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Open Call for Art Projects: Submit your ideas and join our initiative today!
We invite applications from artists from Poland and around the world in the fields of visual art, music, performance, and activist intervention that engage with contemporary Jewish Poland or Central Eastern Europe. We have no uniform formula for selecting proposals. We have developed a practice of collective deliberation to assemble a program of projects that are both complementary and synergistically related. By way of general guidelines:
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We are very interested in good art about Jewish concerns, and not very interested in “Jewish art” as some ready-made aesthetic or category of activity.
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Submissions need not be specifically about Poland, but should be relevant to or gain new meaning in a Polish/Central-Eastern European context.
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We are drawn to projects that experiment with form and content and also investigate or challenge understandings of Jewishness.
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We welcome work in every stage of development; important projects in the past have resulted from collaboration between artists and our curatorial team.
To apply, please submit the following
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A narrative biography of your career to date, no longer than two pages. Please do not submit a CV or resume. We are interested in your own account of your principal concerns, how your projects and initiatives engage these concerns, and the arc of your artistic development.
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A statement of plans concisely describing what you would do, make, or present during FestivALT, no longer than three pages.
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Work samples: no more than fifteen digital examples of works from the last five years. You may include different examples of individual works, but no more than twenty files altogether. Work samples may include studies or excerpts of not-yet-completed work, if appropriate. Installation, performance, music and new media artists may submit work samples as digital files or online links. We welcome videos and sound files, however ask that you submit or direct us to shorter sections that exemplify the work.
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Contact information for two people who are knowledgeable about your work and could answer questions. We will contact them if your proposal advances past the initial stages of consideration.
Documents must be submitted as PDFs, either in Polish or in English.
If your work is selected, you will receive:
- A presentation of your project during the 2025 FestivALT summer programme in Krakow, Poland
- Artistic Fee (TBD)
- Accommodation in Kraków for 1-3 nights
- Travel costs reimbursement (if within Europe) or contribution towards flight (in other cases)
- Materials budget coverage (TBD)
Timeline:
- Submission deadline: Novemver 30, 2024 at 23:59 CET
- Finalists announcement: by end of February 2025.
- FestivALT 2025 (late June/early July)
If you have any questions concerning the application process, please contact us via e-mail: info@festivalt.com
About FestivALT:
FestivALT is a Jewish-led multidisciplinary cultural organization that uses contemporary art, performance and activism to engage the complexities of Jewish history, memory, identity, and culture in contemporary Poland. We understand the work of artists to be integral to the functioning of a free society, and in particular, critically-minded creative practice to be fundamental to democratic values. We provide an inclusive platform for under-represented voices and perspectives, and a welcoming space for the artistic examination of difficult topics concerning Jewishness in Poland. Since 2017, we have produced an annual summer festival of contemporary art and civic engagement in Kraków, Poland, and have now expanded to include year-round programming.
