Forecast announces the six new mentors and call for ideas for the ninth edition of Forecast Mentorships. Artistic practitioners and cultural producers working in all creative fields, anywhere in the world, are encouraged to apply to Forecast’s international mentorship program with projects that could benefit from the expertise of one of this edition’s mentors and their unique approach to material and knowledge production.

Send your project ideas for the chance to work with one of the following mentors: Choreographer Alice Ripoll (BR), designer Fiona Raby (UK), photographer Lieko Shiga (JN), artist Theo Eshetu (UK), documentary filmmaker Tomer Heymann (IL), and composer and performer Ute Wassermann (DE). The mentors in Forecast Mentorships’ 2024–25 edition push against the constraints of the practices with which they engage. They renegotiate the common definitions of their respective fields and experiment in ways that defy simple readings of their work.

The call is open to applicants of all ages and does not prescribe a theme. The only requirement is to submit projects that are relevant to the expertise of the mentor you wish to work with.
Find out more about each mentor’s field of expertise and what they are looking for in a potential mentee here.
The deadline for applications is 11:59pm CET on Monday, February 26.

About Forecast Mentorships
As an international mentorship program with annual editions, Forecast offers artists and creative thinkers from anywhere in the world the chance to work with accomplished mentors toward bringing their projects to fruition. Each edition of Forecast is different; the selected mentors impact the nature and content of every iteration. Forecast is not a grant. It is first and foremost a mentorship program meant to promote a deep transdisciplinary exchange and extend professional networks. If you are selected as a nominee and later, as a mentee, you will also receive an artist fee and production budget, in addition to support in applying to further collaborations and/or funding.

The selection process is two-tiered. First, the mentors carefully review all proposals and invite three nominees each to workshop with the mentor and present their ideas at the Forecast Forum in Berlin, taking place in July-August 2024. All eighteen nominees receive an artist fee. Following the Forum, each mentor will select one mentee.

Those six mentees will receive a production budget and a licensing and artist fee, and will have several months to produce their project with the mentor’s support. In addition to ongoing exchanges, this period also includes a one-on-one work-stay with the mentor at an international partner institution.

The final productions will be presented to the public at the Forecast Festival in March 2025. The Forum and the Festival both take place at Radialsystem, Berlin. Travel and accommodation are covered by Forecast (if you apply as a duo or collective, note that Forecast can only cover the cost of one representative).

How to Apply

Applying is only possible via the online application form. However, in case you’d like to send additional material via postal mail, please contact us at: info@forecast-platform.com. Please note that we cannot return any material sent to us via postal mail.

Please make sure that you hold the copyrights to all material submitted. We may use parts of your application in our documentation, even if you are not invited to participate in the Forum and Festival.

Forecast only accepts applications in English. Furthermore, all public events and communication take place in English.

What should the application include?

There are no restrictions or requirements regarding disciplines or genres and no overarching theme. However, we strongly advise applicants to reflect on the mentor’s approach to creative production before applying, as well as on the public nature of the Forecast Forum and Festival, which requires that you convey your project to an audience.

In the online application form, you will be requested to enter the following:

• Basic information: name, year of birth (used solely for internal administrative purposes), current address, phone number, country of residence, citizenship(s), pronouns, and email.
• Mentor: name the mentor you’re applying to work with.
• Your core concept: up to 1,400 characters max.
• Your proposal*: a single PDF, 16 MB max.
• Your portfolio: a single PDF, up to eight pages.
• Curriculum vitae as a PDF.
• Your life and career: tell us about three moments in your life, experiences, projects, or jobs that have been of special importance to you, 600 characters max.
• Your compliance with the Terms and Conditions.

*In general, the proposal requires that you:

• Clearly define your project idea and express what you want to achieve.
• Sketch the content and format of your participation at the Forecast Forum and Festival. What is the relation between the format (performance, showcase, talk, workshop, screening, installation, etc.) and what you are seeking to convey?
• Identify the key materials that you need, as well as production steps.
• Describe how the project could gain from working in tandem with the mentor you have chosen to apply with, and your expectations of the mentoring process.

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