Currently 30 active open calls open to applicants in the EU, across AI, arts, film, journalism, research, tech and cross-disciplinary practice. Hand-curated and updated weekly. Almost every entry is funded; a few notable unpaid open calls and festival submissions are included as clearly flagged exceptions. Browse the list below, or use the interactive desk for filtering and shortlisting.
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Open call from the Creative Industries Fund NL (Stimuleringsfonds) for projects within digital culture that provide insight into and reduce the ecological impact of digital technology. Data storage in the cloud, generative AI chatbots and other everyday digital habits carry major ecological consequences: the energy consumption of data centres, the raw materials used for hardware, and ever-growing e-waste. The Fund encourages projects that make the ecological (and therefore also social) impact of digital technologies and data consumption tangible, question it, and put alternative working methods into practice, around topics such as regenerative culture, degrowth, low-tech, the reuse of obsolete hardware, and responsibility for the technologies we use within digital culture. Applications may concern new projects or the reinterpretation or further development of existing initiatives that show scope for more depth or a changed approach. Collaborations in which designers, makers or researchers engage with sustainability from an intersectional perspective are explicitly encouraged. The grant may be used for artistic and substantive development, research, collaboration, knowledge sharing, presentation and documentation. ELIGIBILITY: individual makers, designers, researchers or collectives working on alternative ways of handling digital technology, registered with a Chamber of Commerce within the Kingdom of the Netherlands. Grant awards a maximum of EUR 30,000; maximum project duration one year. This call is open from 17 August 2026, 15:00 CEST until 14 September 2026, 16:00 CEST. No application fee. Questions: digitalecultuur@stimuleringsfonds.nl.
THE ONE International Digital Art Biennial, organized by Pinata Group in Torun and Wloclawek, Poland, accepts digital art internationally with free entry; prizes are PLN 3,000, 2,000, and 1,000, plus exhibition and an ISBN catalog. IMPORTANT CAVEAT: submitted works may not be AI-generated. NOTE: the 15 September 2026 deadline is from a listing site and is not stated on the organizer page; verify before submitting.
The Embassy of Foreign Artists, in partnership with the Centre for Digital Humanities and Multilateralism at the Geneva Graduate Institute, invites artists worldwide to a three-month artistic research residency in Geneva during 2027. The programme centres on archival research in the archives of Geneva-based international intergovernmental and non-governmental organisations (UN, Red Cross and others): uncovering untold stories, examining international decision-making, reflecting on multilateral successes and failures, and imagining new possibilities for international cooperation. Selected artists receive a CHF 1,400 monthly residency grant, accommodation in a private room with shared common areas, artistic guidance from EOFA, connections with archive personnel, and access to participating archives as primary research resource; travel and production costs are the artist's own. ELIGIBILITY: professional artistic practice with a demonstrable body of work (creations, publications and/or performances), over 28 years old, fluent in French or English, not enrolled in basic art training; individuals, duos or groups may apply (same stipend). APPLY via the online form plus a single PDF (cover letter, project description, portfolio, CV) emailed to application@eofa.ch. No application fee. Deadline: 15 September 2026.
Open call from the Creative Industries Fund NL supporting designers in deepening and professionalising their own practice rather than delivering an external client project. It funds practice development across design, architecture, digital culture and the crossovers between them, and the Fund explicitly names digital storytellers and sound designers among eligible practitioners, which makes it one of the more accessible routes for a maker working between technology and art. ELIGIBILITY: designers with an independent practice of at least four years, established in the Netherlands or the Caribbean part of the Kingdom. Temporary collectives may apply with one lead applicant. Grants run from EUR 8,250 to EUR 28,250. The window runs 19 August 2026, 15:00 CEST to 17 September 2026, 16:00 CEST.
The Royal Conservatoire Antwerp (AP University of the Arts) invites applications for artistic research projects starting 20 September 2027, in three types: start projects, one-year projects, and two-year research projects. Applications are embedded in one or more of the Conservatoire's four research groups, supervised by a supervisor, and must align with the Conservatoire's mission and vision. FOCAL POINTS across disciplines: research into improvisation and intuitive creation and performance practices; new dramaturgical and scenographic approaches in cross-over projects; methodologies for interdisciplinary creation processes; sustainable relationships between artists and urban communities; the possibilities and limitations of inclusion in education and/or on stage; and well-being and resilience in music and performing arts. FUNDING (salaried research position): start projects, 20% employment for 12 months plus EUR 1,000 operating resources; one-year projects, 55% employment for 12 months plus EUR 1,000; two-year projects, 55% employment for 24 months plus EUR 2,000. PRECONDITIONS: the applicant holds a relevant master's degree and conducts research situated in or arising from their own artistic practice with the capacity for discursivity; the proposal must align with the Conservatoire's mission/vision; the applicant must be able to enter contractual employment with the Royal Conservatoire Antwerp/AP University of the Arts for the duration of the project (international applicants must hold a valid Belgian work permit); proposals may be submitted only in Dutch or English. PROCEDURE (two steps): STEP 1, submit an expression of interest by 21 September 2026, 12:00 noon (applicants informed by the week of 5 October whether they may develop a full proposal with a research group); STEP 2, submit the full project dossier by 1 December 2026, 12:00 noon. Evaluation by an independent reading committee aims to conclude in March 2027. Contact: Kevin Voets, Head of Research, kevin.voets@ap.be.
