Currently 78 active paid tech and infrastructure grants, fellowships and residencies. 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.
Subscribe: RSS feed · Calendar (.ics)
ONX Seeds 2026 is a four-month incubation and seed funding program run by Onassis ONX, the Onassis Foundation's platform for art and advanced technologies, hosted in Athens in a hybrid format under the theme Soft Circuits for Hard Times. It invites emerging artists, creative technologists, designers, game makers, performers, sound and visual artists and makers (individuals, groups and collectives, Greek and international) to develop early-stage prototypes that make the digital tangible: interactive objects, wearable or embedded systems, screen-based worlds, participatory environments, games, rituals, sonic works, moving images and hybrid analogue-digital forms. Proposals should be realistic in scope and result in an exhibitable prototype. SUPPORT: EUR 1,000 to 5,000 seed funding per project, weekly technical mentoring plus curatorial and business mentoring and online masterclasses, studio and equipment access at Onassis Ready for Athens-based teams (remote participation for everyone else), presentation at ONX Exhibition Athens (17 to 21 March 2027) with travel, accommodation and artwork transport covered for non-Athens participants, and connections to the ONX network in Athens, New York and beyond. HOW TO APPLY: via the Onassis open calls portal, with project summary, concept, visitor experience, technical requirements, production plan and bio, plus a mood board or project deck, portfolio and development budget as single PDFs; technical documentation and links to demos or repositories optional. DEADLINE: 26 October 2026.
Travel voucher for Dutch-based professionals in design, architecture and/or digital culture who have been invited by a foreign party to give a presentation, lecture or workshop. To apply you must have submitted an application to the Fund in the past five years that was positively assessed (previous International Vouchers do not count). The inviting foreign party must cover a proportionate share of the costs. Covers hourly fees, travel and accommodation directly related to the activity. IMPORTANT TIMING RULE: applications are accepted from 5 months to a minimum of 7 weeks before the activity begins, and processing takes about 6 weeks. This lead time can rule out activities that fall shortly after a round opens. Round 2 (4 May to 22 June 2026) has closed. Round 3 runs 8 September 2026 15:00 CEST to 27 October 2026 16:00 CEST, with a budget of EUR 33,000; given the 7-week rule it effectively serves activities starting from late October 2026 onwards. IMPORTANT PREREQUISITE: you must already have had an application to the Fund positively assessed within the past five years, and a previous voucher does not satisfy this, so this is not a viable first approach to the Fund. The window runs 8 September 2026, 15:00 CEST to 27 October 2026, but closes early once 20 complete applications are received. Maximum one voucher per applicant per calendar year.
Annual vocation bursaries for young talents in six fields including arts plastiques, arts de la scene and sciences et techniques; digital and media artists apply under arts plastiques or sciences et techniques. The EUR 10,000 bourse funds a concrete personal project: equipment, production or training. Vocatio operates under the King Baudouin Foundation umbrella but is a distinct foundation and call. ELIGIBILITY: over 18 and under 35 on 31 December of the application year; Belgian nationals OR persons domiciled in Belgium and resident there for at least 5 years. Call open 14 September to 29 October 2026, 16:00. DEADLINE: 29 October 2026.
Grants for large-scale interactive installation art shown at Black Rock City 2027; much of the funded work is creative-tech, light and kinetic. Two-stage process: a Letter of Intent now, with invited full proposals due mid-January 2027. FUNDING STRUCTURE: the official page publishes the overall picture rather than a per-award figure: a USD 1.5 million annual budget across roughly 75 projects, grants covering 40 to 60% of a project's proposed budget, and grants over USD 20,000 described as rare. ELIGIBILITY: open internationally, individuals and collectives; attending the event is recommended but not required. DEADLINE: Letter of Intent due 29 October 2026, 5pm PDT; late LOIs are not accepted.
AFTER THE PALACE: Resonance 2026 is an international video mapping competition and outdoor showcase that asks digital media artists to creatively reinterpret the dissonant heritage of socialist-era architecture in the context of the history, cultural identity and memory of Krakow's Nowa Huta. Artists, animators, motion designers, creative teams and studios worldwide are invited to create original site-specific projections for the courtyard facade of Building Z of the New Administrative Centre, formerly part of the Lenin Steelworks. Organised by the University of the National Education Commission in Krakow as part of the international artistic and research project unLoc. TECHNICAL: 2D/3D video mapping with sound, 1 to 8 minutes, MP4 (H.264/AAC) in 4K at 25 fps, minimum 40 Mbps, audio 48 kHz/16-bit, built on the dedicated building mapping matrix from the document package. Generative AI tools are permitted provided their use is fully disclosed in the application form and the applicant holds rights to the source materials. TIMELINE: submission deadline 30 October 2026, 23:59 CET; results by 10 November; outdoor showcase and award ceremony 23 November 2026 in the courtyard at 1 Ujastek St, Krakow. TO APPLY: submit the online application form with a download link to the work; the full regulations and mapping matrix are at unloc.art. Contact unloc@uken.krakow.pl.
A bias bounty from Zindi, Humane Intelligence, Radiant Earth, and the Heising-Simons Foundation: measure coverage gaps in Overture Maps across US Census tracts by comparing it against Census TIGER/Line Roads, Microsoft US Building Footprints, USGS National Map critical facilities, and Census County Business Patterns. Submissions are automatically evaluated with a Bias Score assessing equity metrics across demographic and climate-vulnerability strata, surfacing whose neighbourhoods open map data underserves. PRIZES: 1st USD 4,500, 2nd USD 2,500, 3rd USD 1,500, Best Bias Discovery USD 1,000, Best Documentation USD 500 (USD 10,000 total), plus 10,000 Zindi points. ELIGIBILITY: open to all, teams of up to 4. HOW TO ENTER: create a Zindi account, download the sample submission files, compute coverage-gap scores per tract GEOID, and upload a CSV; 10 submissions per day, 300 total. Free to enter. DEADLINE: 31 October 2026.
Foresight Institute's AI for Science and Safety Nodes request for proposals funds open, AI-first projects across three calls: I. Local Compute (compute that individuals and communities physically own and control), II. Coordination and Accountability (supercollaboration and decentralised alignment, human empowerment, and AI insurance and open governance: multi-agent oversight and verification, tools for collective deliberation, decision rules for when human control adds value, and independent risk assessment or insurance mechanisms for frontier labs), and III. AI-first Science (automated nanotechnology, whole-brain emulation, frontier bio). Grantees can also get workspace in the San Francisco or Berlin AI Nodes (a community xNode runs in Cape Town) and private compute. All funded code, data and outputs must be open-sourced. Projects are judged on fit with the focus area, impact on reducing existential risk from AI, feasibility within 1 to 3 years, AI-first working methods, ability to execute, and high-risk, high-reward potential. ELIGIBILITY: individuals, teams and organisations worldwide; nonprofits and for-profits welcome (for-profits must justify the need for grant funding). Priority goes to applicants who want to work in person at one of the Nodes, but it is not required. Review takes about three months; applications can opt in to sharing with Lightcone Commons. DEADLINE: 31 October 2026, 23:59 PDT.
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 AAAS Science & Technology Policy Fellowships place scientists and engineers inside US federal agencies, congressional offices and the judicial branch for a year of hands-on policymaking, contributing technical knowledge and analytical skills to the federal policy process. AI, data and computing policy placements are among the largest tracks, and AAAS runs a dedicated AI legislative branch cohort that places AI experts in congressional offices at GS-12 Step 10 on the DC locality scale. ELIGIBILITY: US citizens holding a PhD or equivalent doctoral degree in any science or engineering field, or a master's degree in engineering plus three years of post-degree professional experience; some tracks accept a bachelor's plus five years. Relevant expertise includes AI, machine learning, computer science, robotics and data science. Fellows must reside in DC, Maryland or northern Virginia during the fellowship year. TIMELINE: the application portal opens 1 August 2026 and closes 1 November 2026 at 11:59pm ET, with eligibility notification in late November, interview notification January to February 2027, semi-finalist interviews in March, placement offers by early May, and the fellowship year running 1 September 2027 to 31 August 2028. Apply through fellowshipapp.aaas.org.
