Serendipity Arts Foundation Arles Grant 2025-26

In 2020, the Serendipity Arts Foundation and Les Rencontres d’Arles announced the biggest lens-based media grant, supported by the Institut français en Inde, with the shared purpose of promoting cultural practices in the South Asian region.

The initiative seeks not only to empower artists from the region, but also further a spirit of regional cooperation and representation.

Funding Information

• The Serendipity Arles Grant will be awarded in two phases:
• Phase I
  • In the first phase, 5 practitioners will be shortlisted by an eminent jury based on
  • their applications, proposed projects, and a virtual interview.
  • The 5 practitioners will receive a production grant of INR 70,000/-* each to produce and showcase the series of work proposed by them in their applications. Each shortlisted artist shall send in their works with a complete installation plan/brief for SAF 2025. SAF to cover transport of art works to Goa. In case of physical artworks, SAF recommends sending exhibition prints which will be destroyed after the showcase in Goa. In case the works are required to be returned, the artist is responsible for its return from Goa.
  • A selection of these works will be showcased as a work-in-progress exhibit in December in Goa at the Serendipity Arts Festival 2025. The jury present at the Festival will choose one out of the 5 bodies of works of the shortlisted artists as the finalist for the second phase of the grant.
  • *subject to 20.2% tax deduction for international payments and 10% TDS deduction for payments within India. The deducted amount can be claimed by the applicant at the time of filing their taxes.
• Phase II
  • The winning grantee will get the opportunity to further develop their project and put up a solo presentation of their project at Les Rencontres d’Arles in July 2026.
  • Deliverables to the winner:
    • €7500/- Project Development Grant and Artist Fee
    • Air Tickets to Arles and back – upto €1200 Euros (to be booked within
    • stipulated timelines)
    • Visa Facilitation fee
    • €7000 – Production Support (to be disbursed by Rencontres d’Arles on behalf of the artist) Additionally, any expenses to produce the work over and above of the production grant will be borne by the artist including tax deductions.
    • €500 – Accommodation Costs (to be disbursed by Arles directly to the hotel)
• Duration: 12 months

Eligibility Criteria

• Submissions are open to all lens-based South Asian practitioners from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan & Sri Lanka.
• Submissions are open to projects produced by individual artists or artist collectives.
• Applicants must be residents of countries mentioned in point 1, who have been practicing for 5 to 10 years.
• Age – 30 years and above (as of announcement date)
• The call is open to projects in progress. Applicants must submit supporting documents to outline the progress.
• The proposed project should not have been shown in any form; in whole or in part, before the submission for the Grant.
• Applicants who have received a grant in the past 1 year for the same proposed project, from the date of announcement of the Serendipity Arles Grant are ineligible to apply.
• In case the applicant is currently at a residency, or would be part of a residency between September to December 2025, the application would be ineligible.

For more information, visit Serendipity Arts Foundation.