Creative Grants

NB: there are no Creative Grants for 2022. 

Creative Grants provide financial assistance towards enabling creative projects in Tankwa Town. They’re intended to support projects by alleviating some of the financial burden, but all applicants should expect to carry some responsibility for funding their project themselves.

Be aware that our Grant fund policy is to cover material, lighting and transport costs only. Creative Grants will NOT cover labour or a performance fee. Personal expenses are not covered by the Creative Grants (e.g. the cost of your ticket, and getting yourself to Tankwa Town, your food, etc.), but all hard costs associated specifically with the project will be considered (e.g. the extra transport costs associated with bringing your project to Tankwa Town).

AfrikaBurn is a non-profit organisation and relies solely on ticket sales to fund Creative Grants. Every year we get many grant applications requesting funding totalling many times the value of the Creative Grant pot. This means that many projects won’t get funding.

There are many other ways to  garner support for your project. Ask for donations or discounts, hold fundraisers, raffles, get sponsored for doing something silly, form a collective and get everyone to chip in. The more people involved, the more connections you can explore, the more hands there are to help and the more fun it is to gather and create. Be resourceful – recycle, up-cycle, use scrap and waste material. It’s AfrikaBurn – be inventive!

We also ask you not to apply for a grant unless you really need financial support and your project is unlikely to happen without it.

If you’re successful, a percentage of the Grant will be provided upfront, and the balance paid out after the event, provided that the artwork was successfully installed, no trace of it remains on site, and receipts have been submitted.

Please read the full Creative Grant Policy if you’re planning to apply for a Grant.

Applying for a Creative Grant

Before you fill in your Creative Grant Application, please read all the info available – it will help you to make an application that is more likely to be successful.

The absolute basics:

1. Register your Artwork or Performance 
You need to have a registered project to be able to apply for a Creative Grant. These are separate forms on the website. 

2. Be Thorough
We need a detailed breakdown of the projected expenses. Listing one lump sum, means we will not be able to properly consider your application and this will lower your chances of getting a grant.

3. 3D Model Required For Large-Scale Art
If you’re applying for significant funding for a large-scale sculptural or architectural artwork, we’ll need to see a 3D model of the project. This may be a maquette, a digital image of the maquette, or a 3D digital rendering (e.g. in SketchUp). While a 3D model isn’t a requirement for medium and small-scale projects, we love to have these. They also help you work through some of the thinking.

4. Check Your Email
Be sure to check your email regularly in the weeks after you submit your application. If we have questions for you, we’ll email them through, and we’ll need you to answer them quickly.

Who Decides and How?

The Creative Grants assessment process is a very considered and participatory one, which the AfrikaBurn Art Committee puts all efforts in conducting it in a fair and transparent way. Anybody can apply, you don’t need to be a “good-ol’ burner” to apply for a Grant. Applications are assessed anonymously, based on the merit of the proposal, and according to a set of predefined criteria.

The identity of the applicants only comes to play at an advanced stage of the assessment. An history of red MOOP Map score, under-delivery, unfulfilled contractual clauses, etc., will affect the outcome of the application.

Interested in finding out how we assess Creative Grants? Read all about it here.

Want to see the projects that were successfully awarded Creative Grants for our 2019 event? Click this way.