Fonds Podiumkunsten's route for Dutch festivals and venues bringing in exceptional foreign performing arts and concerts that Dutch audiences would otherwise not see. The applicant must be a Netherlands-registered legal entity running a venue or festival and carrying artistic and financial responsibility for its own programme, so individuals and sole traders cannot apply. Grants are calculated from travel and transport costs of the incoming artists, at a maximum of EUR 25,000 per production and EUR 75,000 per applicant across several productions. The core test is that the foreign work is rarely or never seen in the Netherlands and substantially enriches the existing Dutch offer, which favours experimental, non-canonical and cross-disciplinary programming over mainstream touring. Experimental music and sound-art programming is not excluded; the selection criterion is rarity and added value, not genre. Applications go through the Mijn Fonds portal and there is no fee. Four rounds run each year. TIMING: because the scheme competes against a shared EUR 267,500 per-round pot and assessment takes several weeks after the deadline, organisers should apply at least one full round ahead of the performance date and must not have the activity already underway. Success rate in 2025 was 60 percent of 33 applications.
Annual scheme funding festival organisations in the creative industries (design, architecture, digital culture, fashion, e-culture, etc.) presenting a 2027 edition. Application window opens 25 August 2026 at 15:00 CEST and closes 23 September 2026 at 16:00 CEST. Supports both content programming and the organisational/curatorial running of a festival; applicants must be organisations rather than individuals, but the scheme is the natural home for any artist-led collective or platform that runs a critical-AI / digital-culture / surveillance-focused festival event. Note the wider 2026 context: Stimuleringsfonds is restructuring its grant offering for 2027, and several individual schemes (Design, Digital Culture) have been reduced to two rounds in 2026. The Festivals scheme is a separate annual track and one of the cleaner ways to access SCI funding for an event-format project.
Joint open call from the Creative Industries Fund NL and the Cultural Participation Fund supporting platforms that develop design-based learning, covering product design, textile and fashion, spatial design and creative coding. Maximum EUR 75,000 per application from a EUR 720,000 pool, with regional quotas including the Caribbean part of the Kingdom. ELIGIBILITY IS NARROW: only foundations (stichtingen) may apply. Educational institutions and organisations already receiving four-year BIS funding are excluded, and individuals cannot apply. Deadline 23 September 2026, 16:00 CEST.
BNG Cultuurfonds funds arts and culture projects that add value for Dutch municipalities and their inhabitants, explicitly including temporary exhibitions, public programmes and festivals developed by professional makers. Media art, digital culture and cross-disciplinary work qualify as long as a professional maker's artistic vision leads the project. Only stichtingen (foundations) may apply: no sole traders, associations, individuals, or foundations in formation. Applications go by email to aanvraag.cultuurfonds@bngbank.nl with a signed form, a project plan of at most 3,500 words, a specified budget and coverage plan, current statutes and a recent KvK extract. The grant is EUR 5,000 to 15,000 and can cover no more than 35 percent of the budget. TIMING IS THE MAIN TRAP: for the 27 September 2026 deadline, feedback comes at the end of December 2026 and the project may not start before 1 January 2027, with applications for earlier-starting projects rejected outright with no exceptions. Missing documents are flagged up to one week before the deadline, so anything submitted in the final week cannot be corrected. Plan for roughly four months of lead time. Excluded: amateur art, talent development, education-focused projects, semi-permanent public art, publications, building or renovation, and regular operating costs. Further rounds: 3 January 2027, 28 March 2027, 27 June 2027, 3 October 2027 and 2 January 2028.
