Open Call: Climate Justice Project (Netherlands)

Through design (research), this collaborative project will contribute to, for example, ongoing research, current initiatives and/or developing discourses on climate justice.

The consequences of climate change are not equitably distributed. People and countries that are the most impacted tend to have contributed less to the causes of climate change and the economic and political systems underpinning them. This type of climate injustice manifests itself in multiple forms, including the control and allocation of environmental burdens, benefits and resources on a local to global scale, and a disparity in whose ideas, knowledge and needs are recognised and taken into account.

Climate justice is a social, economic and political concern, but also a matter of design. For example how cities are shaped and how access to rights-related services such as housing, clean air and water are determined within them. Or how access to materials and resources, and the transition to ‘clean’ technology and energy is governed. Climate injustice is therefore inextricably linked to other injustices, such as in labour and migration, among others.

Objectives

• This open call aims to make current issues, discourses and initiatives around climate justice tangible and discussable in relation to architecture, digital culture and/or design. In doing so, the Creative Industries Fund NL hopes to stimulate synergy and dialogue between practices on the African continent and western Europe, in particular the Netherlands. Collaborations provide space for introspection and reflection, and project partners are encouraged to relate to the theme from their individual local and cultural contexts, allowing knowledge and different artistic approaches to be exchanged and/or linked to current dynamics and urgencies.

Exchange sessions around Climate Justice

• Within this open call, the Creative Industries Fund will convene a series of working sessions on climate justice. These offer supported designers and cultural organisations the possibility to work together on the theme of this call, parallel to the implementation of their projects. Critical and open conversations will be facilitated from different geographical and creative contexts. The aim of these session is to support exchange between the selected projects and relevant networks.

Phases

• Phase 1: Grant-writing
• Phase 2: Full collaborative project

Funding Information

• Phase 1: Grant-writing
  • Number of grants: Maximum 15 projects of €5,000
• Phase 2: Full collaborative project
  • Number of grants: Maximum 10 projects of up to €45,000
  • Duration: Maximum 12 months after the starting date
  • Only applicants selected in Phase 1 may submit a full project proposal in Phase 2.

Eligible Projects

• Proposals may take different forms, from artistic or design-based research to the implementation of interventions, initiatives or programmes. All types of approach are possible as long as a clear link is made both to the theme of the open call and to one or more design field.

What kind of proposals may be submitted?

• Proposals should be for collaborative projects involving local partners in one or more of the countries listed above. Lead partners are professional designers, architects, makers, thinkers, curators, collectives, platforms and/or other cultural organisations within the creative industries. Please note that projects in countries and regions where a red travel warning is in force at the time of submission cannot be processed; consult this page in advance.
• Proposals should take a clear position in relation the theme of the open call and substantiate the proposed topic and the questions it raises. Additionally, proposals should consider the different local and/or regional contexts of the project.
• Proposals should provide insight into how and why different partners will be involved and how reciprocal collaboration and exchange will be achieved. The perspectives of all partners should be anchored in the project, with a preference for introspection and reflection on the theme from collaborators’ own contexts.
• Proposals may take different forms, from artistic or design-based research to the implementation of interventions, initiatives or programmes. All types of approach are possible as long as a clear link is made both to the theme of the open call and to one or more design field.

Eligibility Criteria

• Proposals may be submitted by designers, makers, curators, thinkers, collectives, platforms or other cultural organisations based in the Kingdom of the Netherlands and active in the fields of architecture, digital culture and/or design. Applicants should engage in an international collaboration with designers, cultural organisations and/or other parties in one or more of the following countries: Benin, Burundi, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Egypt, Ethiopia, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Morocco, Mozambique, Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa, Tunisia, and/or Uganda. These countries fall within the Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation policy of the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Proposals for activities in countries and regions where a red travel warning is in force at the time of submission cannot be processed.
• A condition for eligibility is that the project involves a collaboration between at least one practice established within the Kingdom of the Netherlands (the four countries: Netherlands, Aruba, Curaçao and Sint Maarten and the three public bodies of Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba) and at least one practice based on the African continent. These may include representatives of communities, social initiatives, social justice activists, as well as scholars/researchers within the social, economic, political, cultural and spatial fields.
• Proposals should make clear who the project partners are, their individual roles and expertise within the project, and how the collaboration will be established. There must be reciprocal cooperation and exchange between the parties based in the Kingdom of the Netherlands and their international partners, which should also be reflected in the division of the grant subsidy.

For more information, visit Creative Industries Fund NL.