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Sunday, February 24, 2019

AMERICAN ARTS INCUBATOR AT KZNSA


Deadline for Applications: February 27, 2019.

The KZNSA Gallery, in collaboration with ZERO1, US Consulate Durban, and the US Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, has announced the American Arts Incubator — South Africa open call for participants.

American Arts Incubator (AAI) is a creative exchange programme that utilises community-driven digital and new media art projects to instigate dialogue, build communities, bolster local economies, and further social innovation. Each incubator addresses a relevant social or environmental challenge such as economic equity, youth empowerment, gender equality, and environmental sustainability.

AAI South Africa consists of a series of art and technology workshops taught by visiting American artist Ram Devineni focused on addressing youth empowerment through the creative industries, the development of collaborative team project prototypes, and an open house to share participant creations with the public. Participation in the incubator is free of charge. Participant teams will receive small grant funding to develop their collaborative project prototypes. The programme will be held at the KZNSA from April 12 to May 6, 2019.

Devineni is the creator of the augmented reality comic book, Priya’s Shakti and Priya’s Mirror, which received the Tribeca Film Institute New Media Fund from the Ford Foundation and supported by the World Bank, and showcased at 2016 New York Film Festival. He was named a “gender equality champion” by UN Women for creating India’s first female superhero who is a rape survivor. He was named by Fast Company magazine as one of the most creative people in business in 2017 for his innovative use of augmented reality to address social issues.

The organisation is looking for participants with:

• An interest in technology, new media, and/or digital art; experience in the arts is a plus
• An interest in addressing youth empowerment and the creative industries
• A desire to learn from new perspectives and new tools
• A willingness to work and create in a collaborative environment
• Age 18+ (participants under 18 can apply but must be partnered with adults on projects)
• Youth, women, and people with disabilities are encouraged to apply

Pop Culture and Interactive Art for Social Change

Participants will learn the process of creating pop-culture artwork such as comic books, street art, and other formats with added levels of interactivity using augmented reality. The first part of the workshops will focus on determining local social challenges that participants would like to address, and sourcing stories around them using standard documentary methods. Interview stories will then be used create socially-engaged comic books and street art, which will then be tied together using augmented reality to create an interactive experience.

• Workshops: April 13 to 19, 2019
• Project development: April 20 to May 2, 2019
• After the workshops, participants will be divided into teams and provided small grants to develop project prototypes. [Artist name] will lead teams through the process of developing a proposal, prototyping, and preparing to share their work with the public.
• Open house and panel review: May 3 and May 4, 2019
• Teams will share their prototypes with the public in an open house, and present their creations to a panel who will provide feedback to support their future sustainability. The open house will be held at KZNSA Gallery, 166 Bulwer Road, Durban.

Submissions will be accepted until February 27, 2019.

To apply, fill in the online application form online at https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSf1xLTvKFjL3DdSulGIqtvln6QAvUlptxBalgqxZdTrMOSJ5g/viewform

The KZNSA Gallery is situated at 166 Bulwer Road, Glenwood, in Durban. More information on 031 277 1705 or cell 082 220 0368 or visit www.kznsa.co.za