Deadline 08-May 2022

The Sudkulturfonds has developed this grant to support 100 artists from eligible countries in the global south and east in the early stages of their careers. The grant of CHF 1,000 recognises artistic achievement and brings awarded artists to the attention of cultural promoters and presenters in Switzerland, despite travel restrictions.

The call for entries is open to artists and art collectives from eligible countries working across all art forms. Eligible artists are in the early stages of their creative development and aim to advance their careers by building new professional networks, particularly in the Swiss cultural market. Applicants are requested to submit a profile video created for this call. There is no application fee.

The 100 Artists open call is a response to the pandemic-related travel restrictions. For artists from partner countries of the Sudkulturfonds, access to the cultural markets and professional networks in Switzerland and Europe has been largely cut off. In turn, many events and opportunities for Swiss cultural promoters and presenters to identify and meet emerging artists from across the globe have disappeared. This call for entries is part of a longer-term strategy to initiate virtual relationships, build and support digital networks, and draw attention to the diverse artistic achievements in the global south and east despite limited mobility. The grant aims at strengthening the professional and financial livelihoods of eligible artists early in their professional journey and promote their presence within the Swiss cultural market.

The Sudkulturfonds is managed by artlink.

Eligibility

Professional artists and art collectives across all art disciplines who are both from and based in one of the eligible countries in Africa, Latin America, Southeast and Southwest Asia and East Europe (Non-EU countries). Please consult the DAC List of ODA Recipients to check if the country where you live, and work, is listed. The 100 Artists open call specifically supports artists and art collectives who are in the early stage of their careers with 2-10 years of professional experience. This grant was developed for artists and art collectives who have yet to be substantially recognised within their field, the media, funding circles or the public at large.

Required materials

• Artist profile video
• Video transcription in English
• Biography
• 1-2 work samples
• Completed application form

Evaluation criteria

We assess the submitted artist profile video’s relevance to the objective of the open call, which is to bring the creative achievement of artists who are at an early stage in their careers, to the attention of cultural presenters within their field. Applications will be reviewed based on the submitted video profile, with equal weight assigned to the quality and clarity of the artwork and the video statement. This call for entries is open for applications from artists working across a broad range of disciplines, mediums and cultural regions. On this note, we don’t impose specific narrative or aesthetic guidelines, provided that the terms of compliance are respected which can be found below. The video should be representative of the artist's personality and highlight the practice in a manner that sparks an interest to learn more. The technical considerations to be accounted for is that the quality is sufficient to translate the artist’s intention.

Applicants may consider the following when developing their profile video:

• What medium do you work in?
• Why do you create? Influences? Inspirations?
• How do you go about making your work? Do you have a distinctive process that is important to understand?
• What do you want the viewer of your video to do next?

What the recipient receives

The amount of the 100 Artists grant is CHF 1,000. In addition, the recognition of the grant recipients will be promoted to our broad network of arts and cultural promoters and presenters, particularly in Switzerland.

Timeline

Call for entries opens: April 1, 2022

Submission deadline: May 8, 2022 (23:59 UTC +2)

Grant recipients announced: July 4-8, 2022

Application process

1. Eligibility check
   Before applying, please check the eligibility country list, it includes the names of all the countries from which artist applications are accepted.
2. Register as a user
   A valid email address is required to register as a Sudkulturfonds user and receive your personal login. Register on this page to your right.
3. Login
   Use your login to access the online application form for 100 Artists.
4. Complete online application form
   The online application form provides the template to submit all information including the artist profile video and supporting documents. Mandatory information is marked in the application form with an asterisk (). You can choose to view and submit the application form in English or French. Please select either French or English to view the application form - ignore German and Italian*. Each application is password-protected by the user’s login and can be accessed and edited later.
5. Submit application
   Submit your complete application by May 8, 2022 (23.59 UTC +2). Submissions are accepted only through this online application system. You will receive an email confirming receipt of your submission. Applicants are notified of the jury’s final decision within the first two weeks of July 2022.

Required materials to be included in the application

Artist profile video (one submission per artist or art collective)

• Use only original footage owned by you.
• Obtain explicit permission from people shown in the video.
• We encourage you to record the profile video in English but we also accept other languages.
• Videos should not exceed 3 minutes in length.
• Accepted video file formats are MP4, MOV, WMV, AVI, and FLV.
• Videos should be formatted in high definition (720p or 1080p).
• Max. upload limit for profile videos is 400 MB.
• We recommend compressing your source file prior to upload using one of these codecs: H.264, H.265, HEVC.
  Helpful information on codecs, formats and guidelines for compression can be found on the Vimeo website here.

Video transcription in English

• Transcriptions submitted as a PDF file are mandatory for all submitted artist profile videos but will not be judged on their quality.
• For video profiles produced in a language other than English, we recommend using a free machine translation tool such as Deepl or Google to translate the video transcription to English.

Biography

• Biography up to 200 words submitted as a PDF file.
• CV is optional (max. 2 pages).
• Bio/CV must be submitted in English. Machine translations are fine.

Proofs of previous works

• 1-2 work samples. They can be provided either as a URL to a work hosted on a site and/or uploaded as a PDF file ( please limit to 12 pages, max. file size 20 MB)

Online application form

Applicants will be asked to provide:

• Basic personal information
• Artistic discipline/s
• Bank details
• Templates to add URLs and upload the required documents and materials are provided

Apply Here >>>