From ArtsPond / Étang d’Arts via Akimbo.
Are you eager to nurture social good through arts and culture?
ArtsPond is delighted to announce two open calls for new creative fellowships in Ontario: I Love My Gig Ontario and Caring Cultures.
These two paid, online, 12-week programs run from March to June 2025. While different age and location requirements apply for each program, they are both open to artists, producers, and other creatives from all disciplines who self-identify as Indigenous, Racialized, D/deaf, Disabled, or live in suburban, rural, or remote communities. Fellows will receive a fee, creative mentorship, and access support for their participation. Personal projects created during the fellowship will be published online on our website at ArtsPond.com. Applications close January 13, 2025 at 5 pm EST. Let us know your access needs to apply by January 6, 2025.
Fellowship highlights:
I Love My Gig Ontario
- Open to creatives from all regions of Ontario who are 18 years of age or older
- $2,000 fee with creative mentorship and peer support
- Focus will be to produce a creative project that shares stories and suggestions to strengthen access to care in a post-pandemic future in and through arts and culture.
- Quick links:
◦ Open call description
◦ Application form
◦ Frequently asked questions
◦ Selection criteria
◦ Information video (9 minutes)
Caring Cultures
- Open to creatives in and around Toronto and Hamilton who are 18 to 35 years of age (including the surrounding regions between Kitchener-Waterloo to Markham in the north, and Brantford to Bowmanville in the south)
- $3,000 fee with creative mentorship and peer support
- Focus will be to produce a creative project that shares stories and suggestions to drive youth-led social change and community care in and through arts and culture.
- Quick links:
◦ Open call description
◦ Application form
◦ Frequently asked questions
◦ Selection criteria
◦ Information video (9 minutes)
Additional details:
Access and care
We are committed to responding meaningfully to all access and care needs. No special expertise is required to participate, just a willingness to reflect on past challenges and imagine pathways to a better future. Personal interviews can be requested in place of written applications, and one-on-one support with online forms is available.
Selected fellows will be invited to create a personalized access plan with the care team, which may include support from doulas and mentors. ASL, CART, and plain language services will be provided during meetings, with some additional limited funds available for personal access and care costs. While all sessions will take place in English, fellows may create their personal projects in any language.
Ownership and publication
The creative work fellows produce during the fellowship will remain their own intellectual property. All fellows will be properly credited. While ArtsPond typically publishes work in the Creative Commons, fellows are encouraged, but not required, to do the same.
Fellows will grant ArtsPond first and perpetual (but not exclusive) rights to publish the content they approve for publication. If their content is to be reproduced for sale, a separate agreement will be made. Fellows may have their content published elsewhere afterwards if ArtsPond is credited as the original host and publisher.
About ArtsPond
ArtsPond is a changemaker of a different kind. Our mission is to nurture thriving ecosystems of care in all realms of life via the wisdom and creativity of arts and culture. Founded in 2014, our core activities include I Lost My Gig Canada (a pandemic mutual aid network with 7,500 members from all regions across Canada), Hatch Open (an open source arts management software platform for gig workers and small enterprises), Groundtrust (a feasibility study for a cultural land trust), and Together There (a digital justice creative thought residency and international exchange).
Contact information
Any questions or requests for support can be sent to Founder Jessa Agilo and the Care Team at care@artspond.com or (647) 920-6187. Visit us on social media including Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, LinkedIn, and BlueSky @ArtsPond8.
Image descriptions
1. Header image: Two colourful avatars for I Love My Gig Ontario and Caring Cultures with a plus sign in between them, on a light grey background. The first avatar consists of two hearts in red and blue. The second is an infinity sign filled with colours of the rainbow.
2. Project image – I Love My Gig Ontario: An illustration of a large and small heart in red and blue that are nested inside each other on a light grey background.
3. Project image – Caring Cultures: A colourful illustration on a light grey background of an infinity sign stroked in white and filled with colours of the rainbow.
4. ArtsPond logo: ArtsPond’s logo shows four blue circles: two outlined circles overlapping on the outside, and two solid circles, one larger, stacked vertically inside.
