CALL FOR PROPOSALS FOR ARTISTIC PRODUCTIONS
Theme: ResourcesAfrican Feminisms - Rights, Representation, Resources
Rethinking Resources: Access, Extraction, and Feminist Perspectives
Deadline
for submission
Thursday,
30th April 2026
Submission of all documents to: hoaf@goethe.de with the subject line “African Feminisms Artistic Call - Resources”.
The project African Feminisms – Rights, Representation, Resources invites African artists, collectives, and creative practitioners to submit proposals for digital artworks to be exhibited on the House of African Feminisms website and possibly presented physically during the African Feminisms Gathering in Kigali or Germany in 2026.
Resources are often understood in material terms—money, land and infrastructure. Yet within African feminist thought and practice, resources extend far beyond the economic. They encompass knowledge systems, care networks, time, bodily autonomy, cultural memory, spiritual practices, and the collective strategies that sustain life and resistance.
At the same time, access to material and knowledge resources often remains deeply unequal. Shaped by colonial histories, extractive economies, patriarchal systems, and contemporary global power structures, resources are unevenly distributed, controlled, and valued. However, women* and gender diverse people across the continent and the diaspora continue to navigate and resist against these inequalities by generating alternative systems of survival, redistribution, and care.
In a global moment marked by intensifying economic precarity, environmental crisis, and shrinking civic space, we ask:
This call invites artistic proposals that critically and creatively engage with the theme of “Resources” through African feminist perspectives—political, social, economic, cultural, ecological, spiritual, and beyond.
We are particularly interested in projects that:
We seek work that affirms agency, complexity, and the diverse ways in which resources are created, shared, contested, and transformed.
Proposals may take diverse forms—written works, photo essays, short films, podcasts, digital and new media art, or cross-disciplinary formats. What matters is that they offer a fresh, feminist perspective grounded in African contexts and realities. Selected works should be suitable for digital presentation on the HoAF platform.
Budget
The proposals/projects will be funded with up to EUR 2,000
Eligibility criteria
Selection criteria
Submission of final artistic/ creative project, including complete narrative and financial reports by September 2026. Provide PR material for the project communication.
Submission
Submissions may be made in English, French, or Portuguese. We ask that all submission materials be compiled into one single PDF document.
Please name your PDF as: Surname_Firstname_ProjectTitle.pdf
Deadline for submission of proposals: 30th April 2026.
To ensure fairness and thorough consideration of every proposal, late submissions cannot be accepted.
Please note: Due to the high volume of applications, only shortlisted candidates will be contacted by early June. We deeply appreciate the time, creativity, and thought that goes into every proposal, and we kindly ask that you refrain from contacting us regarding the status of your application.
Submission of all documents to: hoaf@goethe.de with the subject line “African Feminisms Artistic Call - Resources”.
For technical questions regarding submissions, please contact: hoaf@goethe.de
About the Project
The project “African Feminisms – Rights, Representation, Resources” is an initiative of the Goethe Institut project ‘House of African Feminisms’ (HoAF), a networking and resource platform for African feminists, and supported by the German Federal Foreign Office.
The project ‘African Feminisms – Rights, Representation, Resources’ aims to explore African feminisms practically and discursively, to promote feminist practice through capacity-building programmes and new perspectives through artistic work. The project sees feminisms not only as a conscious intellectual and activist movement, but as the daily lived experience of women*.
The project has at its core the triad of "Rights, Representation and Resources" formulated in the guidelines of feminist foreign policy, such as:
About House of African Feminisms
The artwork will be displayed digitally on The House of African Feminisms (HoAF) website. HoAF is a platform for feminist discourse, resource and enlightenment that aims at highlighting the works of various African feminist scholars, artists and thinkers around the world as well as providing a resource on African feminisms. It is anchored on a strong concept/idea of cultural exchange, networking and inclusivity.
About the Goethe-Institut
The Goethe-Institut is the cultural institute of the Federal Republic of Germany with a global reach. We promote knowledge of the German language abroad and foster international cultural cooperation. We convey a comprehensive picture of Germany by providing information on Germany's cultural, social and political life.
Resources are often understood in material terms—money, land and infrastructure. Yet within African feminist thought and practice, resources extend far beyond the economic. They encompass knowledge systems, care networks, time, bodily autonomy, cultural memory, spiritual practices, and the collective strategies that sustain life and resistance.
At the same time, access to material and knowledge resources often remains deeply unequal. Shaped by colonial histories, extractive economies, patriarchal systems, and contemporary global power structures, resources are unevenly distributed, controlled, and valued. However, women* and gender diverse people across the continent and the diaspora continue to navigate and resist against these inequalities by generating alternative systems of survival, redistribution, and care.
