2019 British Council/Electric South call for Creative & social hubs in Southern Africa

Application Deadline:Friday, 14 December, 5pm South African Standard Time.

British Council and Hivos are supporting collaborative projects between hubs. Selected hubs will receive project financing and mentorship on project development and pitching.

To be eligible to submit a project idea, enter your creative or social impact hub into our hubs directory before 5pm on Friday, 14 December.

connect.hubs is an initiative to support the social and creative hubs in Southern Africa that drive the creative economies and create social impact in the region.

Creative and social hubs support diverse communities of artists, entrepreneurs, activists and culture producers in physical or virtual spaces. Examples are makerspaces, music studios, fablabs, collectives, online networks, co-working spaces, incubators, and more.

Hubs bring their communities together. Now, we want to give hubs the chance to connect to each other and to collaborate.

Benefits:

British Council will award grants ranging from £2 000 to £10 000 to up to 20 teams. Each team must consist of two or more different hubs. The team must work together to propose a collaborative project that boosts the creative and/or social impact sector. Selected projects will also receive project development and pitching feedback.

Requirements:

Hubs that work with creative or social impact communities in Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia, Mauritius, Mozambique, Malawi, South Africa, Swaziland, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

how to apply

STEP 1

ENTER YOUR HUB

Submit details about your hub to be included in the public connect.hubs directory. Only hubs in the directory will be eligible to submit a project for funding.

— Deadline : 5pm South African Standard Time, Friday 14 December 2018 —-

STEP 2

GET TO KNOW OTHER HUBS

On Friday 21 December 2018,  the connect.hubs directory will be made public. You can download the directory as a pdf from this website. The directory will also be emailed to hub applicants.

Hubs in the directory will be invited to join a private Facebook group and Slack channel. Hubs’ videos will be available on the connect.hubs YouTube channel.

Browse through the directory, and seek out any hubs that you might want to collaborate with.

STEP 3

CONNECT TO HUBS YOU WANT TO WORK WITH

In January 2019, Electric South will host a series of video chats where you can meet other hubs virtually and start conversations.

You can also independently reach out to hubs that you want to work with. Keep an eye on your inbox – someone might want to reach out to YOU!

STEP 4

COME UP WITH A PROJECT IDEA

Once you start talking to other hubs, brainstorm ideas for projects that you could do together. The possibilities are limitless. Some examples could be:

1. An event space and a vlog platform collaborate on a screening series
2. An activist group and a visual arts studio work together to create artful posters for a march
3. An online arts marketplace and a fashion collective collaborate on seasonal virtual pop ups

Make sure that your ideas are realistic. Grants will range between £2 000 to £10 000, and projects must be completed within 3 to 12 months.

We will share resources on the Facebook group and Slack channel about how to develop and scope your project idea.

STEP 5

APPLY WITH YOUR PROJECT

Submit a joint application with your hub collaborators for your team project.

— Deadline : 5pm, Thursday 31 January, 2019 —–

STEP 6

FINALISTS ANNOUNCED

Friday 8 February, 2019 – The shortlisted projects will be announced.

STEP 7

PROJECT DEVELOPMENT 

Throughout February 2019, finalists will receive project feedback.

STEP 8

GO CREATE TOGETHER 

From April 2019 onwards, selected projects will receive their funds and teams will execute their plans. Projects should be completed within 3-12 months.

For the projects not selected, we hope you continue the relationships and plans you have made.

For More Information:

Visit the Official Webpage of the 2019 British Council/Electric South call for Creative