Deadline: 16-Aug-21
The Research on the Arts Program (RAP) is a joint program between the Arab Fund for Arts and Culture (AFAC) and the Arab Council for the Social Sciences (ACSS) which aims to support research on all artistic practices across disciplinary boundaries and methodological approaches on key themes of concern to, and in, the Arab region.
RAP is open to a wide range of writing and research strategies and a variety of audiences. However, the research output must include a written component, where concepts and theory, context, connections, reflections, and systematic investigations are shown and communicated.
The program aims at canvassing a broad range of research proposals from across different countries, disciplines and professions. They also highly encourage analytical research that studies more than one country or region, interdisciplinary and inter-sectoral collaborations, and comparative perspectives.
RAP seeks to promote and develop the field of research on the art in the Arab region, a geographical and cultural space rich with art legacies and contemporary art practices waiting to be researched and analyzed. It seeks to empower the production of different kinds of academic and artistic knowledge that adds value to the field.
Open to artists, practitioners and academics, RAP encourages these to undertake critical research on different aspects of the arts using experimental approaches that seek to create new openings in understanding art and culture in the region.
RAP supports research on the arts, with an interest in what it reveals about aesthetics, and what it uncovers about society, as well as the interplay between them. Social, economic and political contexts matter, and they encourage social scientists and artists working collaboratively or independently to engage with the surrounding environment and examine the role of artists and the arts in the wider community. They are interested in research that unpacks art as a subject of study, as well as the role of social, economic and political processes in shaping artistic practices, production and dissemination, and vice-versa.
- Grants are available to individual researchers (up to USD 15,000), teams of researchers or collectives (up to USD 25,000), and institutions (up to USD 35,000).
- Grants are for the duration of 18 months for individuals, teams and collectives (starting February 2022 and ending July 2023) and for up to 24 months for institutions (starting February 2022 and ending February 2024).
Examples of the areas that can be addressed include but are not limited to:
- Arts as part of everyday life
- Historical and contemporary art practices
- The temporality and spatiality of artistic practices and related knowledge production
- History of art
- Folk art
- Arts and the environment
- Research on archives related to the arts
- Art and the state
- Pop culture
- Meaning and impact of art
- Art in exile
- Genres of artistic writing
- Forms and functions of artistic works
- Art/society relationships
- Suppressed and marginalized art histories and practices
- Artistic production, circulation, consumption and audience
- Applicants must be citizens of an Arab country (defined as a member of the League of Arab States) or nationals of an Arab country (defined as long-term residents, even if they do not hold citizenship as in the case of refugees or stateless residents) and must be based in the Arab region.
For more information, visit https://www.arabculturefund.org/Programs/8