also welcomed. We also have an interest in the following cross cutting issues;
- How cities are using creativity in their development
- Strengthening the role of women in the arts
- Developing business and digital skills of artists
- Innovative practice and approaches
- Reaching young people in the UK with a new understanding of Zimbabwe
HOW TO APPLY
To submit please send an application describing what your project is, how it meets our criteria and includes the details below:
- A copy of the Application Form (downloadable here at the bottom of this page)
- Budget i.e. income and expenditure sheet either as part of application form or separately. This must include co-creation values if appropriate, and all financial and non-financial input.
If you do not have a partner/organisation in the other country and would like support in identifying one by utilising the British Council’s international network to connect you, this too is possible, please contact us to discuss your application.
*Please note that any award will take the form of a grant and VAT cannot be added. Therefore your budget must include any VAT payable.
Please write OPEN CALL followed by – Creative spaces/Creative skills/Creative people to people- (dependent on what category you are applying for) in the subject line and send to: [email protected]
You may apply in more than one category.
TIMELINE FOR APPLICATIONS
Deadline for Grant Applications will be Monday 4 July 2016 midnight in respective countries.
Call for applications opens 30 July 2016
Proposals deadline by 09 September 2016
Notification to applicants September 2016.
