Currently 18 active paid grants, fellowships and residencies open to applicants in Worldwide, across AI, arts, film, research, tech and cross-disciplinary practice. Hand-curated and updated weekly. Every entry is funded, no exposure-only calls. Browse the list below, or use the interactive desk for filtering and shortlisting.
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The Fab City Awards recognise implemented and piloted initiatives showing how collective action can shape real transitions in cities and regions. 2026 theme: Collective Action for Regenerative Urban Futures. Looking for initiatives that combine design, technology and civic engagement; connect scientific knowledge with local know-how; demonstrate real on-the-ground implementation; and show potential to scale across cities and regions. Projects, platforms, policies, infrastructures or community-led programmes that are already piloted/implemented with evidence and documentation. Three categories: Community (participation, organisation, local empowerment), Technology (accessible distributed tech with social value), Nature (conservation, restoration, ecosystem protection). Three category winners each receive €1,000 seed funding plus up to USD 600 in Seeed Studio products, optional technical guidance, potential lab access (plus Fab Lab Puebla and Litchee Lab for initiatives based there), mentoring with the Fab City ecosystem, a feature across Fab City channels, and a free ticket to present at FAB26 in Boston (July 2026). One Overall Impact Award (€1,500 + the same network/mentoring/FAB26 benefits) goes to the project with the strongest systemic integration across all dimensions. One Thomas Duggan Award is given as a special distinction for Arts and Design. Open to individuals and teams across public, private and civic sectors, including for-profit and nonprofit organisations, collectives, public institutions, labs and makerspaces, community groups, NGOs, academia and companies, anywhere in the world. Evaluation 30 April to 26 May 2026; winners announced 3 June 2026. Powered by Fab City; supported by Seeed Studio, Fab Foundation, Ibero Puebla, and Litchee Lab.
Joint residency by the 3-2-1 Qatar Olympic & Sports Museum and The Olympic Museum in Lausanne for digital and immersive media artists to critically engage with sports culture and Olympic Legacy. Residents get exclusive access to museum collections, mentorship and expert support. The Doha residency is hosted at QOSM; the Swiss residency is at La Becque Artist Residence in La Tour-de-Peilz. Open to multi-disciplinary artists worldwide aged 18 to 35 (as of 31.12.2026) whose practice involves a significant element of digital art (any new media form, possibly combined with physical media). Free entry. Submit in English via the official online form by 30 April 2026 at 23:59 (GMT+1).
Open call for artists, curators and collectives worldwide to propose projects that take a clear-eyed view of internet histories and explore how they can open pathways toward more equitable futures. The brief: what protocols, networks, archives and shared conditions are needed to build the internet we actually want? Respond to netstalgia with error 406 not acceptable. Jury: Chia Amisola, Olia Lialina, Peter Sunde and Vladan Joler. Project deadline 4 May 2026 (23:59 CEST); work delivery 30 October 2026.
Open call for any form of digital art submittable as a video, around the theme 'RestArt Reality': screen-native works engaging with pseudo-evidence, invented archives, alternative chronologies, reconstructions and 'false' testimonies. Five winners each receive €1,000.
Nomination-based prize for nonprofit leaders driving meaningful change. Each winner receives $300,000 in unrestricted funding plus a two-year tailored programme with visibility, scaling support and a global community. Eligibility: 18+, serving as Executive Director, CEO, Founder or equivalent of a registered nonprofit (US 501(c)(3) or international equivalent) able to receive philanthropic funds. Ideally for organisations with annual budgets between $2M and $10M (others may be considered based on readiness and impact opportunity).
Open call for individual musicians, collectives, and curators to pitch a project to be streamed on Boiler Room. The fund looks to platform overlooked scenes and spaces, innovative programming concepts that prioritise underrepresented artists, marginalised communities, and forward-thinking collaborations. While Boiler Room's archive is heavily DJ-focused, applicants are encouraged to explore live performance, instrumentation, and non-club genres. Winning application receives up to GBP 10,000 to bring the project to life, plus additional in-kind support and a full release on Boiler Room's channels. Deadline: Sunday 17 May at 23:59 BST. This is the 14th edition of Broadcast Lab.
Research grants for innovative work deepening understanding of the Internet and its impact on society. Four focus areas: Inclusive Internet (structural barriers to digital participation), Greening the Internet (environmental impact and sustainability), Measuring Meaningful Connectivity (frameworks including AI, cloud, platform ecosystems), and A Trustworthy Internet (reliability, security, accountability). Open to individual researchers and organisations worldwide; underrepresented groups and Global Majority applicants strongly encouraged. Applications via Fluxx in English, French or Spanish. Deadline 22 May 2026, 21:00 UTC.
