Open calls for creative practitioners

Warehouse421, the Abu Dhabi home-grown arts and design center dedicated to showcasing and nurturing creative production across the region, announced the open calls for 2022. The programs target creative practitioners and professionals from within the Middle East, North Africa, and South Asia region who demonstrate a commitment to their chosen creative field. Applications opened on January 31, 2022. 

Commenting on the announcement, Faisal Al Hassan, Head of Warehouse421, said “The announcement of the open calls remains an integral part of our work to support the creative community. Warehouse421’s mission continues to ensure the availability of opportunities for our region’s creatives to contribute effectively to the development of the arts and cultural landscape. Our invitation extends to all creators from the MENASA region to explore our programs, apply for the opportunity to learn and create with a group of leading cultural practitioners, and possibly showcase and exhibit their works at Warehouse421.” Interested applicants can apply here.

Artistic Research Grant
Application deadline: March 13, 2022

The program supports emerging artists from MENASA regions, and practice-based research investigating new social questions through interdisciplinary methodologies. 

Creative practitioners can work through disciplines including visual art and curations, design and technology, literary arts, culinary arts, music, theater, and performance. Warehouse421 will award the grantees a budget up to approximately AED75,000 to support their research and project. 

The grant targets topics investigating the intersections of these disciplines with social and cultural issues, such as communal and public spaces, languages and linguistics, transportation and mobility systems, urbanity and its social and cultural fabric, economics and migration, and art institutions and ecosystems. It aims to support a rigorous inquiry and in-depth artistic research across multiple disciplines by focusing on the arts and pushing for more substantial engagement between creative practitioners and their communities across the region. The grant will privilege proposals that prioritize the free-flowing research questioning overproduction.

Practitioners whose research methodology is tactile and experiential, including material experimentation alongside community engagement, and whose outcomes extend beyond contributing to academia to include experiences, accessible content, and experiential artworks, are encouraged to apply. Grantees are required to produce a textual outcome detailing the research process. 

Warehouse421 Internship Program
Application deadline: March 6, 2022

The program offers paid internship opportunities for emerging-creative professionals. The internship can be structured to follow college requirements or be tailored for a longer term engagement. It can be designed to be remote or on-site and can be undertaken for college credit. The paid internship will offer the opportunity to be immersed in the operations of a cultural institution across various departments with a targeted focus on a specific field. 

Artistic Development Exhibition Program (ADEP)
Application deadline: April 3, 2022

In collaboration with The Institute for Emerging Art, the ADEP is an exhibition process that emphasizes the professional and creative development of participating creative practitioners. The program is open to UAE-based early-to-mid career creative practitioners. Successful applicants will be awarded with approximately AED 10,000 participation fee, roughly AED 24,000 production fee, and a solo exhibition. This program aims to provide opportunities to UAE-based artists with rigorous and sustained practices. It will also encourage artists to think deeply about the reception of their work in a public institution and the connection, communication, and multidimensional interaction with their communities. 

Two selected artists will be supported by experienced art educators, interlocutors, and/or curators of their choice to sustain an ongoing dialogue throughout the process. They will also be involved in scheduled group-crits and discussion circles. The realization and production of their projects will be exhibited at Warehouse421 in 2023.

Warehouse421 is also announcing The Outreach workshop, a professional mentorship workshop by Mo Reda, participants of all levels and backgrounds will have the opportunity to reorient their creative practice in preparation for applying to a variety of programs, grants, or publications. Application ends on February 15, 2022.