Resynthesising the Traditional is CTM Festival's long-term initiative co-curated by Stas Sharifulla, taking resynthesis (the computer-music method of analysing a sound to extract its components) as a metaphor for critically engaging with tradition and heritage, against conservative views of culture as frozen and untouchable. The artistic lab at its heart is an open toolbox for artists connecting to the traditional outside exoticisation, cultural essentialism and uneven power dynamics. THEME, AT THE EXTREME: this edition invites artists and practice-based researchers whose work examines the ethical, aesthetic and political implications of traditions entangled with extremity: intensity, transgression, transformation, marginality, outsiderness, endurance, conflict and excess. The call explicitly looks past the usual noise, violence and loud-popular-music tropes and past masculine codings of the extreme, toward current queer and feminist reframings, treating extremity as a relational condition, chosen or imposed, produced between majoritarian centres and their minoritarian outsides. Guiding questions include what it means to follow a tradition to its extreme consequences, who is allowed to push tradition to its limits and whose practices get framed as inauthentic or dangerous, what it means to practise tradition under war, displacement, repression or ecological crisis, and how traditions might offer ways of inhabiting extreme times. Preference goes to work engaging technological, bodily, aesthetic and theoretical forms at that intersection, especially in unexpected or rarely recognised ways. WHAT HAPPENS: theory and practice workshops from the co-hosts with individual and group exercises, closed 15 to 20 minute oral presentations by each participant, a solo public performance or presentation (15 to 20 minutes) at a free-entry event, inputs from specialists such as artists, researchers and technologists, guided individual and group sonic improvisations, field trips and site visits, and feedback sessions with the co-hosts and curators. AFTERWARDS: participants may propose new artistic work or research, solo or in collaborations formed at the lab, to the artistic team; selected works are shortlisted, and up to two are commissioned and presented at CTM in January/February 2028. ELIGIBILITY: an existing practice tied to (re)connecting with traditional ideas and sounds through a contemporary lens and how that overlaps with the extreme, plus clear ideas or questions about the next step you want to take. Approaches may be technological, instrument-focused, compositional, aesthetic, research-oriented or otherwise. Working knowledge of English is recommended, and any concerns about that can be flagged in the form. Up to six participants are selected by co-hosts Karina Utomo (extreme metal vocalist, composer and collaborative artist) and Luigi Monteanni (sound researcher and ethnomusicologist completing a PhD at SOAS on extreme metal in Bandung). The lab is a time-intensive full-day commitment and participants must agree to give the short public performance. APPLY through the form with a portfolio link (PDF, max 10 pages, public access, works from the last five years, text kept minimal) and a link to a specific audio track or section (max five minutes) that best represents your current practice. CTM asks that AI support rather than replace your own voice in the application. TIMELINE: deadline 28 September 2026; participants announced mid to late October 2026. Questions to resynth@ctm-festival.de.
A fully funded art-science residency from Ars Electronica and Ceske Budejovice, European Capital of Culture 2028, exploring how art and science can collaborate on urgent environmental challenges: climate emergence, sustainable agriculture, geoengineering, permaculture, water resource management, and the broader ecological impacts on local communities. Selected residents work in direct collaboration with local scientists in Ceske Budejovice. WHO CAN APPLY: artists, designers, creatives and artist collectives with more than 5 years of professional creative practice and documented interdisciplinary work; experience in community engagement and science collaborations is essential; applicants must be 18+, of any nationality, and legally eligible to work and travel in the EU. WHAT YOU GET: a EUR 24,000 package (EUR 6,000 artist fee, up to EUR 15,000 production, up to EUR 3,000 travel and subsistence) plus one month of housing covered separately; two winners are selected. STRUCTURE: the residency runs January 2027 to April 2028, with a required on-site stay of up to one month in February/March 2027, an optional stay in August/September 2027, and a March 2028 stay for festival installation, exhibition and deinstallation. HOW TO APPLY: online form with project title, a written proposal of max 250 words, a scientific direction statement (max 100 words), artistic vision (max 100 words), community connection plan (max 100 words), a super short pitch (3 to 30 words), 3 to 7 images, an optional 1-minute video, a portfolio link and contact information. Two-round selection (online application then interview); winners notified by November 2026. Deadline 28 September 2026 at midnight CET.
UNPAID COMMUNITY CALL. Algorave Istanbul, the local node of the international algorave scene (live-coded music and visuals performed for an audience), is looking for new artists to create, experiment and perform with. The call names live coding, sound, visuals, audiovisual performance, and generative or reactive systems, and says explicitly that it is open to formats the organisers have not thought of yet. WHO CAN APPLY: artists based in Istanbul. There is no stated experience requirement and no selection process described. Applications close 30 September 2026. WHAT IS OFFERED: performance opportunities and collaboration within the collective. No fee, stipend or expenses are mentioned anywhere in the call, so treat this as unpaid unless the organisers say otherwise. APPLY through the Google Form, or email algoraveistanbul@gmail.com. The call is published in Turkish and English.
The mid-size project strand of Stichting Cultuur Eindhoven, the arm's-length body that distributes the city's culture budget, and the main municipal route for an Eindhoven organisation to fund a festival, exhibition or public programme. Awards go up to EUR 35,000 and cover a maximum of 80 percent of eligible costs, so at least a fifth of the budget must come from elsewhere. Unlike the Snelgeld strand this route is closed to individuals: only private-law legal entities established in Eindhoven may apply. Rounds run three times a year in fixed windows; the next opens 1 September and closes at 17:00 on 30 September 2026, which is round 1 of the 2027 cycle. TIMING: the decision lag is long by municipal standards at up to 13 weeks after the submission window closes, so a September 2026 application is decided around the end of December 2026 and activity should be planned for 2027. Given Eindhoven's design and technology profile, media-art, design and creative-technology programming fits the remit particularly well. The parallel Snelgeld strand offers up to EUR 5,000 on rolling intake, reopening 1 September 2026 and running until 31 December 2026 or until the tranche budget is exhausted, whichever comes first.
