Emerging Artists Award / EAA+: applications closed

EAA+ is a collective forum that will support 10 art practitioners through a financial grant, a mentorship programme and an exhibitory component.

FICA’s Emerging Artist Award, which has previously focused on identifying and supporting an individual artist from India, is now re-envisioned as a collective forum to mentor and engage with a set of 10 young practitioners. As the Emerging Artists Award (EAA+) the platform will carry forward the mentorship and exhibitory aspects of our earlier editions by earmarking two workshops for the selected participants, and developing an open-ended dissemination forum at the end of the grant period that could take the form of publication, exhibition or website.

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The pilot programme for this expanded platform was initiated in 2020, when FICA and MMF collaborated to include more young practitioners under the banner of the Emerging Artist Award. With this in mind, the Extended Support Platform was established in 2020 to support a group of 20 promising artists apart from the main recipients of the grant. This support was extended with the intention of encouraging and supporting a larger base of young Indian artists, a necessity that seemed particularly critical to address during the pandemic.*

In 2022, FICA continues this collaboration with the Mrinalini Mukherjee Foundation through the reimagined EAA+ platform. Keeping the original thrust of the Award which was towards support, mentorship and dissemination, EAA+ will identify 10 practitioners, offering them a financial grant (Rs 100,000 for each recipient) as well as a mentorship programme and an exhibitory component.

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The possibilities of the collective nature of the EAA+ forum will allow us to extend grant-making into a more prolonged and nuanced engagement with the practitioners and their artistic enquiries, permitting us to sustain different ways of presenting and circulating the current moment of art practice and its diversities. The orientation of the EAA+ forum remains directed towards encouraging a mode of thinking geared towards fostering communities and collectivities between artists, and between artists and art organisations in India, to help us better visualise the potencies of peer-led networks.

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Eligibility Requirements:

• The applicant must be between 18 and 35 years of age.

• The applicant needs to be an Indian citizen. Overseas Citizens of India and Non-Indian Residents are not eligible

Applicants are requested to consider the following before applying:

• The EAA+ platform includes a mentorship program that will incorporate two workshops led by resource persons. The schedule of these sessions will be given in advance and recipients are required to participate fully in these forums for the entire duration of the grant.

• The exhibitory component of the EAA+ platform will take shape, depending on certain exigencies, in the form of a print publication or an exhibition at the end of the grant period. Recipients will be required to commit to participating in the same, and FICA will extend support to all recipients in order to ensure their participation.

• The Award will be an exclusive collaboration between the recipient, FICA, and the Mrinalini Mukherjee Foundation with no involvement from a third party. The recipient will accept the award by formally signing an agreement with FICA.

   

How to Apply:

• Please send your application to ficaemergingartistaward@gmail.com with the Subject Line as 'EAA+ Application 2022, (Name of Applicant)'.

• Please include the following material in your application to be sent to the above email id only.

• Please note that incomplete applications and/or applications submitted to any other FICA email ID will not be accepted.

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Application Material:

• A copy of the completed EAA+ Application Form (download here)

• A single PDF with all other material (as detailed below).
   

The PDF should contain:

• A current resume

• An artist’s statement, explaining your practice and interests, and a brief explanation on the works submitted

• Images of up to 20 works, each image labeled with the artist’s name, title of work, date, dimensions and medium. If works are part of a series please provide multiple images (each series will be considered a separate work).

  For video files:

• Please use MPEG, MP4, AVI, WAV file formats only, compatible with VLC/Quicktime Player.

• You can add video links within the PDF itself, or send the files to us separately via direct email/Google Drive/Dropbox/WeTransfer, or any other such file-sharing platform to ficaemergingartistaward@gmail.com.

• In case of file-sharing platforms where links expire, we will write to you requesting another link.

• If you are to send us video files, please mention what medium of transfer you will be using, in the email and your PDF.

Please note that we will not individually acknowledge the receipt of applications given the volume of submissions received.

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For any queries regarding application procedure or the award, please contact FICA at info@ficart.org.