The Processing Foundation's 2027 fellowship cycle supports artists, educators and creative technologists working on open-source projects, with a USD 10,000 stipend over an 8-month fellowship period. THREE TRACKS: Collective Intelligence (remote, US-based), co-designing AI education tools with youth, aimed at educators with software development or AI/ML experience; Gaming the System (hybrid, Los Angeles), building an open-source toolkit for video game design with underserved communities, for game makers and creative coders based in LA; and DIY Computing (hybrid, New York City), developing open-source hardware and software environments for custom computers, for early-career hardware artists in NYC (applicants currently enrolled in degree programs are ineligible for this track). ELIGIBILITY: US applicants only; hybrid tracks require residency in LA or NYC respectively. International applicants are pointed to the Foundation's Microgrants and Processing Community Day instead. APPLICATION: via nomination form, selecting one track; self-nominations are allowed. Selection by a panel of the Processing Foundation team and external reviewers, judging strength of the project, fit with the Foundation's mission and potential impact. TIMELINE: nominations open 7 October 2026, close 1 November 2026 at 11:59 PM PST; fellows notified 14 December 2026; fellowship runs 25 January to 26 September 2027.
Alpaca is a festival and conference on algorithmic patterns in the creative arts, run by the non-profit Pattern Club in Sheffield. It brings together live coders, weavers, braiders, origami makers, musicians and other practitioners who make patterns by procedure, and it welcomes contemporary algorithmic art that is human-authored. THEME (talks): making languages and notations for making patterns, with unexpected interpretations welcome. WHAT YOU CAN PROPOSE: live performances, hands-on workshops, and roughly 20-minute conference talks; accepted abstracts (max two pages) are published open access with a DOI and may be invited into an edited volume. WHAT YOU GET: performers receive an artist fee plus national travel; workshop leaders receive an artist fee, materials and national travel. The organisers state they cannot confirm fee amounts at this stage and may cover extra costs on request; international travel is not covered apart from a small European train budget. Talks are unpaid: in-person speakers get a free festival pass and lunch on the conference days. EXCLUSIONS: submissions focused on generative AI or unsupervised pattern generation by LLMs. APPLICATION: via the online form at calls.alpaca.cc; questions to contact@alpaca.cc. DEADLINE: 1 November 2026.
Playful Obscura is the Goethe-Institut's arthouse games residency for Africa, co-run with the Berlin playful-media festival A MAZE. After editions in Ho (2025) and Accra (2026), the third edition moves to Addis Ababa with Creative HUB Ethiopia, the British Council and Alliance Ethio-Francaise. WHAT IT IS: a three-week residency hosting two artists simultaneously to develop experimental, artistic games and playful media, with mentoring from the A MAZE. network and a public showcase. WHO: artists, game developers and creative technologists based in Africa who can work independently on a project; the 2026 call drew 77 applications from 16 African countries. WHAT YOU GET: travel and accommodation plus production support; the 2026 edition offered a production budget of up to EUR 1,000 and a EUR 300 stipend, and the 2027 figures should be confirmed in the full call. APPLICATION: via the Goethe-Institut South Africa Playful Obscura page. DEADLINE: 1 November 2026.
MIT Solve's annual open innovation call selects tech-based solutions to global challenges and backs them with funding and a nine-month support program. The 2027 cycle runs five parallel challenges on a shared application deadline: the Global Climate Challenge, Global Health Challenge, Global Learning Challenge, Global Economic Prosperity Challenge, and the Indigenous Communities Fellowship. WHAT SOLVERS GET: a USD 10,000 grant funded by Solve for every selected team; access to a pool of over USD 1 million in sponsor prize funding at selection; tailored capacity-building workshops (marketing, PR, monitoring and evaluation, business model and more); leadership coaching; networking with the MIT and Solve community; pro bono resources such as software and legal services; event attendance and media exposure; and permanent Solver status. ELIGIBILITY: open to applicants of all backgrounds worldwide with a technology-based solution addressing one of the challenge areas; teams and organizations at various stages can apply. SELECTION: judged on alignment, impact potential, feasibility, innovation, human-centered design, scalability, partnership potential and technical feasibility. DEADLINE: 2 November 2026 at 12:00 PM EST, shared across all 2027 challenges. Apply via the challenge pages on solve.mit.edu.
ACLS Digital Justice Grants fund digital projects in the humanities and interpretive social sciences that critically engage with the interests and histories of people of colour and other historically marginalised communities, including Black, Latinx, Indigenous, disabled and LGBTQ+ communities. The programme's stated aims are to diversify the digital domain, advance justice and equity in digital scholarly practice, and contribute to public understanding of racial and social justice issues, with an explicit interest in scholars working with under-utilised or understudied source materials and those at institutions with less infrastructure for digital work. TWO TRACKS, one deadline: SEED GRANTS of USD 10,000 to 25,000 for projects in the start-up or prototyping phase, covering planning, prototyping and methodology testing; and DEVELOPMENT GRANTS of USD 50,000 to 100,000 for projects that have moved past proof of concept and can show preliminary work and evidence of engagement. ELIGIBILITY: at least one principal investigator must be a scholar in the humanities or interpretive social sciences, and awarded funds must be administered by a US institution of higher education. WHAT IS NOT FUNDED: creative works such as novels or films, textbooks, straightforward translations, purely pedagogical projects, and institutional indirect costs. Note that outputs are expected to be made as widely available as intellectual property allows, ideally under the most liberal open-source or Creative Commons licence. TIMING: applications go through the ACLS online fellowship and grant administration system (ofa.acls.org) by 3 November 2026 at 17:00 ET; grant terms begin between 1 July and 31 December 2027 and run 12 to 18 months. The programme is funded by the Mellon Foundation.
NLnet's current open call funds open-source technical development: software and hardware released under free licenses. ROUTES: the Restack fund (open internet stack), the CodeSupply fund, and the general open call for everything else; accessibility and assistive-tech FOSS (screen readers, a11y tooling, accessible interfaces) was repeatedly funded under the predecessor NGI Zero programme and fits via the general route, though Restack's own scope text does not name accessibility, so confirm scope with NLnet before applying. NLnet also provides grantee support services including accessibility audits. ELIGIBILITY: individuals, informal collectives, nonprofits, SMEs and universities from any country; no disability identification required. NOTE: proposals and projects generated with AI/LLMs are ineligible. APPLICATION: short online form at nlnet.nl/propose; decisions within weeks; calls recur roughly every two months, so a missed deadline rolls to the next cycle. DEADLINE: 3 November 2026, 12:00 CET (noon).
Screen Australia's Future Leaders Delegation sends up to eight early-to-mid career Australian gamemakers to BitSummit 2027 in Kyoto, Japan (21-23 May 2027), one of Asia's leading independent games festivals. SUPPORT: AUD 6,000 per delegate towards flights, accommodation, event tickets, ground transportation and meals; travel costs for a mandatory pre-departure workshop in Melbourne (mid-April 2027) are covered separately; delegates can exhibit their game as part of an Australia stand. ELIGIBILITY: Australian citizens or permanent residents (individuals) or incorporated Australian companies with an active ABN and GST registration; must have released and/or published at least one game on a public platform; must be actively developing a game ready for public presentation by May 2027; must be available for both the workshop and event dates; must not have previously participated in a Screen Australia Future Leaders Delegation. Assessment weighs project quality, career relevance, anticipated impact, and commitment to diversity and inclusion. HOW TO APPLY: via Screen Australia's funding portal. Decisions announced by 11 December 2026. DEADLINE: 5 November 2026 at 5pm AEST.
Realities in Transition (RiT2), a Creative Europe XR cooperation project, and host partner L.E.V. Festival invite artists with VR development experience to co-create a walkable VRChat world conceived as a voyage, with 5 to 7 environments, 3 to 5 avatars and optional NPC players; events, social worlds and theatre pieces are not wanted. Three individual artists are selected and work together with a creative technologist, each indicating the skills they bring (for example Unity development, 3D art, animation, sound art or narrative writing) with portfolio examples. WHAT YOU GET: an artist fee of EUR 10,000 gross per artist (EUR 6,000 on signing, EUR 2,000 after the Test Lab, EUR 2,000 at the end) and a production budget of up to EUR 15,000 gross for working hours or external assistance. The residency is fully online from January to June 2027, with a Test Lab at L.E.V. Gijon in May 2027 and a premiere at L.E.V. Matadero in September 2027; no travel or accommodation is included. APPLICATION: online form linked from the call page. DEADLINE (extended): 6 November 2026, 23:59 CEST.