Waag Futurelab invites artists, theatre makers, choreographers, dancers, game designers and other creative practitioners to engage directly with seven experimental generative AI Enablers being co-created with technologists and dance, theatre and gaming professionals. The call is an invitation into the development process: selected artists get access to the technologies, datasets, interfaces and assumptions that shape these systems while they are still being built. Rather than testing whether the systems work, artists are asked to interrogate why they work the way they do, who they are designed for, what forms of creativity they enable or constrain, and what assumptions about culture, intelligence, authorship, labour, bodies, audiences and society are embedded in them. Waag is looking for individuals and collectives willing to move beyond adoption into investigation, and welcomes proposals that are speculative, critical, poetic, provocative, humorous, performative, constructive or disruptive, including work that challenges, misuses, reimagines, hacks, subverts or plays with the tools, exposes hidden biases, questions environmental costs, or imagines alternative technological futures. THE SEVEN AI ENABLERS, each requiring an on-site visit to its technology partner: the Generic Procedural Content Generation Enabler (text-to-3D assets and avatars, CERTH, Greece); the Data-Driven Cultural Content Adaptation Enabler (audience-aware creative content ideation with ranked candidate ideas, CERTH, Greece); the Cross-Domain Audience Engagement Analytics Enabler (turning heterogeneous cultural participation data into interpretable engagement signals, The Audience Agency, Warrington, UK); the Dance Style Analysis and Generation Enabler (dance video into virtual 3D choreography, dissected into body, effort, shape and space components, Centre of Excellence for Research & Innovation, Cyprus); the Immersive Design Integration Enabler for Dance & Theatre (NLP-driven XR environments with speech-to-3D scene editing, Cyprus); the Music-to-Movement Translation Enabler (audio into a time-aligned feature set spanning genre classification, emotional valence-arousal analysis, rhythm extraction and latent-space projection, feeding motion generation, spatial audio and visual choreography, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece); and the Adaptive Narrative Enabler for Games & Theatre (an evolutionary AI trained on creator-written story elements that generates infinite story variations, explicitly rejecting LLMs because of their dependence on copyrighted or public-domain corpora that encode 19th and early 20th century sexism, racism and imperialism, CAUSA Creation, Austria). ELIGIBILITY: artists, designers, creative technologists, theatre makers, dancers, choreographers and game designers, as individuals or collectives; applicants must hold a European VAT number. An info session with live demonstrations of the AI Enablers runs 31 July 2026, 10:00 to 11:30 CEST (meeting ID 995 7016 2341). Applications go through Homerun using the official Application Template, uploaded as a PDF; read the Guide for Applicants, which contains the full Enabler descriptions, before applying. Questions: zoenie at waag dot org. The AI Enablers and this call are part of the Horizon Europe project HAMLET, which aims to make generative AI accessible to cultural organisations of all sizes. Closes 30 September 2026, 23:59 CEST. Free to apply.
transmediale e.V. invites applications for the Festival Curation of transmediale 2028, the Berlin festival for art and digital culture now in its 40th year. Since 2025 transmediale appoints a new curator for each edition, each bringing their own positionality on the present moment in art and technology; the organisation is especially interested in curatorial approaches that bring genuinely new questions and reference points to the field, grounded in critical reflection and political engagement rather than following technological trends. THE ROLE: develop the curatorial concept and full programme for transmediale 2028 (last week of January 2028), spanning a discourse programme (lectures, panels, conversations, presentations, talks), a workshop programme, a video and film programme, a performance programme, and art projects presented during the festival days, plus events from longstanding and new partnerships. The curator works closely with the festival team, represents the festival publicly, plays an active role in fundraising, and contributes to transmediale's local and international networks. TASKS: establishing the festival concept, theme and title; developing the event and programme structure with festival management and the executive and advisory board; selecting participants, projects and artworks; producing related texts and contributing to public relations and fundraising; adhering to budget management policies and helping acquire additional financial resources; collaborating with the team and submitting reports throughout. REQUIREMENTS: comprehensive knowledge of international contemporary and media art with the ability to critically examine the intersection of art, technology, media, science, society and politics; a clear curatorial and thematic vision; at least 5 years of experience in programme development across multiple formats with an experimental approach (experience leading cultural projects is advantageous); solid fundraising experience for cultural and artistic projects; a supra-regional network in the art and cultural scenes; excellent communication skills, integrity and a collaborative mindset; fluency in English or German; alignment with transmediale's values. CONDITIONS: freelance position, December 2026 until March 2028, ca. 70% commitment across the contract period and full-time from October 2027; Berlin-based or willing to relocate for key periods, with relocation to Berlin required from October/November 2027; the position may be filled by an individual or a group. A contract extension for the 2029 edition will be considered in summer 2027. SUBMISSION: application form (downloadable from the call page) plus a cover letter of under 700 words, via the submission platform only; additional documents are not reviewed. Queries to apply[at]transmediale.de. Deadline 30 September 2026, 23:59 CET.
