Deadline to apply: June 10, 2025
Self Organizations encourages new and thoughtful ways of working together. For this edition, Mophradat is particularly interested in how a group of arts practitioners organize themselves and work collaboratively. In practical terms, the program provides support to projects that involve a group of arts practitioners coming together to share a practical tool or engage in a collective learning experience that they determine to be useful for the development of their work.
Instead of emphasizing recurring models of collaboration, whether hierarchical or horizontal, Self Organizations invites experimentation on how groups organize themselves starting from having a shared commitment. To enrich the program for the participating groups, Mophradat will offer a series of short seminars around the practical and conceptual aspects related to working together as well as bespoke workshops linked to the content of each participating group.
The program encourages imaginative proposals in one of the two categories:
1. Informal Co-ops: Four or more art practitioners come together to form a group to share a resource that is helpful to their individual practices for six months to one year. Examples include, but are not limited to, a shared workspace, technical equipment, or hiring an assistant for the group. A maximum budget of 8,000 EUR will be available to cover the cost of this shared resource, for a period of no more than one year.
2. Topical Assemblies: Three or more art practitioners come together to develop and organize workshops, seminars, or other forms of collective discourse on a specialized topic of their interest. The assembly can be public or limited to the group, and can take place online or in-person depending on the group’s needs. Examples include a group inviting guest speakers on a specialized topic or resources for a collaborative research process led by the group itself. A maximum budget of 4,000 EUR will be available for activities over the course of six months.
The overall purpose of the program is to incite productive conversations, encourage the development of bespoke protocols for collaboration, and push for new shared art experiences to take place. You can find a link to some suggested readings on the subject of self-organizing that we have commissioned and come across at the end of this call.
Specific Eligibility Criteria
In addition to complying with the general eligibility criteria that you can read here, please note the following:
- Arts practitioners groups from all disciplines and stages of their careers are welcome to apply.
- Priority will be given to proposals taking place within the Arab world.
- Institutions and organizations, registered associations or companies, are not eligible to apply.
- Individual artists hiring or commissioning collaborators to work within their art production are not eligible to apply.
Process
Mophradat’s team, in collaboration with two external advisors, will evaluate the applications based on how they align with the objective of the program. Please be aware that our advisory committee always reflects a diversity of fields, gender identities, and geographical knowledge.
- All groups of applicants, whether selected or not, will receive a response to their applications by mid-July 2025.
- Shortlisted groups will be invited for an online conversation to elaborate on their application between July 7 and 9, before a final selection is made.
- Due to the high volume of applications and the confidentiality of the selection process, Mophradat cannot provide individual feedback explaining the reason an application was not selected.
- Upon selection, an agreement will be signed between the recipients and Mophradat.
- Participants must commit to be part of the group over the course of the program and attend all related seminars and workshops.
- Any replacement or withdrawal of a member of a group after the final selection must be communicated and agreed upon by Mophradat before the project can continue.
- Participant groups will be asked to commit to participate in an interview at the end of their project to let us know what happened, help us understand their experience of the project, and how it fulfilled (or not) the overall objective of the program.
Application
In order to prepare your application, you may already check out the questions here.
You can only apply by filling in an online form here.
Any material sent by email will not be considered.
Suggested Readings
For some tools for working together and insights on collaborating, you can read our publication Read the Room #3: Self Organizations: Tips & Tricks for Working Together by Daniel O’Connell, Jenifer Evans, and Krystel Khoury, 2022 as well as Read the Room #3 Supplement: This Is How We Work Together by Carine Doumit published in 2024. This collaborative booklet and its supplement are based on interviews with previous participants to the program and their experiences that may benefit future self-organizers.
We are also sharing with you some other references we came across regarding self organizing practices in different contexts and fields, and some are useful examples. This is not an exhaustive bibliography but is meant to provide some entry points on the subject. You can find them here.
FAQs
You can read the frequently asked questions about this program here.
This new edition of the Self Organizations program is made possible with the generous support of the DOEN Foundation and Mophradat’s structural funders.
