The Arab Documentary Photography Program Alumni Fellowship is open to all previous ADPP grantees and may be used to develop a photographer's individual project—a new work in progress or to complete work on an existing project—or contribute to strengthening the culture of documentary photography through creative activation of existing works, the production of events, or collaborations among colleagues. We also encourage projects involving collaborations with other media or proposing new and innovative outputs. The project can be implemented in any country. However, it must be related to the Arab socio-cultural realities.

The Arab Documentary Photography Program Alumni Fellowship provides up to 6 photographers with a grant up to $15.000 to work on their projects over a period of 12 months. Specific grant amounts will be determined according to the nature of the proposed projects. Fellows will meet regularly as a group throughout the course of the program and will be active members of a creative community that nurtures interdisciplinary exploration and collaboration. Additionally, fellows will meet online with mentors and their peers in the form of meetings and masterclasses, and they will also have ongoing guidance from mentors and the opportunity to consult with experts — photographers, artists, academics, and practitioners of other artistic disciplines—depending on their assessed needs. Fellows will present their work to the current group of ADPP grantees and will share their final projects at a virtual event for the program partners’ networks, including ADPP alumni.

The Arab Documentary Photography Program Alumni Fellowship invites applicants to submit projects including but not limited to; publication, exhibition, convenings and panels, residencies, workshops, and training. Any projects and ideas that fall outside of the scope of formats mentioned above will also be welcome for consideration.

Eligibility

Only previous ADPP grantees who have completed all of the ADPP grant and project requirements prior to the opening of this call are eligible to apply for the Arab Documentary Photography Program Alumni Fellowship.

Applicants must be independent, i.e. they must possess full copyright ownership of the project they are applying with.

Each applicant is entitled to only one application in the same category.

Ineligible Candidates

• Applicants who did not receive an ADPP grant;
• Recipients of two AFAC consecutive grants unless two years have passed since the last grant (e.g. If a grantee had received two grants in 2017 and 2018, they can apply again in 2021);
• Applicants with an open grant with AFAC
• Members of the current year’s jurors’ committee;

Program Details

The ADPP Alumni Fellowship grant can cover expenses related to the research phase, the production, and/or the dissemination of the final output. Applicants must be comfortable using English for communication and in-person discussions. The meetings, masterclasses, and communication will be conducted in English. However, translation will be provided during the meetings and masterclasses.

The program will not provide support retroactively, i.e. to projects already completed. For projects that have already started, the program will cover the expenses that will arise only after the signature of the contract if the project is selected.

The project’s time frame should not exceed 12 months. A maximum of 10 months will be used for mentorship and/or consultancy, and 2 additional months will be dedicated for the final implementation and production phase.

Fellows will meet with mentors and experts online through scheduled meetings and masterclasses.

The Alumni Fellowship program will have an opportunity of a meeting in person to be decided on during the program.

Fellows retain copyright over their work, but grant the Arab Fund for Arts and Culture, the Prince Claus Fund, and the Magnum Foundation a non-exclusive, royalty-free, irrevocable, perpetual, and worldwide license to the images created under the grant to be used in order to help attain the objectives of the partners as part of their communication, PR and fundraising efforts. The partners are allowed to make derivative works from copyright materials in any and all forms. The termination of the Alumni Fellowship program will not affect or end the license granted.

Application process

Applications are only accepted through an online application form available on AFAC website.

Applications submitted via regular mail or e-mail will not be accepted.

The application must be submitted in English, and applicants will receive a confirmation email once the online application has been received.

Incomplete applications will not be taken into consideration. Note that AFAC will not contact applicants if any part of their application is incomplete.

Please note that the deadline for applications is 20 December 2023 at 5:00 PM (Beirut time - GMT+2).

Please note that we will not be able to respond to any inquiries communicated with us after December 19, 2023.

The Application link will be shared with all eligible applicants.

Supporting Materials

• For documentary photography projects:
  - 10 to 20 images from the initial stages of the proposed project;
  - Captions should be included in the metadata of each image file. A numbered caption sheet is requested in the supporting material zip file;
  - Images should be JPGs, 72 dpi, and longest edge 1,000 pixels. Additional media as supplement to the still photographs are accepted. Applicant needs to include the corresponding links in the supporting material zip file.
• For projects involving training and workshops, the following supporting materials are required:
  - Training curriculum; including titles and briefs of the sessions;
  - CVs of the trainers and agreement/commitment letters confirming their participation.
• For projects that include publications, the following supporting materials are required:
  - Table of contents;
  - Sample of a chapter.
• For projects that include an exhibition of artistic/cultural work, proof of consent of the exhibited artists and commitment of a venue are required;
• For projects that involve convenings/panels, the following supporting materials are required:
  - Proof of consent of participating artists;
  - Proof of committed venue/space.
• Samples from a previous project;
• Supporting files/samples of current submitted project and/or previous work smaller than 10 MB can be uploaded directly to the application.
• Supporting files/samples of the submitted project and/or previous work between 10 MB and 300 MB should be included as links to files on sharing websites (such as Dropbox, Vimeo, and YouTube);
• A detailed budget must be included for all projects.

For further inquiries regarding supporting materials, contact the AFAC grants management team.