The Judson-Morrissey Excellence in New Media Award (JMEM) is the New Media Caucus's scholarship program supporting BIPOC students in new media art fields. It gives multiple unrestricted monetary awards of up to USD 500 each, funded through donor contributions, and features awardees in an NMC Header/Footer Gallery exhibition and a digitally published interview. ELIGIBILITY: BIPOC undergraduate and graduate students working as artists, practitioners, historians and/or critics in new media art. TO APPLY: submit the Google Form with an application letter (max 500 words), a 100-200 word biography, and either 3-5 artwork samples or 2-3 writing samples. DEADLINE: 8 November 2026, 11:59 PM EST. Questions to NMC co-president Chanhee Choi.
Bellingcat, the open source investigations collective, is hiring a contractor AI engineer to build agentic systems that support its investigators. (Listed on Grant Desk as an exception to the no-jobs rule: a remote, paid, public-interest AI contract.) THE ROLE: build, test, deploy and monitor multi-agent workflows for open source investigations; develop agentic pipelines with human oversight, feedback loops and evaluation metrics; architect and maintain cloud infrastructure for hosting LLM harnesses and monitoring agents using token-as-a-service providers; develop MCP servers and data bridges connecting agents to open source research tools and databases; and create evaluation frameworks for the performance and reasoning of agentic pipelines. WHAT YOU GET: an annual fee of USD 80,000 to 93,000 for full-time work (part-time 20 hours/week also possible), on an initial 12-month contract, working remotely with some flexibility to work from other countries for a limited number of weeks per year. ELIGIBILITY: hands-on full-stack development experience including infrastructure maintenance and server-side data workflows; experience with agentic AI workflows and open-source harnesses; experience with human-in-the-loop design (approval checks, feedback loops); a collaborative record of working with non-technical colleagues on public interest technology; English proficiency; and a time zone overlapping with Europe. Experience with mission-driven organisations or open source / public interest tech is a plus. APPLICATION: via Google Form; Bellingcat asks that applications not be AI-generated (AI for grammar checks is fine). Review is rolling from 21 October and interviews may start before the close. DEADLINE: 8 November 2026.
Creatives for Our Future is the Swarovski Foundation's global grant programme for emerging creatives aged 21 to 30. Each selected participant receives a EUR 20,000 grant to support their creative project, alongside a mentorship and education programme. DISCIPLINES: fashion, design, art, architecture and engineering, which makes it a direct fit for fashion-tech, wearable and smart-textile projects. ELIGIBILITY: applicants must be aged 21 to 30 at the time of application and working on an initiative that uses creativity to accelerate awareness, technology, or solutions toward the UN Sustainable Development Goals; open worldwide. DEADLINE: 9 November 2026 at 11:59 pm BST.
The Federation of American Scientists' Metascience Fellowship places three full-time fellows inside federal research agencies such as the NSF or DOE for one year, after a pre-service residency at FAS. Fellows advise agency leaders on evidence-based research reform, analyse grantmaking, peer review and open-science practices, design experiments with built-in evaluation, write briefing memos, coordinate metascience work across agencies and give hands-on technical help. Placements may be extended depending on funding and performance. ELIGIBILITY: US citizens only; current federal employees cannot apply. Mid- to senior-career professionals with an advanced degree or equivalent experience in a scientific, engineering or public-policy field, willing to work mostly in person in the Washington, DC area. Fellows must start at FAS no later than 4 January 2027. Applications take a CV and three responses of up to 300 words each, submitted through the FAS platform. DEADLINE: 9 November 2026, 11:59PM ET; late applications are not reviewed.
The Schaufler Lab at TUD Dresden University of Technology, a joint project with The Schaufler Foundation, invites applications for its six-month artist-in-residence at the interface of art and science for 2027. The theme of the Lab's third funding phase (2027 to 2030) is Energy Cultures in Transition: how forms of energy and energy transitions shape and are shaped by cultural practices, value systems, power relations, environmental relationships and imaginaries of the future. Residents work with the researchers of the Schaufler Kolleg graduate college and the wider university, with access to humanities, natural-science and engineering labs, and give lectures, talks and workshops, including a collaboration with the Dresden University of Fine Arts. Past residents include Quadrature, Mario Pfeifer, Rosa Barba and Esmeralda Conde Ruiz. ELIGIBILITY: internationally active artists or artist groups in media art, conceptual art, performance and related fields with completed international projects and exhibitions, an interest in exchange between artistic and scientific research, and proficient German or English; presence on site in Dresden is required by arrangement. Apply with a form, CV, portfolio, project proposal (up to 10,000 characters), project plan with potential TUD collaborators, a three-minute video and a recent letter of recommendation, as one PDF by email. The call is subject to final funding approval. Residency starts April 2027. DEADLINE: 9 November 2026.
The Athens Digital Arts Festival, Greece's long-running digital arts festival, has opened its call for the 23rd edition in spring 2027 under the theme "It's Alive..." (Dr. Frankenstein's line, reread for an age when we feel the same relief when the Wi-Fi comes back). CATEGORIES: Video Art, Installations, Performances, Animation, Games, Web Art, AR/VR/XR, Music, Talks, Workshops and ADAF Kids. Up to 4 entries per category, one form per work; digital-image collections of up to 5 works can share one application. Videos max 30 minutes (online file up to 2 GB in .avi, .mpeg or .mov, or a Vimeo link). Unrealised works with a complete concept and design are eligible if they can be ready about two months before the festival. Curators share applications across categories, so a work may be accepted in a different one. Shortlisted artists are contacted by email; others are not notified. NO ENTRY FEE. No artist fee or prize is published. DEADLINE: 10 November 2026, via the forms at 2027.adaf.gr. Questions: info@adaf.gr.
Realities in Transition (RiT2), a Creative Europe XR cooperation project, and Beta Festival in Ireland invite artists, technologists, storytellers, engineers, hackers and designers to develop XR, interactive, multi-user work that explores technology through relationships between human, artificial and more-than-human intelligence, with a focus on decolonial thinking and interdependence. Three artists are selected, each paired with a creative technologist and working as a group. WHAT YOU GET: a EUR 15,000 grant per artist for a six-month hybrid residency from March to August 2027, with an in-person period at Beta in May to June 2027, a Test Lab in June 2027 and a showcase at Beta Festival in November 2027. APPLICATION: online form linked from the call page; see the RiT residencies page for eligibility. DEADLINE: 10 November 2026, 23:59 CEST.
ART4MENTAL is a Creative Europe project (partners in Ukraine, Poland, Czechia, Estonia, Sweden and Austria) selecting 20 artists to create immersive VR content and scenarios used in art-therapy and mental-health support sessions across Ukraine and the EU. Selected artists get professional training in VR technology and trauma-informed design, local bootcamps, a residency in Ukraine's Carpathian Mountains, study visits to rehabilitation centres, ongoing collaboration with mental-health professionals, and present their work at European exhibitions and conferences, including an international exhibition in Poland. ELIGIBILITY: the official page says residents of EU countries and Ukraine with a proven artistic practice and full availability for all mandatory activities; the On the Move listing adds that at least 10 of the 20 places go to artists from Ukraine and at least one each to Czechia, Estonia, Sweden and Austria, so applicants from other EU countries are eligible but not prioritised. Two stages: online form with supporting documents, then an online interview; selected artists announced January 2027. DEADLINE: 11 November 2026 per On the Move (the official page only says November 2026; no time zone stated).
The NYC track of Eyebeam's AGENCY residency cycle supports New York City-based artists exploring questions of agency at a moment when AI systems increasingly act, decide and carry out tasks on our behalf: how to preserve human agency as these systems shape human behavior, how to assert agency in imagining and building the societies we inhabit, and what agency becomes when understood as collective, relational, entangled and more-than-human. Projects might engage AI directly but do not have to; critical and creative approaches to power, autonomy, technological systems, collective action, human and nonhuman relationships, and the social and material structures of agency are all welcome, including reimagining AI through collective governance, repair, rehearsal or mischief, and repurposing AI systems toward new tools, methods and models for the public good. Residents receive a USD 5,000 stipend, mentorship, and access to tools and technical expertise through Eyebeam's network. ELIGIBILITY: individuals only (no collectives this cycle); not enrolled in a full-time degree program; not committed to another residency during the term; must live in New York City within the five boroughs and be able to work on site at Eyebeam at least one day a week for the full term. TIMELINE: deadline Sunday 15 November 2026, 11:59 PM ET; interviews 7-10 December; notifications 14 December; residency 15 March to 11 June 2027. Info session Monday 19 October 2026, 1 PM ET. Apply via Submittable, free.