One of the largest private funders of contemporary and new music in Europe, and it funds the organising side of the field rather than individual artists, which makes it directly usable by festivals. Eligible activity includes festivals, world premieres and revivals, composition commissions, events, academies and workshops, education projects, symposia and musicological publications. Experimental and contemporary sound programming is the core remit; this is not a classical-repertoire fund. There are two annual deadlines: 1 October at 14:00 CEST for projects starting the following year with decisions by year-end, and 1 March for projects starting in July or later with decisions by end of June. Grant sizes are not published, and the Foundation aims funding at artistic rather than overhead costs. Only the organising institution may apply and only legal entities qualify: cultural institutions, orchestra managers, festival organisers and ensembles. Self-applications and applications from individuals are explicitly refused. VOLUME LIMITS are strict and worth planning around: each institution may submit one application per deadline, may be supported for only one project per year, and may be supported for a maximum of three projects across three consecutive years.
The larger of The Hague's two municipal project bands and the appropriate route for an organisation running a festival or substantial public programme in the city. Awards range from EUR 10,000 to 30,000 against an annual ceiling of EUR 600,000 for the whole strand. THE CO-FINANCING REQUIREMENT IS SEVERE and is the single most important planning constraint: the municipal culture budget may fund at most 30 percent of the total project budget, so an applicant seeking EUR 30,000 must already have roughly EUR 70,000 secured or plausibly projected elsewhere. Only legal entities may apply; individuals and informal collectives must use Category A instead (EUR 2,000 to 10,000, 70 percent coverage ceiling, next window 1 to 15 September 2026). Professional arts and culture organisations running public projects in music, theatre, dance, film, literature, visual arts or combinations are eligible. The next window opens 1 October and closes at 17:00 on 15 October 2026. TIMING: the decision term is 12 weeks after the window closes, so an October 2026 application is decided around early January 2027 and activity should be scheduled from 2027 onward. Applications are handled through the municipality's subsidy system, which migrated to Easyfunders in April 2026. This scheme is independent of Stroom Den Haag. The underlying regulation runs to 31 December 2028.
An open call for at least 10 short performances of maximum 15 minutes for the 12th edition of Teatri Riflessi in Zafferana Etnea, Sicily. THE FORMAT: the competition champions the short performance in its own right, not as a reduction of a longer work nor as a sketch for a full-evening adaptation; its strength is the artistic immediacy and urgency it carries. The framing connects ancient Greek theatre, conceived as an outdoor competition for a large audience, to the more provocative tendencies of happenings and performance art that lean on the beholder's desire to participate. STRUCTURE: semi-finalists perform on the evenings of Thursday 15 and Friday 16 July 2027; the Programmers' Panel and the Scholars' & Critics' Panel determine the finalists, who perform again in the final on Sunday 18 July. The panels bring together around 30 Italian and international artistic directors, curators, festival and theatre programmers, journalists, critics and performing arts scholars, many from the Teatri Riflessi Network and Anticorpi XL Network; the full list is published in June 2027. Past partner organisations include Antistatic Festival (Sofia), ATER Fondazione, BIG Festival, Cantieri Danza, Circuito CLAPS, COORPI, Dance ICONS (Washington DC), Danza Urbana, Derida Dance Centre, EN-KNAP and Spanski Borci (Ljubljana), Fabbrica Europa, Festival Ammutinamenti, Cluny Danse (France), Danza Canarias dentro y fuera (Tenerife), FIND Festival, Fondazione Armunia and Festival Inequilibrio, Fondazione Claudia Lombardi per il teatro (Lugano), Fondazione Sipario Toscana, Fondazione Toscana Spettacolo, Galway Dance (Ireland), Interplay Festival (Turin), L'Arboreto Teatro Dimora, La Piccionaia, Movimento Danza, New Dance For Asia International Festival (Daegu), Puglia Culture, Toplocentrala (Sofia) and Umbria Danza Festival. MONEY: each selected performance receives a gross fee of EUR 500 to EUR 1,100 depending on cast size, plus a possible travel contribution of up to EUR 250. Awards are Best Performance EUR 1,200 (from the combined weighted scores of both panels, the Jury of the Final, the Youth Jury and the Citizens' Jury), Best Dramaturgy EUR 500 and the Scholars' and Critics' Award EUR 500 (both from the Scholars' & Critics' Panel), Best Direction EUR 500 and Best Performer EUR 500 (both from the Programmers' Panel), the 'Valentina Nicosia' Fund of EUR 500 (joint decision of both panels), the 'Sandra Bressan' research fund of EUR 1,800 (awarded by the Citizens' Jury to reinvite a company to Sicily to work with the community), and the Youth Jury Award of EUR 300 to a semi-finalist, alongside the Audience Special Mention, the Companies' Choice Award and the Technical Crew Award. Fees, reimbursements and prizes are paid after the festival, provided all regulations and deadlines are met. FEES TO APPLY: none. Only selected companies pay a EUR 50 deposit on selection, fully refunded after the festival. RULES: performances should aim for 15 minutes, with total stage occupancy including set-up and dismantling capped at 20 minutes. Multiple entries are allowed but need a separate form each. No major changes are permitted after selection; minor adjustments, especially cast substitutions, must be communicated in advance and authorised by IterCulture APS. Works in languages other than Italian are welcome and are presented with Italian and English surtitles prepared by IterCulture APS. APPLICATION: a digital form linked in Article 5 of the open call regulations, with Annex A for dramaturgy (the complete script where one exists, or for dance, physical theatre and non-text work a short document on the dramaturgical research and choreographic structure) and a full video recording of the complete work; excerpts and teasers are not accepted, and for rehearsed readings, directorial notes on costumes, lighting and set design are mandatory. COMMITMENT: rehearsal attendance is compulsory, with the day assigned by the Competition Manager after selection; companies must arrive in Zafferana Etnea by their rehearsal day (rehearsals run 13 and 14 July 2027) and stay until the festival closes at 23:30 on Sunday 18 July. Rehearsals and public events run mainly in afternoons and evenings; the only compulsory morning commitment is the panel feedback session on Sunday 18 July. Online information sessions are held on Google Meet on Tuesday 22 September 2026, with the English session at 19:30 CEST. Deadline 15 October 2026 at 5pm CET.
