Photo (detail): Morteza Soorani © Postcards for Karun70

Mentorship Programme in cooperation with the Prince Claus Fund

CULTURAL & ARTISTIC RESPONSES TO ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGE

Since 2018 the Goethe-Institut and Prince Claus Fund have been supporting artists and cultural practitioners working on the intersection of the arts, environmental change and the climate crisis – supporting a total of 54 exceptional initiatives from around the world, examples of which are presented on Take Me to the River.

Floods and forest fires, storms and disappearing species: the climate crisis is being felt everywhere around the globe. Artists and cultural practitioners are responding to the crisis, engaging their communities, proposing inventive solutions and imagining alternative futures.

Now, more than ever, we need the arts and culture to help us respond; to inspire and motivate us by challenging our perceptions, encouraging us to change our habits by introducing intersectional and trans-disciplinary perspectives, and centering indigenous forms of knowledge and ways of living to envision alternative models of climate justice in the world.

The Mentorship Awards for Cultural & Artistic Responses to Environmental Change bring together 12 emerging artists and cultural practitioners from around the world in a year-long interdisciplinary programme. They are supported by four mentors as well as their peers and work at accelerating their engaged community-based practices addressing environmental issues. The Mentorship Awards is a year-long interdisciplinary programme that creates space for artists and cultural practitioners to explore critical artistic practices and initiates an international network of creatives working on the intersection of arts and environmentalism. Through this we create a platform to stimulate joint learning, connect engaged practitioners across the world, stimulate cross disciplinary exchange and amplify new perspectives on environmental change.

In 2023 the group is guided by scientist and gender diversity advocate Brigitte Baptiste (Colombia); Etcétera Collective formed by Federico Zukerfeld & Loreto Garín Guzman (Argentina) and artist and academic Serkan Taycan (Turkey). Former mentors include Nabil Ahmed (Bangladesh/Norway), architect and founder of the design and research studio INTERPRT, and Ravi Agarwal (India), artist, environmental activist, author and curator.

This year’s Awardees work in a variety of disciplines, from architecture, photography and visual arts to biotech, sound art and research, with most working in multiple disciplines. They come from 11 different countries, including, Peru, Bolivia, Uganda, Kyrgyzstan, and the Philippines.

ProgramME

The mentorship brings together 12 emerging artists and cultural practitioners (± 8-15 years of relevant professional experience) with 4 mentors, all working across a range of disciplines and environmental issues. These 12 individuals each develop a body of work, form a peer-group, and throughout the year receive mentorship guidance, exchange ideas, collaborate, and jointly delve deeper into their practices.

In order to foster conversation and collaboration within the cohort, and to support each artist in their own individual practice, this programme (designed considering the needs of the selected participants) includes different types of interaction such as workshops, guest-talks and peer-to-peer sessions. Most of the activities are online as the participants are coming from different locales, but twice we come together in person for the two Lab Weeks (week-long mentoring intensives). Additionally, there is a collective project in the form of a publication that we will co-create.

The programme activities average on a time-commitment of 10 hours per month, though this varies throughout the year. Moreover, the participants should be comfortable sharing ideas in spoken English. Each artist receives an award of €10.000 to work on the concept for a body of work that they outline in their application.

Aims

Through this mentorship programme we aim to:

support critical and unconventional work by emerging artists working on a range of issues related to environmentalism, the climate crisis and climate justice;
stimulate leadership of individuals whose artistic work fosters awareness and empathy;
accelerate the artistic practices of artists and cultural practitioners who show a commitment to creating lasting change through environmental activism;
facilitate exchanges, meaningful connections and learning between engaged practitioners;
strengthen and amplify new perspectives on environmentalism, the climate crisis and climate justice.

About the Prince Claus Fund

The Prince Claus Fund’s mission is to support, honor and connect artists and cultural practitioners in Africa, Asia, Latin America, the Caribbean and Eastern Europe, especially where cultural expression is under pressure. Since its founding in 1996, the Fund has created opportunities for connection and exchange, stimulated cultural expression and preserved cultural heritage in a variety of ways.

Prince Claus Fund