Data Through Design, the annual exhibition of artworks that creatively analyze, interpret and interrogate data from New York City's Open Data portal, opens its 10th anniversary call, held in conjunction with NYC Open Data Week. THEME: reflections, reverberations and the arc of data over time; the evidence of time (footprints, traces, scars, markers of change), temporal mirrors and kaleidoscopes, messages from the past and future, fractals of time and visuals of scale. Artists may also respond to a previous DxD theme in light of time, and alumni artists are particularly encouraged to apply, including by revisiting past projects. FORMATS: digital, analog, physical, performance, sound works, walks, installations, creative coding, participatory mapping, drawings and more; the organizers highlight participatory data collection, radical and cognitive mapping, and data experienced through time, sound and the senses. REQUIREMENT: projects must reference or use at least one NYC Open Data dataset; other data, including novel and experimental collection systems, is welcome alongside it. WHAT YOU GET: USD 900 stipend, half before and half after the exhibition, plus inclusion in the multi-media group show in New York City, tentatively 26 March to 11 April 2027. Work must be installation-ready by 19 March 2027 and delivered to the venue 22 to 24 March. ELIGIBILITY: open to artists, civic technologists, data enthusiasts, city dwellers and creative practitioners; applicants must be approved to work in the US to be paid the stipend. The submission process has been revamped for this edition, with a new rubric and submission materials to review. APPLICATION: free, via the submission form on the DxD website. DEADLINE: 15 November 2026 at 23:59 EST.
Witte Rook (Breda) and the Ukrainian platform IZOLYATSIA run Digital Explorers (Across Borders), a fully online residency program exploring the artist-in-residence of the future through cross-border collaboration. Each of three phases pairs one artist from the Netherlands with one from Ukraine, working together for about three months on the common.garden platform. WHAT YOU GET: EUR 1,800 fee plus EUR 1,000 material budget per artist (both excluding VAT), expert discussions, technical support, a physical and online exhibition (final exhibitions planned for spring 2028) and a published article about the creative process. ELIGIBILITY: artists and makers working in digital culture and interested in new technology who live and work in the Netherlands or Ukraine; proficiency in English required. APPLICATION: in English via the IZOLYATSIA platform; motivation letter (max 1,000 words), CV (max 3 A4 pages) and portfolio (max 10 A4 pages, 20 MB); applicants indicate a first and second priority phase. PHASES: 'Form' (January to March 2027), 'Content' (May to July 2027), 'Analysis' (September to December 2027). DEADLINE: 15 November 2026, 23:59 CET.
Zoud GameLab is a month-long virtual game jam run by Global Game Jam and Zoud, the UAE's national financial wellbeing initiative, under the theme Make FinLit Fun. Participants build a game that integrates financial literacy in a meaningful way; this is part of the judging criteria, and a scoring rubric is published on the jam page. WHO: anyone aged 18 or over by 15 November 2026, anywhere in the world; solo developers, teams of any size and studios, each member registering individually. Prior Global Game Jam participation is not required. WHAT YOU GET: a share of up to USD 140,000 in prizes and development-support funding; entrants who want to be considered for development funding submit the game, a concept or design document, a two-minute gameplay video and a game budget. A pre-jam learning programme of webinars, resources and expert sessions ran from September. APPLICATION: register and submit on itch.io (and the Global Game Jam Discord). DEADLINE: 15 November 2026 at 23:59 anywhere on earth (the itch.io counter may show 16 November in some time zones).
The UCLA Library Modern Endangered Archives Program (MEAP), funded by Arcadia, grants its ninth cohort of awards to preserve, document and digitize cultural heritage collections at risk from environmental conditions, political uncertainty, inherently unsustainable media, inappropriate storage, or communal and social change. IN SCOPE: 20th and 21st century materials, including print, photographic, film, video, audio, ephemeral and born-digital objects; all funded materials are published open access in the UCLA Library Digital Collections repository. GRANT TYPES: Planning Grants up to USD 20,000 over one year for organization, survey and inventory work before digitization; Project Grants up to USD 70,000 over two years for digitization and metadata creation on collections ready to digitize, or for curating existing digital assets; Regional Grants up to USD 100,000 over two years for digital collections combining materials from three or more institutions, families or archival repositories around one theme, community or historical event, hosted by an organizing institution with prior MEAP grant experience (consult MEAP staff before applying). There is also an invitation-only Emergency Grant track up to USD 10,000 (email meap@library.ucla.edu), and a new AV Grants track up to USD 100,000 for audiovisual archives opening April 2027 with selections in September 2027. TIMELINE: applications opened 14 September 2026; preliminary application webinar 15 October 2026; preliminary applications due Monday 16 November 2026 at 11:59pm Pacific Time via meap.smapply.io; preliminary decisions December 2026; detailed applications due 12 February 2027; awards announced summer 2027. Applications name teams working with the institutions, families or repositories that hold the collections; read the Program Guidelines and Project Eligibility documents on the MEAP site before applying.
Code:ART is the City of Palo Alto's digital art festival celebrating creative technology in public space, returning 13 to 16 October 2027. This call commissions one artist or team to create a signature interactive installation for Lytton Plaza with a USD 20,000 budget. ELIGIBILITY: open to individual artists and teams based in the US or internationally; individuals must be over 18, and for teams at least one member must be over 18 and able to contract with the City; applicants in Santa Clara and San Mateo counties are particularly encouraged. You may also apply to the parallel Interactive Media Installations call, but can receive only one commission across both. APPLICATION: via SlideRoom. DEADLINE: Monday 16 November 2026, 23:59 Pacific Time.
Code:ART is the City of Palo Alto's digital art festival celebrating creative technology in public space, returning 13 to 16 October 2027. This call selects up to five interactive media installations for the festival, each with a budget of up to USD 9,000. ELIGIBILITY: open to artists nationally and internationally, individuals and teams. You may also apply to the parallel Lytton Plaza Installation call (USD 20,000), but can receive only one commission across both. APPLICATION: via SlideRoom. DEADLINE: Monday 16 November 2026, 23:59 Pacific Time.
Molly Crockett's lab at Princeton, based in the Department of Psychology and the University Center for Human Values, is hiring a postdoc to start in summer or fall 2027. The research topic is flexible. The lab uses methods from computational social science and cognitive science informed by theory from science and technology studies and feminist epistemology, studying feedback loops between individual psychology, institutions and culture, and how the tech industry co-opts these processes to concentrate power. It is especially interested in bridging quantitative and qualitative methods for understanding human experience, and in how culture and power shape which questions are valued and which methods are legitimised. The lab is industry-independent and accepts no research funding from the tech industry; it uses a variety of ML methods and aims to develop thoughtful approaches to automation in scholarship, so it suits researchers excited about AI in science but wary of hype and industry influence. WHAT YOU GET: an USD 80,000 salary from stable institutional funds, initial one-year appointment renewable up to three years. APPLICATION: via Interfolio; questions about fit to mj.crockett@princeton.edu. Review of applications begins 20 November 2026 and continues until the position is filled.
The Mozilla Foundation Incubator's next cohort funds seven Human-Scale AI projects: working AI technologies that are small (small models, less compute, able to run locally or on low-power devices), intentional (users and communities get insight into and control over their data, and systems can be configured, forked or community-governed) and tailored (fit-for-purpose for a specific community, context or problem, with particular interest in resource-constrained regions, people with disabilities and other underserved groups). Projects must already be deployed with the people they serve, even at pilot scale, and show early product-community fit. Not wanted: concepts without working technology, standalone governance or policy work, generic chatbots, or products whose core depends on a frontier model or a slimmed-down version of one. The cohort runs for 12 months from April 2027 with coaching, a Mozilla programme officer, network access and a showcase at the Mozilla Festival; required sessions are about one or two hour-long virtual meetings a month, and teams must work in the open. ELIGIBILITY: worldwide; you do not need to be a nonprofit but the project must have a charitable purpose and you must be legally able to receive Mozilla Foundation grant funds. Applications in English (translation tools welcome). Multi-stage process: an initial project proposal, then a full application for a shortlist. Info session 12 November 2026, 17:00 UTC. DEADLINE: Friday 20 November 2026, 11:59PM PST (UTC-8).
