Lessons From Now
A new fund to help support SWCTN alumni whose livelihoods have been impacted by Covid-19 (Coronavirus) to continue their professional practice at this critical time.
See our Lessons From Now FAQs here
Who can apply:
Lessons From Now is for SWCTN alumni who have previously received funding from the network
What:
Grants of £1,000 – £2,500 for continued professional practice
When:
Activity taking place up until 30 November 2020
Call open between:
12 noon, Friday 15 May 2020 until 12 noon, Friday 26 June 2020
- Round 1 closes: 12 noon, Friday 29 May 2020
- Round 2 closes: 12 noon, Friday 12 June 2020
- Round 3 closes: 12 noon, Friday 26 June 2020
Applications will be reviewed by the Lessons From Now panel every fortnight during the open period and applicants will receive a decision 7 days after the closing date of each round.
We regret that due to the fast turnaround for the funding, we are unable to provide advice on developing individual applications. However, should you need any technical support or have questions about the application requirements, including access requirements, please contact hannah.b@watershed.co.uk
The Brief
Is there a creative technology experiment that you can achieve from a position of social isolation?
Is there R&D you can do now for a future project?
Is there some future-gazing that you’d like to undertake?
SWCTN are offering micro commissions of up to £2500
Offered on a rolling basis throughout May and June
Covid-19 is changing both the way we work and the context for our work. How might our shifting understanding of time, touch, liveness, connection and the way we experience our environment impact on what we do next? What observations or discoveries are you making that you want to hold onto for the future, and what impact is this having on your creative practice?
SWCTN recognises the difficulties that many parts of our network are currently experiencing. Within the context of self-isolation and social distancing, many will have seen work plans significantly changed and income disappear.
We feel strongly that your work is significant and that it holds real value as we begin to emerge from the current crisis and look to build a different kind of future. We want to support that work by commissioning, gathering, and sharing your ideas. With that in mind, we are redirecting some of our grant funding to buy you time for thinking, planning and innovating.
We are seeking applications that look to the future and build on the work that you have done with SWCTN to date. Applications should reflect on one or more of the network’s on-going discussions about immersion, automation, and data, as well as the ideas that the SWCTN team have begun to explore more recently around economic resilience, inclusion and environmental sustainability.
SWCTN values interdisciplinarity, as well as cross-sector and cross-region working, the hyperlocal and the global. Your work might be in collaboration with other members of the existing SWCTN network, or you might want to work on your own. Your output should support creative resilience either in your own work or in the broader community.
Your response might use text, film, or audio; for example, it could be a prototype (on paper or mocked-up) for a future project, an artefact or object that you create, a reflective essay, or a wireframe for a future web project. It might be something else entirely, providing it can be delivered, shared and meets the other criteria – we’re willing to consider it.
What is the selection process?
You can submit your application at any date between 12 noon, Friday 15 May 2020 to 12 noon, Friday 26 June 2020. Applications will be reviewed by the Lessons From Now panel every fortnight during this period. The panel will assess the applications against the criteria and will take account of quality, risk, range of outputs, geographic distribution and range of approach.
We will inform applicants about the outcome of their application as soon as possible once decisions have been made, at the latest 7 days after the closing date of each round. All applications will receive a decision by Friday 3 July 2020.
Feedback
Due to the quick turnaround of this funding we are unfortunately not able to give feedback on this occasion. However, should you need any technical support or have questions about the application requirements, including access requirements, please contact hannah.b@watershed.co.uk
Output requirements
Receiving a grant comes with an obligation to complete the activity outlined in your application. You will be required to submit and share the outputs with SWCTN by the deadline of 30 November 2020. Grant recipients will also be required to contribute to the evaluation of the programme.
Who should apply?
We require applicants to meet both of the following two criteria:
- SWCTN alumni who have previously received funding from the SWCTN and delivered activity relating to the grant but are not currently in receipt of any SWCTN funding. This means that Immersion and Automation fellows are eligible, as are Immersion prototype teams and completed microgrants and partner-funded SWCT projects.
- SWCTN alumni who have been significantly affected by the lockdown and therefore need some financial support to continue their creative work.
How to apply
The process is light touch both in application and assessment; due to this please note that you can only apply once for this opportunity. Resubmissions are not permitted. Prototypes teams should submit one application only.
The application should be no longer than one page of A4 and give an overview of:
- Who you are (please state if you are a fellow, part of a prototype team, microgrant recipient or part of a partner-funded SWCT project)
- How this proposal builds on the work that you have previously delivered for SWCTN
- A description of your proposed grant activity (covering activity, process and timescale)
- Detail of your final output, where it will be shared and how you will share it
- Demonstrate how the output will support creative resilience either in your own work or in the broader community
- The amount of money you require (including a brief breakdown of what you will spend it on)
Please email your application to: hannah.b@watershed.co.uk
We realise that text-based forms don’t suit everyone, so if you would like to discuss a different way to apply, please get in touch (contact hannah.b@watershed.co.uk to discuss this).
We welcome you to apply in any way you feel most comfortable as long as you cover the information on how to apply.
See our Lessons From Now FAQs here