With the support of the FORD FOUNDATION Contemporary And (C&) facilitates a three-day Critical Writing Workshop for young art critics based in Nairobi from 6th to 8th December 2016.

Interested candidates should submit a CV and a one-page letter of motivation and/or a writing sample (1000 words max.) to adiallo@contemporayand.com.

Deadline for submission: Monday, 31 October 2016.

Download the call as pdf : Call for applications_Critical Writing Workshop_Nairobi

A maximum number of 20 applicants will be accepted. There is a limited number of spots available to young writers based in neighbouring countries such as Uganda, Tanzania or Ethiopia.

The invitation is open to young art writers in the very early stages of their career.

With this workshop C& aims to:

• Facilitate the circulation of knowledge and experience among participants
• Discuss arts reporting and critical writing practice particularly to attract a younger audience
• Provide the tools of how to write reviews, comments and essays within a given timeframe
• Mediate how to pitch topics to different media platforms
• Give insights into the processes of editing
• Broaden the network of East African journalists
• Link participants to a network of arts journalists contributing to C& with the possibility of publishing on C&
• Supporting young arts writers in finding various publishing outlets beyond C&

A selected group of workshop participants will be invited to benefit from a yearlong online C& Mentoring Program, during which senior arts writers will review their writing. More information on the C& Mentoring Program will be given during the workshop.

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Tutors of the Workshop:

Zihan Kassam, based in Nairobi,  is a contemporary artist and an arts correspondent, who currently writes for Africanah and CFA and has published texts in various types of  art catalogues focused on East African Art.

Thom Ogonga, based in Nairobi, is an established visual artist and popular writer about Kenyan contemporary art.

Hannah Azieb Pool, Eritrean born, UK based journalist. She has written for the  Guardian  for over a decade as well as for The Times, The  Sunday  Times, Vogue. Grazia, The Independent, and others. Hannah is also Senior Programmer, Contemporary Culture at London’s Southbank Centre.

Sean O’Toole, South African, Cape Town based writer and co-editor of CityScapes, a critical journal for urban enquiry. Sean regularly writes for Frieze Magazine, as well as Wallpaper and has contributed to numerous arts catalogues.

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Eligibility:

The participants should:

• Have first journalistic/writing experiences in the cultural field. Senior writers with long-term experiences will not be accepted.
• Be interested in a focus on visual arts.
• Be fluent in  spoken and written  English.