TRACES is a new art and science residency run by the Foundation for the Sustainable Development of Mountain Regions (FDDM) with EPFL Valais-Wallis, Energypolis, the City of Sion and the Canton of Valais. The 2027 pilot embeds one visual artist for three months in Prof. Sascha Feldmann's Laboratory for Energy Materials at EPFL, which works on light-matter interactions and soft semiconductors for flexible solar cells, energy-efficient screens and emerging quantum technologies. The artist develops original work in dialogue with the lab around the energy transition and the materials of the future, with studio and production space, scientific mentoring and a public final presentation on 15 April 2027. ELIGIBILITY: confirmed, professional international visual artists aged 25 or over who finished their studies at least two years ago and have at least two years of professional practice; applications in English or French with a letter of intent (two A4 pages), portfolio and CV via the online form. Laureate selected 7 December 2026. DEADLINE: 22 November 2026, 23:59 Swiss time (CET).
A development lab for XR and new media projects at the Thessaloniki International Documentary Festival's industry section AGORA, for emerging storytellers working across film, digital media, new technologies and performing arts. Lead mentor: Vassiliki Khonsari (co-founder, iNK Stories). Up to five projects are selected. FORMAT: online preparation and project-enhancement workshop in mid-January 2027, then the lab in Thessaloniki on 6-11 March 2027 with industry meetings scheduled from professionals' requests and the AGORA team, plus online meetings on 12 March. ELIGIBILITY: teams of at least two creative members (creator-creator or creator-producer), any development stage; one lead can submit up to two projects; previously rejected projects only with substantial changes. Both core members must attend the January workshop and at least one must attend the full lab. Completed projects must credit the lab. APPLICATION: English online form (not editable after submission) plus one English PDF with logline, synopsis (max 2 pages), format and audience thoughts, team bios, financing plan if available, visual material and past work. Notification early January 2027. DEADLINE: 25 November 2026. Contact: Rafaela Karagianni.
The UNESCO City of Media Arts Office of Karlsruhe's Department of Cultural Affairs awards the dm-Award connecting worlds, with dm-drogerie markt as awarding partner, ZKM | Center for Art and Media Karlsruhe as curatorial partner and KME as organiser of the SCHLOSSLICHTSPIELE Light Festival. Under the motto PLAYGROUND, the call seeks projects that connect the digital space of the projection mappings on Karlsruhe Palace's facade with the analogue space of the Market Square, playfully activating public space. FORMAT: every project must have two elements: a projection mapping on the palace facade (2 to 5 minutes) and at least one satellite on the Market Square that also works independently of the projection and is publicly and freely accessible. Examples include interactive projections and game elements with audience participation, installations or media artworks relating to the projection, combinations of performance, concerts or actions with projection mapping, sculptural, 3D or immersive formats, new technologies, and collaborations between local and international players. The winner is realised in 2027 during the SCHLOSSLICHTSPIELE and the exhibition Media art is here, running four weeks between mid-August and mid-September 2027. WHO: artists worldwide, individually or as a collective. WHAT YOU GET: a EUR 10,000 prize, up to EUR 20,000 net production funding (which must cover all production costs, including fees, equipment and the winners' travel), plus curatorial and technical support; technical requirements are set out in the Production Guidelines. APPLICATION: via the call page; questions to cityofmediaarts@kultur.karlsruhe.de. Application period 9 October to 25 November 2026, closing at 13:00 CET.
Prototype Fund supports the development of socially relevant open-source software, offering low-threshold funding and coaching to individual developers and small teams. ELIGIBILITY: individual developers or teams of up to four; funded members must reside in the EU and the lead entity must be based in Germany. Application window 1 October to 30 November 2026. Apply via the Prototype Fund application page.
Annual design commission for an ambitious, technically challenging large-scale public artwork or structure, built over summer 2027 by more than 100 young people working with Beam staff. The selected designer collaborates through bi-weekly remote planning meetings and may visit the build with travel reimbursed, making this genuinely remote-friendly for a physical commission. A strong fit for creative-technology and installation practices. AWARD: USD 5,000 to the proposer plus roughly USD 15,000 in fabrication budget. ELIGIBILITY: open worldwide, any age, individuals or teams. DEADLINE: 30 November 2026, 11:59pm EST.
make-a-thek, a Horizon Europe project (grant No. 101177660) coordinated by Fab Lab Barcelona at IAAC, connects creative spaces, public libraries and makers across Europe and beyond to share skills in circular fashion, traditional crafts and technology. Its open call runs two tracks. MOBILITY SCHEME (Track A): experienced practitioners (make-a-thek Experts) travel to an EU pilot location (Antwerp, Barcelona, Berlin, Budapest, Helsinki, Kranj, Milan, Opole, Reykjavik, Kyiv or Zaporizhzhia) to deliver a workshop, talk or hands-on training, with a EUR 1,000 stipend to support expenses. KNOWLEDGE EXCHANGE PROGRAMME (Track B): learners, practitioners, makers, craftspeople and librarians travel to a 2-day in-person group meet-up (Cohort 1 in Barcelona between end of November and start of December 2026; Cohort 2 in Berlin in May 2027), then organise a local knowledge-sharing activity, with a EUR 850 stipend. Up to 12 participants per track annually. ELIGIBILITY: legal residents of EU member states, Horizon Europe associated countries, or the international pilot countries Ghana, South Africa, Indonesia, the Philippines and Chile; proposals must align with at least one focus area: Circular Fashion, Digitising Traditional Crafts, or Open Technologies. HOW TO APPLY: via the Typeform linked from the open call page. The early-bird round closed 15 September 2026; late applications are accepted until 1 December 2026, and the next call runs 1 February to 31 March 2027. DEADLINE: 1 December 2026.
Wave Farm, the Warhol Foundation-backed transmission arts center in Acra, NY, opens one application covering all its 2027 opportunities: the Transmission Art Residency, the Spatial Sound Residency, and two Radio Art Fellowship tracks (Research, and Community Engagement) connected to Wave Farm's WGXC radio station. WHAT YOU GET: a USD 1,000 stipend for each 10-day residency and USD 2,000 for each two-month fellowship, with access to Wave Farm's research library, transmitter and receiver equipment, and on-site staff support to develop a new transmission artwork. ELIGIBILITY: international; collaborations allowed; full-time students are ineligible except rare post-graduate cases; past residents and fellows may reapply; applicants may apply to as many opportunities as they wish but will be offered at most one; DJ sets are explicitly ineligible. A strong fit for signal-based, broadcast, spatial sound and radio-adjacent work. DEADLINE: 1 December 2026 at 11:59 pm EST. Finalists are interviewed by Zoom, with notifications in late February 2027 and residencies during 2027.
The Mensch Maschine VISIT Residency Program is an annual fellowship offering four fully funded fellowships to artists from around the world, run by the JUNGE AKADEMIE of the Akademie der Künste (Berlin) with VISIT, the artist-in-residence programme of the E.ON Foundation, E-WERK Luckenwalde and Ujazdowski Castle Centre for Contemporary Art (Warsaw). The 2027 edition particularly encourages projects at the intersection of art, energy and ecology exploring the theme ENERGY GHOSTS: the unseen dimensions of energy approached through mythology, cosmology or speculative fiction, the invisible infrastructures, histories and residues that haunt contemporary life, and energy as an ecological, political or spiritual force. Proposals are welcome from visual art, performance, film, installation, sound, writing and new media. WHAT YOU GET: EUR 20,000 per fellow for artist fees and production costs of a new project (research and development, travel, material and presentation costs); three fellows receive studio space and accommodation at E-WERK Luckenwalde (a former power station about 40 minutes south of Berlin), one is accommodated by the Akademie der Künste in Berlin. The three-month residency runs roughly September to November 2027 with on-site presence of at least 75% required, a retreat at Ujazdowski Castle in Warsaw in September 2027, events across the three venues, and a closing symposium in October 2027 at the Akademie der Künste where fellows show work in progress alongside the 2026 cohort. JURY: Nolan Oswald Dennis; Chus Martinez (Institute Art Gender Nature, TBA21); Sarah Johanna Theurer (Fondation Beyeler); Anh-Linh Ngo (Akademie der Künste); and Tiara Roxanne. APPLICATION: via the VISIT portal at visit-energy.com/bewerben. DEADLINE: 1 December 2026, 23:59 CET.
