How to Apply

Review these guidelines before sending your application

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. For each edition, Forecast selects six mentors from various disciplines who offer selected participants their expertise in specifying and realizing project ideas. The mentors in the 2024–25 edition and the fields of mentorship in this edition are listed here.

The deadline for application is 11:59pm CET on Monday, February 26, 2023. To guarantee fair conditions for everyone, we cannot accept any applications that reach us after the deadline.

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.

How does Forecast work?

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 in their respective fields until May, with the week of April 12–19 reserved for interviewing applicants. They then each select three nominated concepts, which will be announced on May 7, 2024. The 18 nominees—three in each field—are invited to Berlin to workshop with and showcase their project proposals at Radialsystem during the Forecast Forum taking place July 29–August 5, 2024. Nominees receive an artist fee for their participation in the Forum. 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). 

Following the Forum, each mentor will select one concept to accompany to its realization over the following months. The outcomes of these collaborations will then be presented at the Forecast Festival, taking place at Radialsystem, Berlin, March 14–15, 2025 (with set-ups starting from March 10, 2025.)

If you are chosen as a mentee, you will take part in a work-stay with your mentor at a partner institution. Here, the mentee and the mentor—who usually live and work in different parts of the world—come together for several days of creative exchanges and concrete mentoring. As part of the work-stay, you and the mentor would potentially host a public event or a workshop at the partner institution to present your work within the framework of Forecast.

Mentees also receive a production budget and an artist fee to realize their project, as listed in our Terms and Conditions. The final productions will then be presented at the Forecast Festival, taking place at Radialsystem, Berlin in March, 2025.

For more information see our Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ).