Call for Applications: ANT Adaptation Fund (Zimbabwe & Zambia)
With financial support from the regional office of the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (Harare)
2021: A Transition Year
During the course of the last two decades, the Johannesburg office of Pro Helvetia the Swiss Arts Council has been supporting mobility, collaboration and professional exchange among arts professionals and organisations in Southern Africa, with financial support from the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation. Since 2012, the regional arts programme has involved investment of approximately USD 3 million through nearly 400 grants to individuals and organisations across the SADC region. From 2021, the focus of the SDC regional office moves towards bilateral engagement with Zimbabwe and Zambia, and from 2022 onwards the cooperation agreement between Pro Helvetia and the SDC regional office in Harare will come to an end, with the regional office managing investments in the cultural field in these two countries directly. 2021 therefore represents a transition year in which Pro Helvetia exits from its role in supporting regional mobility, and works with the SDC regional office in conceptualising future investments in Zimbabwe and Zambia, in dialogue with partners in those two countries on needs and priorities.
Applications closed
How do we not only survive the current moment, but reimagine the future for cultural work and an interconnected, thriving cultural field on the continent? Pro Helvetia Johannesburg invites arts professionals and organisations in Zimbabwe and Zambia to apply for support to develop and realise adapted working practices, novel approaches to individual and organisational sustainability, and the growth of new networks and markets with the rest of the continent.
Building on the experience of the ANT mobility fund over a number of years, the ANT Adaptation Fund looks for proposals that explore new ways of working in the emerging post-COVID reality of economic contraction, digital adaptation, a reduced local consumption base, ongoing challenges to infrastructure supporting the arts, and continued constraints on international mobility and touring. The call aims to support adaptation to the successive shocks experienced at the level of operations, livelihoods and programming wrought by the COVID19 pandemic in the cultural field in these two countries.
Key Focus Areas
The fund supports projects and activities that involve one or more of the following areas of action supporting sustainability for individuals and organisations in Zimbabwe and Zambia:
- Transnational collaboration within the region and/or continent
- Accessing new audiences and markets, whether domestic, regional or more broadly international
- Digital adaptation, whether at the level of creation, collaboration, distribution, monetisation of artistic practice/work
- Product/service development towards diversification of income streams
- New approaches to partnership or collaboration between non-profit, commercial and/or public entities
Applications should relate to at least one of the following disciplines:
(1) Performing arts (theatre, live arts, and dance); (2) Digital arts, gaming and new media; (3) Visual art, craft and design, (4) Literature and publishing; (5) Multi/cross-disciplinary applications of the arts; and (6) Music.
Activities and Projects should take place between July and December 2021.
Apply for ANT Adaptation funding
Individual arts professionals (artists, curators, organisers) and informally constituted groups from Zimbabwe and Zambia are invited to submit applications that address one or more of the key focus areas and disciplines mentioned above. The maximum value of grants for individuals and informally constituted groups is USD 3 000.
Arts companies, festivals and arts organisations/businesses (legally constituted non-profit or commercial entities), are invited to submit proposals that address one or more of the key focus areas and disciplines mentioned above. The maximum value of grants for companies, festivals and arts organisations/businesses is USD 10 000.
Finance can be assigned to the following types of costs/expenses:
- Time: your time to develop new concepts, activities, products and projects (this should not exceed 1/3rd of the overall request; in the case of organisations this can be assigned to salaries).
- Tools: materials and equipment supporting new production methods and/or digital adaptation; software and hardware supporting digital adaptation; IT and connectivity costs, etc.
- Travel: Local and international travel costs supporting collaboration, project development, presentation of work, etc. (including visa and accommodation costs). Note: only Economy flights are supported; Per diem costs are supported up to USD30 per day per person; Accommodation costs should not exceed USD60 per person per night.
- Expertise: fees for: creative collaborators; training, mentoring and support; organisational development expertise (for organisations and companies); promotional and marketing costs, product and/or service development inputs, etc.
Activities/costs that do not qualify for funding:
- Commercial or profit-oriented projects.
- Training of non-professionals.
- Formal education programmes or course fees (e.g. at schools, colleges or universities).
- Book printing (though we could consider supporting content research or development, or audience led dissemination).
Criteria informing the evaluation of your proposal include:
- Clarity of intent and the relevance of the proposed activities to the objectives of the Regional Arts Programme.
- Artistic merit/quality and the track record of the applicant artistically and professionally.
- Active engagement in the proposal from collaborators/partners/hosts in the countries with which you are engaging, and complementary in-kind or financial support from local collaborators/partners/hosts and other funders or sponsors.
- The potential for the proposed activities to trigger meaningful and relevant ongoing relationships, networks and activities that can develop in the future independently of ANT Adaptation funding.
The Call for Applications for the 2021 ANT Adaptation Fund is open until Sunday 6 June 2021.
To apply, download the relevant form provided on this page. Completed applications must be submitted via email to Pro Helvetia Johannesburg at: regional@prohelvetia.org
Only successful applicants will be contacted and announced on our website at the end of June 2021.