The MEDIA Slate Development call (CREA-MEDIA-2027-DEVSLATE) funds established European independent production companies to develop a slate of audiovisual works with cross-border potential: fiction, animation, creative documentary and immersive projects. WHO: a single applicant only, an independent European production company with a recent international track record; a company can coordinate only one of Slate Development, Co-Development, mini-slate or Video Games and Immersive Content Development in the same year. WHAT YOU GET: a slate grant of EUR 90,000 to EUR 510,000, built from fixed lump sums per project type, from a total budget of EUR 22,374,320. APPLICATION: via the EU Funding and Tenders portal. DEADLINE: 1 December 2026, 17:00 CET (Brussels).
CURRENTS presents one of the leading art and technology festivals in the United States, held every summer in Santa Fe, New Mexico since 2010, bringing together established and emerging new media artists from the USA and worldwide. The 2027 edition (11-20 June 2027) accepts submissions in: installations (interactive and non-interactive); audio experiences; virtual, augmented and mixed reality environments; robotics, kinetic and electro-mechanical objects and installations; multimedia performance; fabrication, 2D/3D printing and wearables; and experimental single channel video, documentary and animation. The festival is a collaboration between the non-profit Parallel Studios, partners throughout the city, and interns and volunteers. SUPPORT: selected artists may be eligible for travel, lodging and shipping support, though the festival warns it may not be able to cover international shipping given costs and risks, and may instead be able to supply needed equipment; no artist fee is published. SUBMISSION FEE: USD 30 single, USD 25 each for multiple. DEADLINE: 8 December 2026; participating artists announced March 2027. Questions to connect@currentsnewmedia.org.
The Internet Society Fellowship supports people advancing Internet connectivity, policy or security in their communities. Fellows design and implement a practical project with deliverables such as policy briefs, research reports, training programs, community engagement initiatives, workshops or technical resources, supported by a stipend of up to USD 5,000, a dedicated mentor, weekly virtual training sessions and funded travel to a global or regional Internet event. IMPORTANT PREREQUISITE: applicants must first complete the Pre-Fellowship Training modules; enrollment for the training runs 23 September to 22 November 2026, and eligible participants receive the Fellowship application link by email within 24 hours of completing it. ELIGIBILITY: open worldwide; requires a high level of English reading, speaking and writing, continuous Internet access throughout the program, a valid passport (six months beyond anticipated travel), at least four hours per week over 10 months, and not currently participating in a 2026 Internet Society fellowship. TIMELINE: applications reviewed on a rolling basis and close 18 December 2026; notifications 19 February 2027; program kick-off 22 February 2027; project execution 1 June to 30 November 2027; graduation early December 2027.
NewImages Festival, the Paris festival for XR and immersive creation, opens three competitions for its 2027 edition. XR COMPETITION: works completed in 2026 or 2027 in VR, AR, mixed reality, narrative video games and hybrid performances; Grand Prize EUR 6,000, Impact Award EUR 3,000; fee EUR 75 Early Bird / EUR 100 Last Call (individual talents EUR 45 / EUR 60). FULLDOME COMPETITION: native fulldome (360-degree projection) works completed after 2023; Dome Award EUR 3,000; same fees as the XR Competition. VIRTUAL WORLDS COMPETITION: social VR platforms, independent worlds, multiplayer art spaces and interactive installations in virtual environments; Virtual Worlds Award EUR 3,000; free to enter. No premiere status required for any competition. Selected works receive festival presentation, two accreditations and industry visibility. Separate Industry Days calls (XR Development Market with a EUR 1,000 Best Project Award, Immersive Art Fair, XR Partners, Industry Sessions) run on the same dates. DEADLINES: Early Bird 10 December 2026, Last Call 22 December 2026.
The Omidyar Network Tech Journalism Fund offers rolling grants of $5,000-$25,000 for technology journalism projects. Relevant for journalists and media organizations investigating AI, tech policy, and AI's impacts on culture, society, and creative industries. Applications are accepted on a rolling basis through December 31, 2026 — one of the few currently open opportunities with a confirmed near-term deadline. Apply via the application form on omidyar.com.
The Reynolds Journalism Institute at the University of Missouri funds people and teams to build and launch a tool, workflow or product that helps newsrooms, in three tracks: Individual (USD 75,000), Institutional (USD 75,000, paid to a host organisation or the fellow) and Emerging Technology (USD 100,000, where AI or another new technology must be essential to the solution). The output must be a free, open-source resource usable by US journalists; tools limited to one city or state are unlikely to be funded. The fellowship is remote and runs for eight months from 28 June 2027 with an in-person kickoff at RJI and a couple of paid visits. ELIGIBILITY: anyone, anywhere; no age, background or journalism credential required. Applications open 2 November 2026 on Submittable; a shortlist is invited in early to mid February 2027 to submit a fuller application, with finalist interviews 5 to 23 April 2027. DEADLINE: 8 January 2027 (first round; no time zone stated, RJI is on US Central time).
The MEDIA strand's Innovative Tools and Business Models call (CREA-MEDIA-2027-INNOVBUSMOD) funds tools and business models that strengthen the competitiveness of the European audiovisual and video games industries. WHAT IT FUNDS: tools for subtitling, accessibility, discoverability and recommendation; automated rights management and data analytics; business models linking festivals, cinemas and VOD; new modes of production, financing or distribution using AI, big data, blockchain, virtual worlds or NFTs; and greening the audiovisual and video games industry. WHO: a single organisation or a consortium of two or more, established in a MEDIA country; individuals cannot apply. WHAT YOU GET: grants at an 80 percent funding rate from a total budget of EUR 14,000,000. APPLICATION: via the EU Funding and Tenders portal. DEADLINE: 14 January 2027, 17:00 CET (Brussels).
ARDC funds amateur radio, wireless technology education, and communications research and development, including software-defined radio, mesh and packet networking, and open RF tooling, which puts it squarely at the transmission-art and community-network end of creative tech. WHAT YOU GET: grants with no stated minimum or maximum; the published 2026 portfolio ranges from USD 1,285 to USD 258,000, so both small education projects and major open-source radio infrastructure are funded. CONDITIONS: all funded work must be released openly (GPL, MIT, BSD, CERN OHL or CC licenses). ELIGIBILITY: US 501(c)(3) nonprofits, government agencies, schools and universities, and international nonprofits and schools; individuals, artist collectives and radio clubs must apply through a nonprofit fiscal sponsor, which is routine in the US but adds overhead. APPLICATION: open now on a quarterly cadence; the September 2026 round has closed, so the next actionable deadline is 15 January 2027, with evaluation taking 60 to 120 days.
BIG Festival, the indie games competition inside gamescom latam in Sao Paulo, has opened free submissions for its 2027 edition. The 2026 edition drew a record 966 submissions from 75 countries. WHO: independent developers and studios anywhere in the world, with a playable game or demo; see the official rules for category requirements (BIG Starter, BIG Highlight and the WINGS Award for teams where women and marginalised groups hold prominent roles). WHAT YOU GET: selected titles are exhibited at no cost on the show floor, playtested by visitors, and compete for the BIG Festival awards; past editions paid cash to winners (BRL 5,000 for Best Game 2025, EUR 2,000 for the 2026 WINGS Award). A separate free call for conference speakers closes 18 January 2027. APPLICATION: via the gamescom latam website. DEADLINE: 15 January 2027 at 21:59 Eastern time.
HIIG's Impact AI Fellowship invites people interested in measuring the effects of AI on society and the environment to assess an existing, operational AI application and take lead authorship of a published case report. Applicants do not need their own case; HIIG helps match fellows with cases, and proposed cases must be deployed applications rather than prototypes or research ideas. WHO: holders of a master's degree; field experience is an advantage but an academic track record is not required. FORMAT: ten weeks from 16 August to 22 October 2027, with mandatory in-person weeks in Berlin (16-20 August and 4-8 October 2027), an independent research phase that can be done remotely, regular online check-ins, and a mandatory online preparatory session on 11 May 2027. WHAT YOU GET: a fixed EUR 5,000 stipend and case-by-case partial support for in-person costs; health insurance, visa and meals are the fellow's responsibility. APPLICATION: online form with one combined file (CV up to 4 pages, motivation letter up to 2 pages, optional project description up to 2 pages). Info sessions on 10 November 2026 (10:00) and 17 November 2026 (15:00). DEADLINE: 15 January 2027.
