Deadline: July 24, 2019
Applications are open for the British Council ColabNowNow 2019. The British Council invites young digital creatives to take part in the third edition of ColabNowNow in partnership with Maputo Fast Forward and Fak’ugesi African Digital Innovation Festivals.
ColabNowNow will select 11 digital artists from Africa and the UK to develop cutting edge digital artworks through collaborative artmaking and storytelling. Applicants will apply with proposed projects which will then be developed with artistic and technical facilitators. Together they will create a collaborative exhibition to be launched on 11 October 2019 at the opening of the Maputo Fast Forward festival.
ColabNowNow has been developed by the British Council as a space for the leading minds in digital art in Africa and the UK to connect, collaborate and learn from each other in a safe, supportive and enabling environment. Do you think you have what it takes?
Programme Details
Selected creatives will meet in Johannesburg at the Fak’ugesi African Digital Innovation Festival (3-8 September) where they will share their creative work with each other and the public through workshops and presentations. These days will set the groundwork for the collaborative work over the next month, where an artistic and a technical facilitator will engage with the creatives online to develop the work from 9 – 31 September. (Facilitators have been selected from a closed call including ColabNowNow creatives from 2017 and 2018).
Creatives will then meet in Maputo, Mozambique, 2-12 October, to work collaboratively in the lead up to the opening of the ColabNowNow exhibition which coincides with the opening of the Maputo Fast Forward Festival. The exhibition will be catalogued and digitised, allowing it to travel from November 2019 – February 2020 to East, West and North Africa, THE UK, and in its entirety online.
Benefits
- Creatives will receive artistic and technical support from two facilitators, who will work with the creatives to develop complex collaborative works in both their conceptual and technical forms
- All travel, accommodation, meals and VISA costs are covered by the British Council
- Artists will be paid a fee of 500 GBP for their participation
- A technical and installation budget is available for the collective use of the ColabNowNow team
Eligibility
- Open to artists and storytellers working in digital media who are aged 18-35
- You must live in and have a valid passport from one of the eligible countries
- You must be available to travel to Johannesburg 3-8 September, and Maputo 2-12 October – including travel time before and after said dates. Full attendance is required
- Previous selected ColabNowNow creatives are not eligible to apply.
Eligible Countries
- East Africa: Ethiopia | Kenya | Rwanda | South Sudan | Sudan | Tanzania | Uganda
- West Africa: Ghana | Nigeria | Senegal | Sierra Leone
- Southern Africa: Botswana | Malawi | Mauritius | Mozambique | Namibia | South Africa | Zambia | Zimbabwe
- North Africa: Algeria | Egypt | Morocco | Tunisia
- United Kingdom: England | Northern Ireland | Scotland | Wales
Selection Process
Applications for ColabNowNow go through a strict and anonymous blind-jury process where gender and country balance are developed into the shortlisting process. Applicants will be judged solely on their artistic proposals and their ability to work collaboratively with others in order to develop new work from their proposal.
The jury will be made up of representatives from Fak’ugesi African Digital Innovation Festival, Maputo Fast Forward, British Council (UK, EastAfricaArts, SouthernAfricaArts, WestAfricaArts), and the artistic and technical facilitators.
Application
For more information, visit British Council ColabNowNow.