International art prize across three categories, each with a $5,000 award: Legacy Futures (works engaging past, present and future, examining our relationship to technology, culture and time); Systems & Structures (works examining or critically engaging with cultural, ecological, technological and social systems via code, data, networks, biological or environmental processes, institutional frameworks etc., e.g. misinformation, machine vision, human-machine relations); and Experiential Innovation (works prioritising experience via participation, presence, sensation or environment, including live coding, performance, interactive installations, experiential VR/AR and cross-modal practices). The Jury also selects one Gold Award Winner across all categories, awarded $15,000 in 2026. Two-stage judging: an International Selectors Committee curates a longlist of finalists, then a Jury Panel selects the winners. Standard entry fee $45.00; submissions close 23 May 2026 at 19:00. If the entry fee is a barrier, contact info@lumenprize.org.
Open RFP for storytellers producing solutions-grounded climate journalism and media projects. National Geographic Society and The Climate Pledge are funding a global cohort of Explorers to build a portfolio of stories on climate resilience and solutions, with the explicit goal of moving business leaders and policymakers to act. Story themes (non-exhaustive): Climate & Energy Transition (carbon-free energy, decarbonization); Nature & Land Systems (water stewardship, nature-based solutions, biodiversity, restoration, adaptation, regenerative agriculture, food systems); Built & Human Systems (built environment, climate migration, public health, social adaptation); Adaptation in Extreme Weather (hurricanes, heat waves, wildfires, floods). All story ideas must be grounded in solutions. Eligibility: open to both existing NatGeo Explorers and applicants new to the program. Applicants must show a record of successful media projects and submit a portfolio (e.g. website). Storytellers with lived experience in (or established collaborative relationships with) the communities they cover are prioritised. Up to $100,000 per project (recommend up to $20,000 if 5 or fewer years of experience). Budgets must consist of reasonable, well-justified costs directly required to complete the project, used over up to 2 years. All applications must include an explicit plan for evaluating impact. Submit only via the NatGeo online portal in English (the individual responsible for the project must be the listed project leader; one proposal per applicant as project lead). Questions: funding@ngs.org with subject 'RFP Illuminating Climate Solutions'. Deadline: 25 May 2026, 11:59 PM US-EDT.
Fellowship programme supporting Holocaust research by giving researchers, archivists, librarians, curators and other professionals access to 25 key archives and research institutions across Europe, Israel and the USA. Fellows design their own research journey of 1 to 6 weeks and receive a stipend plus travel reimbursement. Welcomes projects on all aspects of Holocaust history (prehistory, legacy, archival management) and is particularly open to PhD students and early-career practitioners.
Fellowship for emerging changemakers aged 18 to 35 using futures thinking and foresight to drive social and environmental impact. Fellows receive a $1,000 kick-starter grant, mentorship from expert foresight practitioners, capability-building training, access to a 900+ strong global community, regional hubs, and the chance to win a $10,000 grand prize. Supports projects on climate transitions, democracy, emerging technologies, health and other systemic challenges.
Quick-turnaround grants for individuals, Wikimedia community members, groups and affiliates running short-term, low-cost Wikimedia-focused projects: editathons, workshops, community meetups, education projects, cultural heritage initiatives, gender/diversity programmes, small-scale software development and content campaigns. Five cycles per year; upcoming deadlines: 1 July 2026, 1 September 2026, 1 November 2026, 1 February 2027, 1 April 2027. Approximately 2 months processing time per cycle. Standard track and Technical Projects track (Grants:Project/Rapid/Tech) share deadlines and amounts. Apply via the Wikimedia Foundation Grantee Portal (Fluxx) at https://wmf.fluxx.io/. Transfers run slower in June and December. CEE region applications routed via the CEE Hub from 1 April 2026. Ineligible: General Support Fund grantees, applicants on SDN lists, those with recent UCoC violations.
Four-week residency in Kyoto for artists, curators and writers from anywhere in the world, working in drawing, painting, sculpture, photography, film, video, new media, installation, fiction and nonfiction writing, poetry, interdisciplinary or social practice. Open to all career stages, 21 and over. Selected participants notified by 1 September 2026.
Daily seed grants for early-stage volunteer-driven projects with social and environmental impact. Open to grassroots changemakers worldwide: individuals, informal groups and small nonprofits. Project budget under $10,000 and organisational budget under $50,000; no paid staff. Applications reviewed monthly; submit before month-end for that month's review.
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.
Lightweight rolling grant for individual journalists worldwide (writers, photographers, radio, film; freelance or staff) examining how AI systems are designed, sold and deployed in communities. Faster turnaround than the Pulitzer AI Accountability Fellowship: decisions in 1 to 2 weeks.
Monthly $1,000 micro-grants for awesome ideas. Decentralised network of local chapters around the world; each chapter awards one grant per month. Apply via your nearest chapter on the site. Your idea stays yours, no equity taken.
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.