STARTS4AFRICA Residencies Programme

STARTS4AFRICA is pleased to announce the Call for Artists for the first STARTS Residency Programme fully dedicated to promoting Sub-Saharan Africa innovation at the nexus of Science + Technology + Arts.

Through 6-month residencies, STARTS4AFRICA will enhance art-driven innovation in four African countries: Senegal, Ghana, Tanzania, and Nigeria.

This pioneering initiative will allow artists to address regional challenges around Food and Water, Digital Mapping and Speculative Landscapes, Culture and Coding, Wearable Technology and Smart Textile, Immersive Storytelling, Rethinking Sustainable Construction, and Speculative Urbanism.

+ Residencies Programme

STARTS4AFRICA will support selected applicants through a programme that includes a 6-month residency starting in March 2024, as well as multiple exhibitions and events during the residency period and thereafter until November 2024.

The duration of each residency is 8 months in total (6-month residency + 2-month outreach) and includes 5 phases.

+ Expected outputs from artists

• Producing a tangible, presentable and art-driven innovation output addressing a local challenge, in the form of an artwork or a functional or speculative artistic prototype;
• Providing (at the beginning of the residency) a descriptive abstract of the art-driven innovation output and a development plan describing the objectives, actions, timetable and setup necessary for implementing it;
• Participating and organising online or on-site local/ national events, masterclasses, and seminars to (i) share experience in participating in STARTS4AFRICA Residency program; (ii) ensure the promotion of residency results. Participation in at least 6 online or on-site local/ national events is expected, as well as in international events (these events will be discussed, agreed and co-organized with the Residency Host Institutions);
• Actively participate in the dissemination and communication efforts of the Residency, sharing posts on social media, producing articles to be shared on websites (such as starts.eu), participating in written/audio/video interviews; and,
• Contributing to the Impact Assessment Analysis undertaken by STARTS4AFRICA Consortium and the Residency Host Institutions.

+ Admissibility Criteria

STARTS4AFRICA calls for proposals from an individual artist or a collective of artists, with previous experience: 

• nationals of the countries covered by STARTS4AFRICA (DR Congo, Ghana, Nigeria, Senegal and Tanzania) or permanent residents in any country in Sub-Saharan Africa; OR,  
• artistic teams mixing artists from Europe and from Sub-Saharan African countries