The Creative Industries Fund NL (Stimuleringsfonds) runs this residency with Videotage, a Hong Kong-based non-profit media arts institution specialising in the promotion, presentation, creation and preservation of moving image and media art in all forms and languages. The Fund is recruiting one Netherlands-based designer, maker or observer working in digital culture to spend two or three months at Videotage's studio space in Hong Kong in 2027, conducting research, broadening their network, developing new work inspired by Hong Kong, and presenting their findings or completed works. The residency encourages crossovers and experimentation, giving the participant space to explore new methodologies, widen their creative practice and produce work that pushes the boundaries of digital culture, with a focus on social and urban dynamics. The 2027 edition takes the technological 'black box' phenomenon as its starting point and invites the resident to respond to that theme within the context of Videotage. ELIGIBILITY: you are an individual designer, maker or observer within the field of digital culture; you are established in the Netherlands, Aruba, Bonaire, Curacao, Saba, Sint Eustatius or Sint Maarten (Kingdom of the Netherlands); you are registered in the business register of the Dutch Chamber of Commerce (KvK) or another business register within the Kingdom of the Netherlands; and you have had a professional practice in the creative industry for at least four years. NOT open to duos, collectives or cooperative ventures, nor to designers and makers who receive a grant during the work period under the Talent Development Grant Scheme, the Open Call Self-taught Designer or the Open Call Emerging Design Practices ABCSSS. Note that accepting this open call means you cannot apply to those schemes and open calls in 2027. FUNDING: EUR 5,000 for two months or EUR 6,500 for three months, covering travel, insurance, living expenses, compensation for time invested and material and transport costs; accommodation, studio use and Videotage's facilitation are covered separately by the Fund. Submit your proposal to the Creative Industries Fund NL by 21 October 2026, 16:00 CEST.
The Research Networking Day (RND) is an exchange platform for graduate or postgraduate students and independent artists conducting self-guided research traversing audio, arts, media, design, and related theoretical disciplines. The RND 2027 open call seeks innovative and critical submissions from all areas of study addressing the CTM 2027 festival theme 'Process...ing'. Nine selected candidates give short ten-minute presentations within different modules, linked by discussion rounds at the end of each module, offering an international platform to exchange with colleagues and researchers working on related ideas; research is also shared via audio/video after the festival on CTM's YouTube and SoundCloud channels. This edition takes place in collaboration with the Design Academy Eindhoven, Universitat der Kunste Berlin (UdK), and Leuphana University Luneburg. CONDITIONS: presentations take place on-site within the festival's Discourse programme, in English; applications are for individual (solo) presentations only (no duos or groups). As in previous years, no funding is available for travel and accommodation; participants receive a CTM 2027 festival pass, a catered lunch on the day, and a group dinner. Entrance to the event is free. KEY DATES: application deadline 25 October 2026 at 23:59 CET; programme announced mid to late November 2026; RND 2027 event Sunday 24 January 2027; CTM 2027 runs 22 to 31 January 2027.
A one-off 2026 call letting Dutch cultural institutions reuse and adapt digital technology that other institutions have already built and published in the open DigitALL Toolkit, for example translation software shared between theatres or a streaming platform adapted for a new venue. Grants run up to EUR 30,000 and cover technical modification, integration, production and deployment costs. Eligible applicants are museums, theatres, music venues, festivals, film theatres and professional performing arts producers. Applications are submitted online and assessed in order of receipt rather than comparatively, with a decision within ten weeks. The deadline was extended from 31 May 2026 to 1 November 2026 after high demand. IMPORTANT RESTRICTION: this route cannot be used to further develop your own pilot internally; it exists specifically to spread another institution's working technology across the sector. For developing something new, use the DigitALL pilot contribution instead.
