Southern Africa

The Absa L’Atelier competition, through its prizes, supports visual artists in growing their brand and in equipping them with the relevant skills needed to build their careers.

This programme invites artists to engage with heritage narratives from six countries, reimagining them through a contemporary creative lens. Selected participants will receive a 6,000 EUR grant and take part in a six-month Heritage Narrative process phase, culminating in three coproduced creative works.

This Call for Proposals seeks at least 8 heritage organisations to lead ‘Narrative Clusters’, collaborating with interdisciplinary groups of artists/creatives to develop innovative stories that increase the visibility and contemporary relevance of their heritage.

After a successful first edition in 2024, Création Africa South Africa, Lesotho and Malawi is back to support and scale up cultural entrepreneurs in South Africa, Lesotho and Malawi. Supported by the French Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs, the Embassy of France and the French Institute of South Africa (IFAS) the second edition of Création Africa, Creation Africa 2, aims to boost and support cultural entrepreneurship in South Africa, Lesotho, and Malawi.

This Call for Proposals seeks to select more than 16 heritage organisations to lead ‘Narrative Clusters’, collaborating with interdisciplinary groups of artists/creatives to develop innovative stories that increase the visibility and contemporary relevance of their heritage.

The Wits Innovation Centre (WIC), in partnership with the Machine Intelligence & Neural Discovery Institute (MIND) at Wits University, invites applications for AI & African Music, a pilot supporting new music initiatives that put African creativity at the centre of artificial intelligence.

After a successful first iteration in 2024, Création Africa South Africa, Lesotho and Malawi is back to support and scale up cultural entrepreneurs in South Africa, Lesotho and Malawi.

The University of Johannesburg (UJ) is calling for applications for its 2026 Artists in Residence Programme. This programme is designed to foster arts practice as research and is aimed at artist-academics across various disciplines.

The Goethe-Institut Project Space (GPS) programme grants seed funding to three artistic projects that are realised in rural and peri-urban parts of South Africa, Lesotho and Eswatini between February and November 2026.

Akademie Schloss Solitude, together with the National Art Gallery of Namibia and the Goethe-Institut Namibia, has announced the continuation of its bilateral residency programme, which promotes long-term cultural exchange between Namibia and Baden-Württemberg, Germany.

S+T+ARTS Afropean Intelligence (#AI) opens a call for artists to support 10 artistic residencies in Nigeria, Egypt, Tunisia, South Africa and the Democratic Republic of Congo. The project will support 10 African artists in their creation process, by providing digital tools and Afro-European transversal expertise; encouraging them to reshape narratives that promote social justice, inclusivity and challenge racial paradigms.