In a global moment marked by intensifying economic precarity, environmental crisis, and shrinking civic space, we ask:
-
What counts as a resource—and who decides?
-
Who has access to resources, and under what conditions?
-
How are women*’s bodies, labor, skills, knowledge, and environments rendered as resources for extraction?
-
What forms of knowledge, care, and community exist as resources outside dominant economic frameworks?
-
How can we imagine and build feminist futures grounded in equity, redistribution, reciprocity, and collective wellbeing?
This call invites artistic proposals that critically and creatively engage with the theme of “Resources” through African feminist perspectives—political, social, economic, cultural, ecological, spiritual, and beyond.
We are particularly interested in projects that:
- Challenge dominant narratives of scarcity, value, and ownership
-
Examine systems of extraction and exploitation
-
Reclaim and reimagine knowledge, memory, and cultural resources
-
Explore care, rest, sharing and community as vital feminist resources
-
Engage with land, ecology, and environmental justice
-
Interrogate digital access, visibility, and technological inequalities
-
Speculate on alternative feminist economies and futures
We seek work that affirms agency, complexity, and the diverse ways in which resources are created, shared, contested, and transformed.
Proposals may take diverse forms—written works, photo essays, short films, podcasts, digital and new media art, or cross-disciplinary formats. What matters is that they offer a fresh, feminist perspective grounded in African contexts and realities. Selected works should be suitable for digital presentation on the HoAF platform.
Budget
The proposals/projects will be funded with up to EUR 2,000
Eligibility criteria
- Artists and creatives living on the continent or the African Diaspora
- Track record/ portfolio of previously created work
Selection criteria
-
Artistic and/or conceptual quality and clarity of execution
-
Relevance to the theme and contribution to African feminisms
-
Originality and creativity
-
Feasibility of implementation within proposed budget
Project Expectations
Submission of final artistic/ creative project, including complete narrative and financial reports by September 2026. Provide PR material for the project communication.
Submission
Submissions may be made in English, French, or Portuguese. We ask that all submission materials be compiled into one single PDF document.
Please name your PDF as: Surname_Firstname_ProjectTitle.pdf
- Your concept / project description and used media (max 2 pages or a video teaser of max 2 minutes). Explain how your work engages with African feminist theories and/or practices related to the theme of resources. Highlight any previous work in these areas or similar themes.
- Biography or CV with Artist Statement
- Budget plan (inclusive of all expenses)
- Any three links to your artistic work or portfolio you think are relevant to this application.
Deadline for submission of proposals: 30th April 2026.
To ensure fairness and thorough consideration of every proposal, late submissions cannot be accepted.
Please note: Due to the high volume of applications, only shortlisted candidates will be contacted by early June. We deeply appreciate the time, creativity, and thought that goes into every proposal, and we kindly ask that you refrain from contacting us regarding the status of your application.
Submission of all documents to: hoaf@goethe.de with the subject line “African Feminisms Artistic Call - Resources”.
For technical questions regarding submissions, please contact: hoaf@goethe.de
About the Project
The project “African Feminisms – Rights, Representation, Resources” is an initiative of the Goethe Institut project ‘House of African Feminisms’ (HoAF), a networking and resource platform for African feminists, and supported by the German Federal Foreign Office.
The project ‘African Feminisms – Rights, Representation, Resources’ aims to explore African feminisms practically and discursively, to promote feminist practice through capacity-building programmes and new perspectives through artistic work. The project sees feminisms not only as a conscious intellectual and activist movement, but as the daily lived experience of women*.
The project has at its core the triad of "Rights, Representation and Resources" formulated in the guidelines of feminist foreign policy, such as:
- Women*s rights for feminist politics of the future
- Representation of feminist positions in politics and civil society and artistic contexts
- Access to resources for feminist opinion-forming and projects (finance, knowledge, community)
About House of African Feminisms
The artwork will be displayed digitally on The House of African Feminisms (HoAF) website. HoAF is a platform for feminist discourse, resource and enlightenment that aims at highlighting the works of various African feminist scholars, artists and thinkers around the world as well as providing a resource on African feminisms. It is anchored on a strong concept/idea of cultural exchange, networking and inclusivity.
About the Goethe-Institut
The Goethe-Institut is the cultural institute of the Federal Republic of Germany with a global reach. We promote knowledge of the German language abroad and foster international cultural cooperation. We convey a comprehensive picture of Germany by providing information on Germany's cultural, social and political life.