The Royal Academy of Fine Arts Antwerp (AP University of Applied Sciences and Arts) invites applications for two-year artistic research projects starting 20 September 2027. Two-year research projects provide 55% employment for the research assignment over 24 months (as a contractual project staff member) plus EUR 2,000 in operating funds (EUR 1,000 per project year). Proposals are developed in collaboration with the Academy's research groups and must align with, endorse, and further develop the mission and vision of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts Antwerp. PRECONDITIONS: the proposal must be in line with the Academy's mission/vision; the applicant must be legally employable by the Royal Academy of Fine Arts Antwerp/AP Hogeschool on a contractual basis; and, at the time of application, the applicant must hold a Master's degree in Visual Arts awarded by a Belgian higher education institution (a non-Belgian degree is possible only if validated or recognised through the NARIC procedure, with proof included or a declared willingness to undergo it). PROCEDURE (two steps): STEP 1, apply via the Expression of Interest form sent to research_royalacademyantwerp@ap.be before 3 November 2026, 12:00 noon (applicants informed no later than end November 2026 whether they may develop a full dossier); STEP 2, submit the full dossier via the two-year project application form before 1 February 2027, 12:00 noon. Evaluation by an independent reading committee aims to conclude in May 2027. Contact: research_royalacademyantwerp@ap.be.
Artist's Fee reimburses part of the compensation an institution pays an artist for work on an exhibition: producing new work, production-related labour, event activities, and providing artwork for presentation. It does not cover expenses such as materials or transport. WHO CAN APPLY: visual arts institutions in the Netherlands or the Caribbean part of the Kingdom that publicly exhibit contemporary visual art and/or heritage without a sales objective, and that subscribe to the Fair Practice Code, the Culture Governance Code and the Diversity and Inclusion Code. CONDITIONS: the artist must hold a bachelor's degree in visual arts or have at least three years of professional experience; the fee must comply with the Fair Pay Rate Table 2023; the application must be submitted at least two months before the exhibition opens; the exhibition must open within 12 months of application; artist invoices must be paid within one month; and institutions already receiving other fair pay funding for 2025-2028 are not eligible. AMOUNT: up to 50% of the standard amount excluding VAT where the fee meets at least 100% of the guideline, with a minimum application of EUR 100. APPLY through the online system after creating an account, with a signed artist contract, the exhibition budget, artist CVs and a recent Chamber of Commerce registration. Note for artists: this is applied for by the institution, not by you, but it is worth pointing an exhibiting venue towards.
Art Heritage Festival supports festivals, biennales, triennales and similar events dedicated to the presentation of visual art and/or heritage, held in physical spaces and occurring no more than once a year. The scheme backs activities that reach diverse audiences or create meaningful public engagement with art and heritage. WHO CAN APPLY: non-profit organisations based in the Netherlands or the Caribbean part of the Kingdom; institutions for art education and post-academic institutions are excluded. NOT FUNDED: journals, publications, documentaries, symposia, conferences or online-only festivals. CONDITIONS: events must be publicly accessible and held no more than once a year; the project cannot receive simultaneous funding from other Mondriaan Fund grants or specified national cultural programmes; the organisation must subscribe to the Fair Practice Code, the Culture Governance Code and the Diversity and Inclusion Code; and fair artist compensation is mandatory where artists are involved. AMOUNT: up to 40% of eligible project costs, on a project budget above EUR 25,000. APPLY through the Mondriaan Fund online system after registering an account. Allow three months for processing; activities that have already happened cannot be funded.
Art Heritage Presentation funds presentations that are innovative and non-standard, rather than business-as-usual programming: exhibitions featuring internationally renowned artists, engaging shows offering fresh perspectives, public co-creation projects, and presentations built around special loans or commissioned work. WHO CAN APPLY: cultural institutions in the Netherlands and the Caribbean part of the Kingdom that focus on presenting cultural heritage and/or visual art, including museums, art centres and archives; art education and post-academic institutions are excluded, and the institution must be a non-profit legal entity established in the eligible territory. CONDITIONS: presentations must be open to the public; festivals, biennales and other events recurring annually or less often are handled by the separate Art Heritage Festival scheme, not this one; the organisation must subscribe to the Fair Practice Code, the Culture Governance Code and the Diversity and Inclusion Code; and artist fees must be realistic and included in the budget. AMOUNT: up to 40% of variable project costs, on a project budget above EUR 25,000. APPLY online after registering an account, with an institutional profile, project plan, presentation plan, itemised budget and, where applicable, artist information with visual documentation.
OSIP is the European Space Agency's standing front door for unsolicited novel ideas, launched in 2019 and now the main entry point for new concepts into ESA, both in response to specific problems and through open calls. HOW IT WORKS: ideas are submitted through two mechanisms. Campaigns are targeted calls responding to specific questions with defined timelines (recent examples include Future Navigation Demonstrators and elements for the EOCognitiveLab mission); Channels are permanently open, open-ended calls on broader topics with no deadline. Submissions can go through an optional community discussion phase, with voting and comments, before expert evaluation by ESA. WHO CAN SUBMIT: individuals, businesses, universities and organisations anywhere in the world. The catch for funding: to implement a funded idea yourself, you must be eligible to do business with ESA under Article 18 of its procurement regulations, which in practice means affiliation with an entity in an ESA member state. WHAT FUNDING LOOKS LIKE: successful ideas are typically supported as co-funded PhD or postdoctoral research (ESA plus a university), early technology development activities, or system studies; amounts vary by route and campaign. WHY IT IS ON THE DESK: this is the one genuinely public, always-open route into ESA for independent researchers, technologists and artists working with space data or space technology concepts; new campaigns appear regularly, so checking the platform periodically is worthwhile. Submit via ideas.esa.int.
