Bourses & Opportunités

Ready Steady Go! is a 10 months learning expedition/journey welcoming 14 artists and cultural professionals from the Mediterranean.

Through immersive workshops, online capacity building sessions and international gatherings, Ready Steady Go! aims to support artists and cultural professionals to identify and apply for mobility funding and support schemes and to increase their access to the international scene.

Ready Steady Go! includes a series of activities to increase participants’ access to the international scene in order to develop their career:

• 3 online capacity development sessions
• a 4 days workshop in Italy
• a 4 days final meeting in Greece

Aiming at promoting inclusive mobility, this call for applications is dedicated to artists and cultural professionals interested in developing a proper project that includes an international mobility within and outside their region, offering a space for debate and practical tools. 

The call is open until January 5 2024, to all the applicants who meet the following eligibility criteria.

ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA

1. The application must be submitted by individuals (not by organisations) under 30 years old and have a good command of English.
2. The call is addressed to artists (performers, creators, trainers) or professionals in the cultural sector (organisers, administrators, project managers). The call is open to professionals in independent organisations, as freelancers, or in the public sector.
3. Applicants, regardless of their nationality, must be based in Mediterranean countries. It includes European countries (Portugal, Spain, Italy, France, Croatia, Malta, Greece, Cyprus, Serbia, Bosnia, Albania, Kosovo, Macedonia), and North Africa and the Middle East countries (Morocco, Tunisia, Libya, Algeria, Egypt, Turkey, Lebanon, Palestine, Jordan, Syria)
4. Applicants must be based in “remote areas”, that is areas that are not well integrated in international circuits. For the Ready, Steady, Go! project, “remote areas” refer to:

• For EU countries: islands, rural areas, and cities with less than 80 000 inhabitants 
• In this call, all the other countries (Balkans, North Africa and Middle East) are defined as “remote areas”. 
• 10 participants will be selected from the European countries mentioned above (point 3), and 4 participants will be selected from the North Africa and the Middle East countries mentioned above (point 3.)

5. Applicants must present an artistic / cultural project taking place in their territory on which they will be working during the programme that involves an international mobility from/ to their territory:  

Their mobility project could be:

• the preparation of an artistic / cultural project (a festival, a co-production, a project that involves an international partnership…); 
• the participation in a research or in a residency;
• the participation in a meeting with artists or professionals with the objective of networking with cultural, artistic and development actors;
• an artistic and professional training / education project (internships, masterclasses, exchanges, study trips) 

Their application must refer to an artistic discipline or a cultural action:

• management, mediation, cultural policy;
• contemporary performing arts: theatre, dance, music, circus and street arts, puppet theatre;
• visual arts, photography, film, digital arts, design;
• writing, dramaturgy, storytelling, poetry;
• transdisciplinary projects.

6. The application form must be complete.

SELECTION CRITERIA

1. Priority will be given to independent artists/cultural professionals: those working in independent organisations or as freelancers.
2. The application must clearly present the artistic/cultural project, its motivations and its expectations
3. The project must contribute directly or indirectly to local and Mediterranean cultural development from a sustainable perspective. Candidates are invited to develop local initiatives and contribute to the cultural life of their own region. They must be committed to passing on what they have learned and sharing their networking with other artists and professionals around them
4. Participants shall be willing to participate actively in the capacity development programme and exchange with their peers. Learner-centred, this programme will foster on participants’ experience and resources as well as on peer-to-peer learning. 
5. To ensure gender equality and diversity, Ready Steady Go! encourages applicants regardless gender identity and sexual orientation and the jury will select at least 50% female candidates.

WHAT IS INCLUDED IN THE PROGRAMME?

All the expenses related to the participation in the programme will be covered:

• Participation in the capacity development programme
• Travel, visa, accommodation (in single or double rooms, hotels or apartments) and meals for the onsite workshops and meetings in Italy and Greece. 

WHAT IS EXPECTED OF THE SELECTED CANDIDATES

Selected candidates must commit to take part in all the components of the programme (3 virtual sessions, a 4 days workshop in Sicily, Italy (around 15-19 April) and a 4 days final meeting in Elefsina, Greece (planned in October, tbc).

They will also contribute to an in-depth case studies publication addressing mobility in the Mediterranean.

SELECTION PROCESS

Applicants must complete the form and submit their project proposal, in written form.

A CV (2 pages maximum) must also be added. Applications may be written in English. 

More details are specified in the form.

An information session will be organised on 14th December 2023 at 3pm (UTC+1) to present the call and answer your questions. All those willing to participate are welcome. Please check partners websites and social media for the link to join the meeting.

A jury, composed of the partners of the project, will select 14 participants.

Results to be announced mid-February 2024 (deadline for receipt of complete applications: 05/01/2024).