The MEDIA strand's annual development scheme for video games and immersive content (call CREA-MEDIA-2027-DEVVGIM) funds the pre-production of interactive narrative works with original content and quality gameplay intended for commercial release on PC, console, mobile or XR platforms. WHAT IT FUNDS: concept and prototype development up to a first playable, vertical slice, alpha or demo; production-phase work is excluded, as are puzzle, sports, racing, quiz and party genres. WHO: European video game production companies, XR studios and audiovisual production companies whose main activity is game or software development or audiovisual production, established in a country fully participating in MEDIA and majority-owned by nationals of such countries. Publishers and natural persons cannot apply. The coordinator must have produced or developed a game or immersive experience commercially distributed between 1 January 2024 and the deadline, evidenced by a sales report (work-for-hire and Early Access titles do not count), and must hold the majority of rights. WHAT YOU GET: a lump sum of up to EUR 200,000 (60 percent of the estimated budget) from a EUR 13.5 million pot. APPLICATION: single stage via the EU Funding and Tenders Portal. DEADLINE: 2 February 2027 at 17:00 Brussels time.
Screen Australia's Emerging Gamemakers Fund backs early-career Australian game makers with small grants to build a prototype or to finish and release a micro-scale original game. WHO: Australian citizens and permanent residents applying as individuals, or incorporated companies carrying on business in Australia with central management and control in Australia; all applicants need an ABN and must control the rights to the project with a clear chain of title. Projects must have budgets of up to AUD 500,000 at the time of applying. WHAT YOU GET: up to AUD 30,000. APPLICATION: via SmartyGrants; the next round opens 14 December 2026 and the fund is scheduled to run as rounds until financial year 2026/27. DEADLINE: 5pm AEDT, Thursday 25 February 2027.
Screen Australia's Games Production Fund supports Australian independent studios whose game already has an early-stage prototype and needs funding to reach a significant development milestone: completion or release, Early Access, a demo, a vertical slice or an accolade-ready prototype. WHO: incorporated companies carrying on business in Australia with central management and control in Australia, holding an ABN; sole traders, trusts and public companies are excluded. Games must be original Australian independent games with budgets of up to AUD 500,000 at the time of applying. WHAT YOU GET: up to AUD 100,000. APPLICATION: via SmartyGrants; the next round opens 14 December 2026 and the fund is scheduled to run as rounds until financial year 2026/27. DEADLINE: 5pm AEDT, Thursday 25 February 2027.
The MEDIA Co-Development call (CREA-MEDIA-2027-CODEV) supports European independent production companies developing a work together: feature films, shorts, series, creative documentaries and narrative VR or immersive projects intended for cross-border audiences. WHO: consortia of at least two independent European production companies from two MEDIA countries; the coordinator needs a recent international production track record (since 2020). A company can coordinate only one of CODEV, Slate Development, mini-slate or Video Games and Immersive Content Development in the same year. WHAT YOU GET: a lump-sum grant at a 70 percent funding rate of up to EUR 120,000 for two partners plus EUR 60,000 per extra partner, or up to EUR 200,000 plus EUR 100,000 per extra partner for drama series budgeted at EUR 20 million or more; total budget EUR 12,500,000. APPLICATION: via the EU Funding and Tenders portal. DEADLINE: 2 March 2027, 17:00 CET (Brussels).
The Creative Innovation Lab (call CREA-CROSS-2027-INNOVLAB) funds innovative tools, models and solutions applicable across the audiovisual and other cultural and creative sectors. Every project must involve the audiovisual sector (video games included) plus at least one of music, books or museums. The 2027 call is explicitly aligned with the EU Apply AI Strategy, including AI for content discoverability, and covers virtual worlds, AI-, data- and blockchain-based business tools (rights management, monetisation, data analytics) and greener practices. WHO: a single organisation or a consortium of two or more, established in a Creative Europe country; individuals cannot apply. WHAT YOU GET: an actual-cost grant at an 80 percent funding rate from a total budget of EUR 7,183,502, with financial support to third parties of up to EUR 60,000 each allowed. APPLICATION: via the EU Funding and Tenders portal. DEADLINE: 22 April 2027, 17:00 CET (Brussels).
The British Council's standing Travel Grant Fund helps early to mid-career UK filmmakers and XR creatives represent their work abroad, build networks, reach new audiences and raise the international profile of new and emerging UK film and immersive talent. Supported by BFI National Lottery funding in partnership with BFI NETWORK and the BFI International Fund. WHAT IT FUNDS: travel to attend international film festivals, showcases, training and development labs, and co-production forums, across five strands: short film festival grants, feature film festival grants, interactive/XR grants (including VR, immersive storytelling experiences and installations), lab grants and co-production forum grants. AMOUNTS: short and feature festival grants GBP 150 to 1,500 (typically up to GBP 750); XR travel-only grants GBP 150 to 1,500; large XR grants GBP 1,500 to 5,000; lab grants up to GBP 6,000; co-production forum grants up to GBP 2,000. WHO CAN APPLY: UK residents or citizens aged 18+; applicants can be directors, producers or writers attached to the selected project. KEY CONDITIONS: the festival, lab or forum must appear on the British Council's Key Lists of eligible events, and the project must be registered on the British Council's UK Project Database. DEADLINE: rolling, no fixed deadlines; submit at least two weeks before the event starts (retrospective applications for past events are not accepted). Free to apply.
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 Digital Impact Alliance (DIAL) Research Fellowship supports curious, passionate mid-career researchers and practitioners to explore frontier questions on digital public infrastructure (DPI) and data governance. Fellows bring their own knowledge and research agenda while contributing to DIAL's core thematic priorities: creating more value for more people from data; understanding how digital systems and services impact people, including and especially the most marginalised; and accelerating the adoption of data-sharing and governance practices that fuel innovation and empower people. SUPPORT: a USD 5,000 stipend for research completed over 6-8 months, plus mentorship from DIAL staff and industry experts, access to DIAL's network and resources, collaboration with partner organisations, and support amplifying the work. Each fellow produces two preliminary pieces and one final, more extensive output (research papers or reports, policy briefs, expert-comment series, etc.). ELIGIBILITY: professionals from academia, the private sector, and civil society, typically with 8-15 years of experience in digital development, policy, or research; demonstrated work at the intersection of technology and society (including DPI and data governance); a track record of high-quality writing, research, or policy briefs; experience working in or with global majority countries; and strong analytical and communication skills. TO APPLY (rolling basis): submit a CV or resume, a writing sample or portfolio, and a research proposal. Questions: fellows@dial.global. Apply via https://dial.global/apply-to-our-fellows-program/.
A one-year fellowship placing Fellows directly inside government, non-profit and social-enterprise host institutions across the United States to design and implement high-impact programs, translating data-driven insights into actionable policy recommendations, new programs and operational changes for the partners they serve. STIPEND: USD 47,000 living stipend for the year (scaled up for higher-cost cities) plus a reimbursable health-insurance stipend up to USD 5,000. ELIGIBILITY: primarily intended for candidates graduating from their academic programs in 2026 and/or already working full-time; this is a full-time 12-month commitment. PROCESS: applications and interviews are considered on a ROLLING basis starting in March, so applicants are encouraged to apply early; most engagements begin between June and November, with partner match meetings 6 to 8 weeks before the anticipated start. APPLY: https://www.adf.uchicago.edu/apply
Emergent Ventures funds entrepreneurs and thinkers worldwide with highly scalable, zero-to-one ideas for meaningfully improving society. It is aimed at individuals (applicants must be 13 or older) rather than institutions, and international and non-US applicants are eligible; grants are awarded to people around the world. Dedicated support is available for projects focused on India, Africa, the Caribbean or Ukraine. Grant amounts are not disclosed and are set per project. Applications are accepted on a rolling, continuous basis through an online form. The programme launched in 2018 and is administered by Tyler Cowen at the Mercatus Center.
GitHub's Secure Open Source Fund supports maintainers to improve the security of widely-used open-source software, pairing funding with hands-on security training. ELIGIBILITY: individual maintainers or teams of up to three, aged 18 or older, in a region supported by GitHub Sponsors; applicants cannot work for GitHub or its parent company. Applications are reviewed on a rolling basis; apply once to be considered for upcoming 2026 sessions. Apply via the GitHub Secure Open Source Fund page.
The Sovereign Tech Fund invests in the open digital infrastructure that underpins the modern internet, funding maintenance, security and development of critical open-source base technologies. ELIGIBILITY: individuals, companies and non-profits maintaining or developing critical open-source infrastructure; open worldwide. Applications are accepted on a rolling, year-round basis via the Sovereign Tech Fund page.
