An opportunity to collaborate with international artists around technological and locally-informed solutions for climate justice.
- Closing date: 15 November 2022 - 8pm (GMT).
- Who can apply: University of Leeds academics.
The project will take place online on a flexible schedule that benefits both the academic and artist.
Contents of this page
About the project
FTPG is an experimental, collaborative project developed by LEEDS 2023, British Council, and University of Leeds Horizons Insitute and Cultural Institute. The programme fosters academic and artistic collaborations around technological and locally informed solutions for climate justice. It is inspired, in part, by The Cultural Institute’s ground-breaking Creative Labs programme.
Five academics at Leeds will each be paired with an internationally based artist, who in turn will have developed a relationship with a local community in their country.
Each artist and academic will have a shared interest in climate justice and will collaborate remotely with the goal of informing and sharing their ideas with representatives of international community groups, local to each artist.
Opportunities to showcase the work in Leeds in 2023 are also being explored. It is anticipated that by the end of the project, five unique artistic propositions on how technology can be used to help communities understand and/or engage with climate change issues, with potential to be implemented globally, will emerge. These propositions, as well as exploring the thinking, observations and learning from each collaboration, will be shared as a cohort at the project end.
The project will inspire and challenge University researchers to collaborate with partners from very different disciplines, to develop learning and expertise in generating locally informed solutions, and to discover new ways of developing and disseminating research about climate change through artistic and creative thinking processes.
Academics and artists enter the experience on an equal footing and the agenda for their sessions is set by both the artist and academic. You will be able to use this time for:
- Peer Learning
- Experimenting with new ideas
- Exploring artistic interpretations of your research
- Testing emerging ideas with international communities
- To begin new research
- Working with existing research
- Exploring the climate crisis
Aim of the project
The outcome of the project is to lay the groundwork of how the creative use of technology can help communities local to each international artist combat climate change, through discourse and idea generation generated from artistic creation and academic research.
Aim 1
To establish a relationship between:
- an artist with an interest in technology and climate change
- community groups in the artist’s local community with that will benefit from the research and development of the ideas.
- academics working in technology and/or climate change who want to explore the relevance of their research in new settings and co-create and test out new ideas at community level, or have their work explored by an artist.
Aim 2
To share cultural understanding, knowledge, and experience that allows all parties to bring that knowledge and skills into the project.
Aim 3
To make positive cultural changes within communities through international collaboration.
Aim 4
To create five unique artistic propositions on how technology can be used to help communities understand climate change issues that could potentially be implemented globally.
International artists
Artists will be selected from the following eligible countries and states:
Afghanistan, Albania, Algeria, Argentina, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Botswana, Brazil, China, Colombia, Cuba, Egypt, Ethiopia, Georgia, Ghana, India, Indonesia, Iraq, Jamaica, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Kosovo, Lebanon, Libya, Malaysia, Malawi, Mauritius, Mexico, Montenegro, Morocco, Mozambique, Myanmar, Namibia, Nepal, Nigeria, North Macedonia, Occupied Palestinian Territories, Pakistan, Peru, Philippines, Rwanda, Senegal, Serbia, Sierra Leone, South Africa, South Sudan, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Syria, Tanzania, Thailand, Tunisia, Turkey, Uganda, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Venezuela, Vietnam, Yemen, Zambia, Zimbabwe.
This open call has been made possible using Overseas Development Assistance (ODA) funding, which is government aid promoting and targeting the economic development and welfare of eligible developing countries from the UK Government.
Support during the project
As part of the project, the pairs of academics and artists will have the support of LEEDS 2023’s Creative Technologists, who will help to facilitate the process, as well as a designated staff member at both the Cultural and Horizons Institutes for additional mentoring and collaboration support in the early stages especially.
If there is further support that we can put in place to make the process more accessible for you, please include this within your application
Materials fund
Up to £500 (GBP), administered by LEEDS 2023, will also be available for each academic and artist pair to use for assets, software, materials, research costs or anything else that is useful to support their collaboration.
Access fund
An accessibility fund is available to support you through the programme. Access can include interpretation, support workers, data packages and other support that ensures you can participate in the programme. Please include your access requirements within your application or speak to a member of the LEEDS 2023 team or contact mattallen@leeds2023.co.uk. Please use FTPG in the subject line.
Timeline
Artists will take part in 11 online sessions between December 2022 and March 2023, including an introduction and feedback session. Artists will be expected to commit 3 to 4 hours per session and Academics will be expected to attend the introduction and feedback session and at least 5 hours of additional time to be arranged with the artists with whom they are paired. Academics are expected to find the time from their own timetables.
- 9th of November - expression of interest deadline
- 18th of November - confirmation of participation in the program
- W/C (Week commencing) 5th December Session 1 – introduction to For the Public Good (FTPG). An introduction to FTPG by LEEDS 2023. This session will include networking time between all artists and academics and time for planning and preparation of future sessions. It will include time to discuss the aims, and how the participants hope to use technology for the public good.
- January and February 2023 – flexible timetable for artists and academics to meet.
- March 2023 Session 11 – feedback session. Artists, academics, and community leaders all come for a feedback session with LEEDS 2023 Creative Technologist and the Audience Agency.
How to apply
Academics are invited to complete the online expression of interest form by November 9th, 8pm (GMT). You can make a video or audio/voice submission instead if you prefer. The questions you will be asked are included at the end of this document for your information.
Project partners will be selected and ‘matched’ by an expert professional panel. Matches are based not only on areas of professional interest, but also on a shared sense of curiosity and ambition to explore new forms of collaborative working.
If you need support to make the application, please contact us on: mattallen@leeds2023.co.uk or 0113 511 2027.
If you would like to make an application by video or audio/voice recording, please respond to each question within the application form and be no longer than the minute count included next to the word count. Additional editing will not be counted, we will listen for content only. Your audio/video should be no longer than 15 minutes total.
We will let you know by November 18th if your Expression of Interest has been successful.
Written application questions (please ensure language used is accessible to those outside of your field):
- Tell us about your research and how it may connect to climate change? 250 words or up to 2.5 minutes speaking
- How do you envision technology could be used in new ways to fight climate change? 250 words or up to 2.5 minutes speaking
- How might collaborating with an artist assist your research? How could your research assist an artist working with technology to help the community local to them? 250 words or up to 2.5 minutes speaking
- What experience do you have of working internationally and/or with partners outside of HE and what shapes your approach? (Level of experience here is not a requirement, but simply helps us with the matching process if you are successful). 250 words or up to 2.5 minutes speaking
- Is there anything else you would like to say? 250 words or up to 2.5 minutes speaking
- Do you have any access requirements you would like us to be aware of?
- Do you speak any other languages aside from English? Please detail language and proficiency.
- Your expected availability between December and March, including any time you cannot take part in this project.