The British Council and the School of Digital Arts (SODA) at Manchester Metropolitan University are seeking African Artists looking to gain further experience in digital arts during an exciting residency. The purpose of the residency is to create opportunities for collaboration between selected artists from countries in Africa as well as the UK, connecting them to industry partners and offering training and skills development courses.
The residency will support two artists in the use of emerging technology in their practice. This pilot programme will work with SODA’s neighbours in Manchester – the local communities of Hulme and Moss Side – to facilitate strategic engagement with local communities through an international Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) program.
The theme of the residency is Future Storytelling. It will seek to explore how, through an action-research approach, we can unlock futures for those currently underrepresented in the Creative Digital Industries. The residents will be expected to work directly with communities, putting technology into people’s hands and discovering how these tools can be used to share imagination and shape futures through creative practice.
The organisers are looking for 15 young people aged 18-35 from Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa, and Zimbabwe who have experience in the areas listed below:
- User Experience Design
- Future Media Production
- Games Design
- Games Art
- Animation
- Filmmaking
- Sound Design
- Photography
- Immersive Arts
The young people will work together on the development of content for a public-facing demonstrator and event. The residency, broken into four stages, will see the fifteen participants collaborate remotely to develop media with young UK creatives over two months. Thereafter, two participants will be selected to be part of an in-situ residency in September and October 2022.
The successful participants will be hosted by MMU and Niamos in Manchester during their stay, which will culminate in an event that demonstrates the outcome of the residency.
All costs relating to this project will be covered by SODA.
