Duration: 8-9 months
How do personal, institutional, and political relationships to the past shape the realities of the present? And how might artistic practice not only question inherited histories but also imagine new horizons for collective life?
For Cycle 3 of the Fellows Award Moving Narratives, we invite artists and cultural practitioners working across diverse forms, including, but not limited to, moving image, performance, writing, and archival research, to investigate how narratives shape society.
We welcome proposals that challenge and reimagine the frameworks through which knowledge, memory, and social relations are constructed, recognising artistic practices as a vital force for questioning assumptions and cultivating new modes of engagement.
Moving Narratives especially encourages projects that re-examine historical legacies, challenge Eurocentric discourses, and connect contemporary emancipatory movements with their historical roots. Through the intersection of formal experimentation, socially engaged content, and ethical responsibility, the programme amplifies artistic practices that are at once critical, generative, and self-reflective.
Fellows receive €10,000 to invest in the growth of their practice and take part in a programme dedicated to developing creative strategies that challenge, inspire, and transform.
Programme: Moving Narratives brings together nine socially and politically engaged mid-career artists and cultural practitioners working across a wide range of mediums and approaches. Guided by four Senior Fellows, participants are encouraged to collaboratively experiment, exchange ideas, and develop artistic strategies that interrogate dominant narratives and the inequalities they perpetuate. We welcome applications from artists who are actively engaged in their local communities, with particular emphasis on practices that employ intersectional and critical approaches to challenge prevailing worldviews and discourses.
Eligibility
With this open call we invite applications from individual, experienced artists and cultural practitioners who:
Are from, live and work in our eligible countries;
Are artists, cultural practitioners, or creatives working on thematics related to Moving Narratives. The Prince Claus Fund holds a broad understanding of arts and culture. When referring to artists and cultural practitioners, we mean people who have an individual artistic practice. Individuals who are arts managers, facilitators, academic researchers or others, without an individual artistic practice, do not fall under this category, and are not eligible to apply.
Have between 7-15 years of relevant professional experience. Moving Narratives is meant only for individual artists who, regardless of age, meet the professional experience criteria, counting from the date they started engaging in a professional artistic practice to the date of submitting their application.
Due to the nature of the programme, applicants need to be able to communicate in English.
Moving Narratives will be carried out with three main goals in mind: firstly, to foster conversation, collaboration, and exchange within the cohort; secondly, to support each artist in their own individual practice; and, thirdly, to facilitate interchanges between the cohort and relevant external practitioners.The programme will begin in February-March 2026 and will be ongoing consistently for the duration of 8 to 9 months. Expectations will be communicated in a timely manner, and the schedule will be shared with the participants in early February 2026 to provide them with enough time to plan for their participation.
To facilitate inter-cohort connections, the programme will encourage participants to interact in group and sub-group sessions, ranging from presentations to workshops and an in-person Lab Week. To support the participants’ individual artistic practice, there will be encounters in sub-groups and one-on-one sessions with the Senior Fellows to dive further into the development of their body of work. To facilitate exchanges with practitioners, relevant guests are invited to be a part of the programme.
Programme Structure
Commitment: From the outset of the fellowship in March 2026, selected participants are expected to be available and actively engaged in all aspects of the programme, including scheduled meetings, general communications, and travel. Ongoing participation is contingent upon this active engagement. On average, participants should expect to dedicate approximately 20 hours per month to the fellowship.
Eligible expenses: The use of the Award is not restricted to a pre-decided budget, but it must be used for the development of the applicant’s artistic or cultural practice. The Prince Claus Fund covers the costs related to the Fellows programme itself, including travel expenses, visa costs, and stay. Individuals are responsible for their own travel insurance. Further details on the covered expenses are communicated with successful applicants at a later date.
Themes: The programme is a collective moment to experiment, exchange, and develop artistic strategies that address dominant narratives and the inequalities they perpetuate. Moving Narratives cohorts tackle locally rooted issues while speaking to the global challenges humanity is facing, whether through challenging authoritarianism and fascism, articulating issues around the patriarchy and capitalism, or reexamining history and collective memory.
Deadline for Applications: October 9, 2025, 17:00 CET
“While we try our best to keep our information updated, the closing date of the actual job source may be changed by the recruiter without prior notice. With this, please make sure to check the official job link when submitting your application. Thank you.”
