MICRO GRANTS FOR ARTISTS

Good morning all...I just came across this interesting item about micro-grants for artists a couple days ago on the blog, Another Limited Rebellion (http://www.alrdesign.com/blog/2009/05/micro-grants-for-artists.html) They mentioned another site called Society6 that has started this system of micro-grants and opportunities for emerging artists. If you don't know about the micro grant system, it's a grassroots system of helping fund individuals who want to jump start their careers. Up until now, as far as I know, projects like this have mostly been set up for individuals in developing countries, the most well known of these organizations is kiva.org. These, however are loans, not grants, although perhaps that has changed. The way kiva.org operates is like this: say a woman in Afganistan needs a couple sewing machines to start a textile business out of her home, she can contact kiva. org and they will publicize how much she needs, etc. and people from all over the world can give her a small loan, usually around $100 to $300. Anyway, it looks like Society6 is doing that for artists now but in the form of grants and opportunities, not loans. Read what ALR has to say about it:

“Society6 makes the grant-making process easy and accessible to all individuals, non-profit organizations and corporations who want to support the future of the arts. “When we started to look at the existing support infrastructure for artists and other creative people, we realized that it was particularly bureaucratic, exclusive and wasn’t designed for scale. We’ve re-imagined the entire process in the form of a meritocracy, where a greater number of artists can receive unrestricted grant assistance based solely on the merit of their work as determined by their peers”, said co-founder, Lucas Tirigall-Caste.

Another Limited Rebellion also explains: "Society6 micro-grants are currently available in two forms, money or opportunities. Opportunity grants provide a nice recession-friendly alternative for cash-constrained supporters to offer assistance through free products (e.g. supplies), free services (e.g. studio time) and other distinctive opportunities that money just can’t buy (e.g. feature in a magazine).”

To learn more about Society6 and what they offer to artists, go to: http://www.society6.com/grants/open. Also check out the ALR site while you're at it!

CERAMICS RESIDENCIES IN THE NETHERLANDS

(A) CERAMICS RESIDENCIES IN THE NETHERLANDS
European Ceramic Work Centre
Deadline April 15, 2009
http://www.ekwc.nl/index.cfm?chapter_id=24
.ekwc offers different types of residencies: individual residency, residency for young applicants, residency related to external project, residency for former participants, combined residency, part of project 'ceramics and architecture'
1. Individual residency: Professional artists, designers and architects with an academic education and who have worked as independent professionals for at least two years.
An individual residency is intended for professional artists, designers and architects who would like to learn more about ceramics as a medium or who would like to acquire more in-depth knowledge of ceramics. The individual residency at the .ekwc offers a supreme opportunity for those who want to undertake experiments with or take up the challenge of ceramics. Not only can they spend three months making use of all the facilities at the .ekwc that support the process of working with ceramics, but a technical staff is also available to provide guidance during the residency. An international selection committee will assess the applications that come in through the annual public application round. The selection will be based on documentation of the last five years' work and an activity plan / motivation. Go to: http://www.ekwc.nl/index.cfm?chapter_id=24
for more information.
Upcoming deadline for applications: 15 April 2009

2. Residency for young participants
Deadline April 15, 2009
For candidates who graduated less than two years ago from an academy of art and/or design and are under the age of thirty.
During this residency young professionals can learn about ceramics as a medium or increase the knowledge they already have. A three-month residency at the .ekwc often provides a good impulse for building up a professional career. The .ekwc provides young participants with a grant and a budget for materials. An internal selection committee assesses the applications, based on documentation of the last few years' work (including the final project), an activity plan / motivation and references from teachers and/or supervisors.
There are other types of residencies available at ekwc so go to their website and see if there is one that is perfect for you. http://www.ekwc.nl/index.cfm?chapter_id=24

THIS JUST IN!

(ALL, MEDIA ARTS, etc.) Fabrica
Via Ferrarezza, 31050 Catena di Villorba, Italy. One year residency with stipend and travel money. Fabrica is the Benetton Research and Development Communication Centre. Led by an international team, Fabrica is an applied creativity laboratory, a talent incubator, a studio of sorts in which young, modern artists come from all over the world to develop innovative projects and explore new directions in myriad avenues of communication, from design, music and film to photography, publishing and the Internet. It is currently offering residencies to artist, designers, creative engineers to do applied research in the following areas: web design, social networking, online gaming, physical computing, device art, 3D. It is also possible to apply for the following disciplines: Media (Music, Video and Film), Photography, Visual Communication, Writing.
Fabrica is housed in a stunning building by Japanese architect Tadao Ando and is situated outside Treviso in North Italy.
Fabrica offers bursaries to successful applicants. The bursary includes travel to fabrica, as well as accommodation, living expenses and a small grant.
Fabrica is located in Catena di Villorba, 12 km from Treviso (a medieval town in the north of Italy with a population of around 80,000). The town is 3 hours from Milan and 5 hours from Rome.
For more info, email or go to the site:
E-mail fabrica@fabrica.it
www.fabrica.it