i-Portunus : call for applications
Updated on 09/12/2020
The Institut français and its partners: Goethe-Institute, Nida Art Colony of Vilnius Academy of Arts and Izolyatsia launch “i-Portunus”, a pilot project to support the mobility of artists and cultural professionals in Europe. i for “Individual Mobilities” and “Portunus” in reference to the Roman god of keys and doors, protector of seas and ports.
The objective of this project is to enable artists and cultural professionals to benefit from flexible, short-term, results-oriented mobility opportunities: meeting new audiences, developing collaborations, finding new professional opportunities and inspirations, taking full advantage of and contributing to the various European cultural ecosystems.
How should such a programme work? What amount - and what kind of aid - should be given, to whom and under what conditions? How long should this "short-term" period last? What criteria should be used to award grant funding? How can we ensure that this programme is flexible and responsive while ensuring that limited funds are allocated wisely and fairly? How can we measure the impact of such a programme and how useful it really is?
These are the questions i-Portunus must answer by testing a small-scale mobility program serving 500 people.
In order to have sufficient critical mass while maintaining a geographical balance, this pilot project is limited to two sectors: Performance Arts and Visual Arts.
It is open to artists and cultural professionals from all Creative Europe countries, of all ages, nationalities, levels of education and experience.
Between April and September 2019, three calls for applications will be launched. The quality, impact on the cultural sector, relevance of the selection process and results will be assessed after each call. Discussions will be initiated with each grant recipient selected in order to obtain feedback. The results will also be analysed: has the funding for mobility really helped? What could have been improved?
At the end of this pilot project, all informational reports received from artists and professionals, organisations active in the cultural and creative sector, policy makers and any other stakeholders will be analysed and recommendations will be made to the European Commission with a view to implementing a major mobility project as part of Creative Europe 2021-2027.
i-Portunus is carried out on behalf of the European Commission by the Goethe-Institute, in consortium with the Institut français, Izolyatsia and Nida Art Colony of Vilnius Academy of Arts.