Open Call for Earth Rising Festival (Ireland)

EARTH RISING is IMMA’s flagship festival focused on the Earth crisis. This annual festival is dedicated to sparking climate conversations and inspiring action through art and culture.

The 2025 edition of Earth Rising will align with “Staying With the Trouble”, a ground-breaking exhibition at IMMA inspired by Donna Haraway’s seminal book. Opening in April 2025, the exhibition invites audiences to rethink their relationships with humans, animals, and ecosystems, fostering imaginative new ways of seeing and acting.

Haraway’s concept of “making kin”—collaborating across species and communities—guides this call. In the same spirit, they are seeking projects that bring visual artists, ecological groups, and communities together to respond creatively to the Earth Crisis. Selected projects will culminate in presentations, activations, or installations at the Earth Rising Festival in September 2025, demonstrating how collaboration can inspire meaningful change.

Themes

• Proposals should respond to two or more of these themes:
  • Everything is Connected
    • Highlight the interconnectedness of humans, animals, plants, and ecosystems. Explore the shared responsibilities that sustain life on Earth.
  • Imagine New Futures
    • Envision hopeful, sustainable futures and propose imaginative solutions for a thriving planet.
  • Working Together
    • Showcase the strength of collaboration between people, communities, and nature, celebrating collective effort and shared ideas.

Funding Information

• IMMA is offering three €10,000 grants to fund projects that will:
  • Be developed between April and August 2025.
  • Manifest at the Earth Rising Festival in September 2025, through an engaging and participatory format that connects with festival audiences.

Eligible Projects

• They are particularly interested in projects (new or existing) that:
  • Engage Communities: Actively involve local communities across the island of Ireland, in meaningful ways, fostering participation, dialogue, and learning.
  • Combine Art and Environmental Action: Utilise the collaboration between artists and ecological groups to propose innovative responses to environmental challenges.
  • Manifest tangibly at Earth Rising: Proposals must include a clear plan for presenting or activating the project at the Earth Rising Festival (12-14 September 2025), ensuring it resonates with audiences and creates lasting impact.
  • Have Feasibility and Vision: Demonstrate a clear and achievable roadmap for development, delivery, and presentation, within the given timeframe and budget.

Eligibility Criteria

• They are looking for collaborations between visual artists, Irish-based environmental groups, and local communities.
• Proposals should aim to create impactful projects that highlight the power of collective action in addressing the climate crisis.

Evaluation Criteria

• Applications will be assessed on:
  • Relevance: How well the project aligns with the themes and the Earth Rising Festival’s mission.
  • Creativity: Innovative ideas that combine art and environmental action.
  • Impact: Potential to inspire meaningful change, raise awareness, and engage audiences.
  • Feasibility: A clear and achievable plan for development, delivery, and manifestation at the festival.
  • Collaboration: Strength of the partnership between the visual artist and ecological group.

For more information, visit IMMA.