FLOSS/fund, backed by Zerodha, provides financial support to free and open-source software projects and maintainers. ELIGIBILITY: individuals and projects worldwide; applicants apply by publishing a funding.json manifest in their public repository as described on the fund's site. Applications are accepted on a rolling basis with no deadline.
Funds data-driven reporting that uses ML, NLP, satellite imagery, sensors and other computational methods on under-reported issues. Open to freelance and staff data journalists worldwide. Reviewed first-come, first-served on a rolling basis; decisions usually within a month.
Commissioned long-form writing at the intersection of design, technology, art and culture. Editorial themes: designing with AI as cultural and infrastructural system; responsive and adaptive materials; politics of platforms and creative-infrastructure governance; post-digital hybrid making; designing for collapse and continuity; creative research as practice. In-depth pieces only, no press releases or promotional copy.
Rolling-deadline fund for technology-focused projects that promote human rights, internet freedom and open societies. Funds anti-censorship, anti-surveillance, privacy-preserving and circumvention tools, plus applied research. Two-stage process: submit a Concept Note via the OTF online application system; reviewed monthly with feedback in 6-8 weeks. Open internationally.
SIDN fonds (the foundation behind the .nl domain registry) invests in daring projects with societal added value that contribute to a strong internet and strong internet users. The Pioneers track is continuously open and awards up to EUR 10,000 to develop an innovative idea into a demo, pilot or experimental design; it is open to both individuals and legal entities. Larger projects are funded through theme calls issued once or twice a year (legal entities only). Projects must show innovation and public value and share their results openly; plain website or app building and purely B2B proposals are excluded. No application fee.
The Digital Defenders Partnership runs the main rapid-response fund for digital threats against human rights defenders, journalists, activists and the organisations they work in. The Incident Response Fund covers urgent costs after or during a digital attack, including incident response and forensics, emergency infrastructure or hosting changes, secure devices, account recovery, legal or psychosocial support tied to the incident, and short-term relocation of digital operations. This is the practical counterpart to physical-safety emergency funds for anyone whose work makes them a target online. ELIGIBILITY: human rights defenders, journalists, activists and civil-society organisations facing digital threats or attacks, worldwide. Applications are rolling; DDP aims to respond within two weeks and funds activities for up to four months. DDP also runs a Sustainable Protection Fund for longer-term digital-security capacity building (currently invitation-only in some regions) and an invitation-only Community and Network Fund of up to EUR 15,000 for rapid responders and digital-security facilitators. Contact team@digitaldefenders.org or apply through apply.grants.digitaldefenders.org.
Rest of World is in the third year of its Labor x Tech program, underwritten by the Ford Foundation, commissioning reported stories on the changing nature of work at a moment of upheaval: AI tools and robotics reshaping professions at every rung of society, from self-driving cars replacing drivers to humanoid robots working alongside nurses; lay-offs across the tech industry; and the gig work model continuing to reshape traditional employment. The programme's premise is that this moment needs documenting now, in stories that help prepare society for what comes next. WHAT THEY COMMISSION: reported stories of 800 to 1,000 words from around the world on this beat, at a fee of USD 1,000 per story. WHAT THEY ARE LOOKING FOR, based on previous years: how new technology is transforming existing industries in unique ways and creating unexpected new pockets of employment; how technology is leading to significant job gain, job loss, and government responses to those trends; whether large demographic shifts are following the adoption of new technology or the arrival of new industries; how workplace technology is changing workplace dynamics; how new industries and tools are changing workers' incomes; and the expansion of the gig work model alongside the threats of automation. EXAMPLES of the kind of story they hope to commission, all previously published by Rest of World: workers in Chinese data factories teaching humanoid robots boring tasks; entry-level tech workers describing the AI-fuelled jobpocalypse; Microsoft and Google claiming their data centres create thousands of jobs while their permit filings say otherwise; AI helping judges close cases quickly and lawyers open them quickly; tech workers fuelling a mini baby boom in Taiwan's Silicon Valley; Dubai's robotaxi ambitions coming for human drivers; and the job brokers who run the lives of the migrant workers staffing Taiwan's chip plants. ELIGIBILITY NOTE: the programme is unable to commission reporting in India or from writers based in India for this series. HOW TO PITCH: send 2 to 3 paragraphs laying out the nutgraf of the proposal and explaining how the pitch fits the editorial mission of the programme. Indicate what sources will be used, whether any pre-reporting has been completed, what reporting has already been done on the topic at other outlets, and what the story contributes to the discourse. Pitches go to laborxtech@restofworld.org. Pitching is open on a rolling basis; no closing date is stated.
The ILIAD Intensive is a four-week, full-time, in-person program for mathematically strong researchers interested in foundational AI alignment, running in London (at LISA) and in Berkeley. It runs five days a week, 10am to 6pm, in cohorts of 15 to 30 participants. CURRICULUM, across five clusters: Alignment (decomposing the alignment problem, pretraining, post-training and deployment, reward learning); Learning (deep learning theory, singular learning theory, training dynamics); Abstractions, Representations and Interpretability (mechanistic interpretability, natural latents); Agency (reinforcement learning, decision theory, agent foundations); and Safety Guarantees (debate, steganography, the limits of interpretability). MONEY: no tuition is charged. Each participant receives a USD 5,000 travel and housing allowance, office space at the venue, and lunch and dinner five days a week. Participants book and pay for their own travel and accommodation out of the allowance. ELIGIBILITY: a strong mathematical background, typically graduate-level study or a completed degree in mathematics, physics or theoretical computer science, though mathematical maturity is weighted more heavily than specific credentials. Research experience, general competence and motivation are also assessed. Prior machine learning or alignment experience is not required. DEADLINE: no fixed closing date is published. A single application covers several upcoming programs and applicants indicate their preferred dates and locations; applications are being accepted for the October 2026 and November 2026 cohorts. HOW TO APPLY: through the application portal at iliad.ac/apply. Questions to contact@iliad.ac.
MAGIC Grants, a US 501(c)(3), funds applied privacy-technology research and development through its Monero Fund: cryptographic security proofs, membership proofs, privacy, UX and efficiency improvements, audits, and infrastructure in and around the Monero ecosystem. Grants run USD 5,000-20,000 equivalent and are open to all competent researchers regardless of educational attainment, as individuals or teams, internationally (standard US nonprofit due-diligence and sanctions screening applies). One of the few rolling, individual-friendly privacy-tech research funds; decisions typically arrive within three weeks.
FUTO funds open-source software that challenges the tech oligopoly: privacy tools, secure messaging, alternative operating systems, developer and creative tools. Microgrants of USD 1,000-5,000 support individuals and early-stage projects, while larger grants go to established open-source projects and nonprofits; FUTO has distributed over USD 5 million across 20 projects to date, including Signal and Tor. Applications are genuinely open and rolling (via grantapps@futo.org), with no stated geographic restrictions. Squarely in the NLnet / Prototype Fund tradition of anti-monopoly FOSS funding.
The Disability Chapter of the Awesome Foundation, a trustee-funded giving circle, awards a USD 1,000 no-strings micro-grant every month to a project benefiting disabled people: accessibility and assistive technology, arts and culture, inclusion and advocacy all qualify. ELIGIBILITY: worldwide; individuals, nonprofits or companies; applicants do NOT need to be disabled themselves, though disability-led projects get priority. NOT FUNDED: personal medical needs, rent, repairs and similar personal expenses. APPLICATION: free, via the chapter page; submissions are only accepted from the 1st through the 10th of each month, with decisions by the end of the month. DEADLINE: rolling monthly windows (1st to 10th).
Sequoia's Open Source Fellowship pays developers to work full time on open-source software without starting a company. WHO: any developer working on an open-source project, anywhere in the world; selection favours existing projects with real-world adoption (not just GitHub stars), including web frameworks, tooling and infrastructure. Fellows should plan significant improvements or investments in the project or support its expansion, and keep full ownership of all code written before, during and after the fellowship. WHAT YOU GET: a stipend sized to cover reasonable living expenses for 6 to 12 months, with no equity or obligations; roughly 2 to 3 fellows a year. APPLICATION: a brief questionnaire on the fellowship page, reviewed on a rolling basis; Sequoia contacts applicants whose projects are a good fit. DEADLINE: rolling.