OPEN CALL: WE ONLY WANT THE EARTH PROJECT AWARD 2

We are absolutely delighted to announce our second project award for our 2020 programme We Only Want the Earth!

We Only Want the Earth Artist Project Award 2

A4 Sounds in partnership with Fire Station Artists’ Studios and Migrants and Ethnic-Minorities for Reproductive Justice (MERJ) invite applications from migrant and ethnic minority artists, including members of the Travelling community, for a six-month project award as part of the We Only Want the Earth 2020 programme. The project will run from May to October 2020. The award aims to support an artist or group of artists based in Ireland to develop their arts practice.

Application Deadline: 5pm, Thursday 19th March 2020

About We Only Want the Earth

We are living through a time of sudden and unpredictable social change caused by interlinked issues of global warming, the collapse of the neoliberal order, a resurgence of violent misogyny and nationalism, growing inequality, housing and homelessness crises, and the growth of ecofascism. We Only Want the Earth is a 12-month programme of awards, exhibitions, and events that seeks to interrogate the goals and strategies of social change: what kind of society do we want and how should we get there?

More information about our programme here.

About the Award

A central aim of the We Only Want the Earth programme is to give material support and a platform to artists who are often silenced, or who are spoken about rather than listened to. As part of meeting this aim, this 6-month supported project award will support an artist or group of artists from migrant and/or ethnic-minority backgrounds, including members of the Travelling community, to develop and exhibit a body of work, and will provide the selected artist or group of artists with an opportunity to make contacts and identify resources that might help them to further develop their artistic practice.

Please note that the artist(s) are free to work on any topic of their choosing; there is no requirement that the work deal with issues of race, ethnicity or migration.

What the award offers

The award includes

• Free 24-hour access to studio space at A4 Sounds.
• A monthly stipend of €500 towards materials and residency costs (Total €2500).
• Artist fees of €690 for exhibiting a body of work and artist talks
• An additional budget up to €2000 for activities taking place during the award*
• Access to a range of professional development, training and technical supports.
• Access to the facilities at A4 Sounds, including shared workspaces, sculpture workshop, photography darkroom, printing suite and equipment and suitable storage for works and project materials.
• Gallery space and a materials/exhibition budget of up to €1000 will be provided to support an exhibition or series of dissemination events during the last month of the residency.
• Access to all A4 Sounds public workshops and courses for the duration of the residency.

Throughout the residency, advice and mentorship will be provided by A4 Sounds technicians and curators, a dedicated community engagement worker, and representatives from Fire Station Artists’ Studios (FSAS), Migrant and Ethnic-Minorities for Reproductive Justice (MERJ) and our consulting artists.

This award does not include a dedicated studio space, but it does include access to all shared studio spaces and facilities and therefore is open to groups of artists to apply.

*The activities budget is imagined for for artists working collaboratively or in a socially engaged way to disseminate their work during the award in the form of talks, workshops or actions that may carry additional costs including fees for other speakers or facilitators. This budget may not apply to all applicants.

Please note: this residency does not include accommodation as part of the award. Due to difficulties sourcing affordable accomodation in Dublin, we envisage that the award would be best suited to artists who are already based in or near to Dublin. However, all applications will be considered.

Aims & Expectations of the award

The selected artist is expected to

• Be available to work from the studio for the duration of the residency.
• Participate in studio life and take full advantage of resources and learning opportunities available.
• To disseminate their work in at least 2 ways.
• We will work with the successful artist to document their progress and ask that aspects of the documentation be made available to A4 for use.

Who is eligible?

Individual artists or artist groups from ethnic-minority backgrounds including members of the Travelling Community and migrant artists who are currently living in Ireland.

What what types of proposals are we seeking?

We invite radical, risk taking, bold, mischievous and political proposals. This is a visual arts award, but we welcome proposals from artists with multidisciplinary approaches where the proposed outcomes can be disseminated in a visual ways.

We are keen to hear from artists who are critical and who use a wide range of approaches to explore their ideas; including but not limited to: conversations, protest, organising, writing, sound, food, performance, video, collaborations, media, sculpture, research, installation and print.

Accessibility

Unfortunately, the A4 Sounds studio building is not fully accessible. The studio space and bathrooms are accessed via a flight of stairs (approx 22 steps) which may provide difficulties for people with movement impairments. We understand that this may exclude some artists from applying for the award, and we apologise for this. We hope to source funding to make the building more accessible in future.

For more information about the award and how to apply please visit the project award 2 page here!

We Only Want the Earth is kindly supported by The Arts Council’s Art Grant Funding Award 2020.