The Prince Claus Mentorship Award is a year-long interdisciplinary programme that creates space for artists and cultural practitioners to explore critical artistic practices at the intersection of arts and environmentalism.
Alarming changes in nature and our environment are all around us: forests and wildlife are disappearing; air and oceans are increasingly polluted; sea levels are rising; and extreme weather phenomena are escalating; additionally the outbreak of a worldwide pandemic has been a wake-up call. While causes and consequences of environmental change and the climate crisis are being debated by politicians, scientists and the broader public, the most affected people are often those least heard.
Artists and cultural practitioners across the world are setting up initiatives and rethinking responses to environmental change and the climate crisis. Now, more than ever, we need arts and culture to help us respond; to inspire and motivate us by challenging our perceptions, encouraging us to change our habits by introducing intersectional and transdisciplinary perspectives, and centering indigenous forms of knowledge and ways of living to envision alternative models of climate justice in the world.
The Goethe-Institut and Prince Claus Fund mentorship programme brings together 12 emerging artists and cultural practitioners (8-15 years of relevant professional experience) with 4 mentors, all working across a range of disciplines and environmental issues in a year-long programme aimed at accelerating engaged cultural practices and fostering leadership. These 12 individuals each develop a body of work, form a peer group, and throughout the year receive mentorship guidance, exchange ideas, collaborate, and jointly delve deeper into their practices. The 4 mentors, all experts on the intersection of arts and the environment, guide the participants throughout the programme.
The programme consists of two Labs (week-long mentoring intensives, one in person and one online), bi-monthly online masterclass and peer-group sessions and an awards ceremony and visitors programme in Amsterdam and Berlin. Each participant receives an award of €6000 to work on the concept for a body of work that they outlined in their application, with an additional €4000 being available for either a collaboration with other participants, or if their concept solidifies in the process and needs extra budget to be realised.
Applicants must be individuals living and working in one of Prince Claus Fund’s working countries.