NO PUBLISHED CLOSING DATE: the call gives no application deadline, so the operative cutoff is the gathering itself on 2-5 November 2026; apply early. The European Sex Workers' Rights Alliance (ESWA) brings back its Digital Rights Gathering in 2026 as The (W)horrors Edition, in Barcelona just after Halloween. It is a capacity and community-building space by and for sex workers, convened to confront the surveillance, censorship and digital violence they face online and to imagine and build more resilient digital futures. A limited number of spaces is reserved for allies working in adjacent digital rights and harm reduction spaces to host sessions. TWO CALLS ARE OPEN. (1) CALL FOR PARTICIPANTS, for sex workers who want to deepen their knowledge of digital rights, online safety and community resilience. Requirements: be a current or former sex worker who is also a member of an organisation in ESWA's network; be available for three days of interactive sessions, skill-sharing and collective learning on 2, 3 and 4 November, and free from 1 November (travel out) through 5 November (travel home), even though some final-day sessions are optional. Selected participants receive full funding covering travel, accommodation and food. (2) CALL FOR TRAINERS AND SESSION PROPOSALS, for facilitators, trainers and educators experienced in digital rights, online safety or sex worker-led organising, who want to deliver an interactive workshop, skill-share or creative session. Sessions run 90 minutes and are compensated at EUR 300 per session, with travel, accommodation and meals covered. Open to current or former sex workers, and to allies with experience in digital rights, digital discrimination, digital security and related fields. SESSION STRANDS: Digital (W)horrors, naming the threats faced online and unpacking how surveillance, censorship and platform policy work against sex workers, including shadowbanning and algorithmic censorship, over-zealous content moderation, law enforcement and third-party surveillance, deplatforming, non-consensual data scraping and retention, and the platforms and policies that enable them; Building Resilience, practical hands-on skills covering open source and privacy-respecting software, how and why to divest from Big Tech platforms, alternative and encrypted communication tools, digital security basics such as protecting data, devices and identity, and other harm-reduction strategies for working and organising online; Imagining Better Futures, creative forward-looking sessions on what a sex worker friendly internet would look like, including prototyping inclusive digital tools, platforms and spaces built by and for sex workers, new apps, alternative social platforms, community-owned tech, and speculative design exercises; Resourcing the Group, sessions focused on care and resilience, including writing and reflection, grounding and somatic exercises, tools for self-care and sustainability in activism, and space for radical rest. The organisers welcome grounded, political and creative contributions from anyone who would like to lead a session. Separate application forms for participants and for session proposals are linked from the call page. Questions: ana@eswalliance.org.
Cultuurloket DigitALL funds the digital innovation of the Dutch cultural sector and is the strongest dedicated digital-culture route currently open to Dutch cultural organisations. It is the successor to the discontinued Kickstart Cultuurfonds, backed by the VandenEnde Foundation, VSBfonds, Ammodo, Het Cultuurfonds and others. The pilot contribution of up to EUR 75,000 supports developing and running a first pilot, prototype or live version of a digital tool, which covers a wide range of creative-technology work embedded in festivals, exhibitions and public programmes. Eligible applicants are theatres, music venues, film theatres, museums, festivals and professional performing arts producers, with collaborations between institutions given priority. The pilot must be tested with the intended public audience, not only with experts, and funding cannot be used exclusively for hardware acquisition. Applications go through an online portal with no deadline and are handled in order of receipt. TIMING: a decision follows within ten weeks of submission, so plan roughly three months of lead time between applying and project start. Training and knowledge development through partner organisations is only covered when included in the submitted budget, so build it in from the outset.
The closest thing the Netherlands has to a dedicated regional art-and-technology fund, being a public-private scheme co-financed by ASML and sited in the country's main technology region. It funds professional cultural projects of high quality with national or international reach, which in practice covers festivals, exhibitions and public programmes including media art and creative technology work. Private-law legal entities only (stichting, vereniging or BV); both new and existing cultural organisations qualify. Projects are assessed on societal impact (must address at least two of accessibility, inclusivity, diversity, social cohesion), cultural entrepreneurship and sustainability, alongside professional artistic quality. Applications are accepted all year round via a two-stage route: an intake where Brabant C scouts give an initial assessment, followed by a full application, pitch session and decision. TIMING RULES ARE STRICT and are the main planning constraint: the full application must be submitted a minimum of 12 weeks before the project starts, and the project may not begin until at least 12 weeks after a complete application has been approved. The internal clock runs roughly two weeks for a completeness check, about six weeks to the pitch session, and about four weeks from pitch to decision. Brabant C never covers more than half the budget, so a matched partner is required from the outset. A separate Brabant C matching scheme for impactful culture projects is open year-round through 31 December 2026 for Brabant-based organisations outside the Brainport region.
Pink Screens, Brussels' queer film festival run by Genres d'a cote, accepts international films completed 2024 or later that were not previously submitted. Submissions are free via the festival's own form on pinkscreens.org (the FilmFreeway route may charge). No exact deadline is published, but the call is in its late phase, so submit soon.