Sharjah Art Foundation Announces Open Call for the 2022 Production Programme

Overview

Sharjah Art Foundation announces an open call for its Production Programme, which will award a total of 200,000 USD to projects in this application cycle.

The Foundation’s Production Programme broadens the possibilities for the production of art in the MENASA region by supporting innovation and excellence in artistic practice through the encouragement of experimentation and risk-taking.

The past decade has seen an extraordinary rise in artistic activity throughout the Middle East, resulting in increased visibility for artists, both regionally and internationally. Within this context, Sharjah Art Foundation hopes to promote and encourage an environment of public and private patronage for the highest level of artistic endeavour. The Foundation’s Production Programme furthers this goal by supporting artists in their individual attempts to create meaningful and significant work.

In 2022, Sharjah Art Foundation is offering production grants to artists working in a range of media, including sculpture, installation, time-based media, artist’s books and performance. The success of a proposal will be determined by merit rather than budget, and projects with budgets ranging from modest to ambitious will be considered. The submission deadline is 10 February 2022, and selections will be announced in March 2022.

Art practitioners are invited to propose imaginative, ambitious and inspirational projects that will transform our understanding of art and how it can be experienced. With this initiative, Sharjah Art Foundation hopes to engage and challenge artists and audiences aesthetically, intellectually, emotionally, socially and politically.

The Production Programme was launched in 2009 in conjunction with Sharjah Biennial 9. Past Production Programme grant cycles have made significant contributions to the rise in artistic activity throughout the region and beyond. Many of the resulting projects have been presented by organisations around the world, contributing to increased visibility and awareness of the grantees’ practices. Examples include 2010 grantees CAMP and Bani Abidi whose projects premiered at dOCUMENTA (13); 2012 grantee Sean Gullette whose film Traitors premiered at the 2013 Venice Film Festival; Lindsay Seers’ Nowhere Less Now presented in London by Artangel and now part of the Artangel Collection at Tate; 2014 grantee Jumana Manna’s film A Magical Substance Flows into Me premiered as part of her solo exhibition at London’s Chisenhale Gallery in 2015; 2016 grantee Khaled Sabsabi’s Bring the Silence, included in the 21st Biennale of Sydney; and 2018 grantee Mounira Al Solh whose work Freedom is a Habit I am Trying to Learn was avant-premiered at the Van Abbemuseum in Eindhoven in 2019.


The 2020 grantees were Jumana Emil Abboud, Mohamed Abdelkarim, Noor Abuarafeh, Basma al-Sharif, Abdessamad El Montassir, Köken Ergun, Pak Khawateen Painting Club, Moad Musbahi, Philip Rizk and Subversive Film.

Production Programme grants are among a growing number of year-round opportunities and programmes offered by Sharjah Art Foundation to support artists and art practitioners in the production and development of new creative work, including curatorial residencies and grants for the creation of short films and publishing projects.

For more information and the full application details, visit sharjahart.org

About Sharjah Art Foundation

Sharjah Art Foundation is an advocate, catalyst and producer of contemporary art within the Emirate of Sharjah and the surrounding region, in dialogue with the international arts community. Under the leadership of founder Hoor Al Qasimi, a curator and artist, the Foundation advances an experimental and wide-ranging programmatic model that supports the production and presentation of contemporary art, preserves and celebrates the distinct culture of the region and encourages a shared understanding of the transformational role of art. The Foundation’s core initiatives include the long-running Sharjah Biennial, featuring contemporary artists from around the world; the annual March Meeting, a convening of international arts professionals and artists; grants and residencies for artists, curators and cultural producers; ambitious and experimental commissions; and a range of travelling exhibitions and scholarly publications.

Established in 2009 to expand programmes beyond the Sharjah Biennial, which launched in 1993, the Foundation is a critical resource for artists and cultural organisations in the Gulf and a conduit for local, regional and international developments in contemporary art. The Foundation’s deep commitment to developing and sustaining the cultural life and heritage of Sharjah is reflected through year-round exhibitions, performances, screenings and educational programmes in the city of Sharjah and across the Emirate, often hosted in historic buildings that have been repurposed as cultural and community centres. A growing collection reflects the Foundation’s support of contemporary artists in the realisation of new work and its recognition of the contributions made by pioneering modern artists from the region and around the world. Sharjah Art Foundation is a legally independent public body established by Emiri Decree and supported by government funding, grants from national and international non-profits and cultural organisations, corporate sponsors and individual patrons. All exhibitions are free and open to the public.

About Sharjah

Sharjah is the third-largest of the seven United Arab Emirates, and the only one bridging the Arabian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman. Reflecting the deep commitment to the arts, architectural preservation and cultural education embraced by its ruler, Sheikh Dr Sultan bin Muhammad Al Qasimi, Sharjah is home to more than 20 museums and has long been known as the cultural hub of the United Arab Emirates. In 1998, it was named UNESCO's 'Arab Capital of Culture' and was designated the UNESCO ‘World Book Capital’ for the year 2019.

Media Contact

Alyazeyah Al Marri, alyazeyah@sharjahart.org, +971(0)65444113