Frequently Asked Questions
Who can apply?
Anyone, at any stage of their career, who is working creatively in a field that they consider connected with one of the mentors in this year’s edition, or in related practices. The program takes place in English.
Who picks the mentees?
Each mentor personally decides whom they want to invite to the Forecast Forum as nominee, and, after workshopping with their three nominees during the Forum week, whose project will be brought to fruition together and showcased at the Forecast Festival.
How can I increases my chances of getting selected?
Alongside the quality and clarity of your proposal, you should also have a clear question or a specific issue to which a mentor might be able to contribute. You should have an idea of what the mentor would be able to provide in their role. We recommend looking thoroughly at the mentors’ statements and familiarizing yourself with their work before deciding whether to apply.
How may I benefit as a participant? What can I expect?
Forecast facilitates the exchange of thoughts—including criticism, suggestions, and encouragement—with experienced and open-minded people leading remarkable careers, in addition to material support. The program provides access to a unique network, be it through the mentors and participants involved, the organizations collaborating with Forecast, or the institutions that our mentors lead or work with. A key benefit could be the opportunity to achieve a first realization of the project you have been dreaming of, and to present it to the public.
Is Forecast a residency?
No. The mentoring may take place wherever each mentor and mentee live or work. However, physical gatherings do play an important role in our program: in addition to the week of the Forecast Forum and later, the Forecast Festival in Berlin, there is a joint work-stay meeting for both mentor and mentee, lasting about a week and hosted by a partner institution. In our tenth edition, all work-stays will take place in Berlin.
What will the mentoring process look like?
The one-on-one mentoring phase begins after the Forecast Forum, and lasts from August 2025 to March 2026. It is flexible and not bound to a specific place or form of communication. While the mentoring itself takes place directly between the mentor and mentee—which means that over long periods it will mainly happen online—, the Forecast team will arrange conversations with both parties at regular intervals to follow the project’s progress. Between fall 2025 and winter 2026, the mentor and mentee will select a suitable time to meet for a condensed work-stay in Berlin. During this period, which usually lasts about a week, the mentor and mentee will finetune the mentee’s project ahead of the Festival.
Can I apply with a project that I have done before?
No. Forecast is about the process of developing a new idea, with all its unpredictability. If we do not see the potential for development, your proposal will not fit Forecast’s concept. The portfolio section of the application is there to give you the opportunity to convey the range of your work up until now.
May I submit various projects for one edition of Forecast?
No. Please apply with one project that is most relevant to you.
We are a collective. May we apply as a team?
Yes. But please note that we cannot provide a travel allowance for more than one participant, and the total production budget and artist fee remain the same, regardless of how many collaborators are involved.
Are there any age restrictions?
No.
Will travel and accommodation costs to the events in Berlin be covered?
If you are invited to present your concept at the Forecast Forum in Berlin, Forecast will grant you accommodation and travel costs and provide infrastructure and space for your showcase at Radialsystem. However, if you apply as a duo or collective, Forecast can only cover travel and accommodation for one member.
What is the difference between the Forecast Forum and the Forecast Festival?
The Forecast Forum is a highly playful and experimental group experience over the course of a week, meant to fuel the nominees’ and mentors’ imagination and to offer a wide range of fruitful exchanges and learnings. The Forecast Festival, more than eight months later, will present the mentees’ finalized projects and contextualize them with personal showcases by the mentors.
What do these two events look like?
The Forecast Forum is meant for discussing and further developing the submitted proposals, and to test the potentials of individual practices and possible mentor–mentee collaborations. As one of the 18 invited nominees, you will have the opportunity to exchange ideas with a group of fascinating practitioners, both mentors and fellow participants, and to present and discuss your concept. Each mentor will work on the proposals by their three invited nominees, aiming to find meaningful ways to develop them further. The Radialsystem building will be available for workshops, discussions, installations, performances, or other formats that may be suitable to convey your idea.
The concluding Forecast Festival showcases the results of all six productions to the public and conveys the project development and the mentoring process as such. This can happen in the form of installations, concerts, video screenings, performances, or any other kind of presentation to an audience. Each mentor helps to prepare and fine-tune the mentee’s work.
If you have any more questions, please do not hesitate to contact us.