WORM X AMARTE OPEN CALL

orange image with text on it, in the bacjground there are two people hugging, you cannot see their heads, only torso. Image for Amarte Open call 2025

WORM and Amarte are joining forces once again to offer a unique opportunity for creative groups! This time, we’re inviting you to design and lead your own workshop series. Are you part of an artist collective based in the Netherlands? Then read on and apply! This is a great chance to grow your collective’s practice and give something back to the community.

Deadline: 11 July, midnight

Apply via Amarte websiste -> here.

FOR WHO?

WORM and Amarte are looking for Netherlands – based collectives and artists groups who want to create and give a workshop series this year.

What is a collective or artist group? A group of at least 3 creatives can apply together, even without being a “formal” collective. Do you and your friends share a studio, or do you know a few creatives with whom you would like to explore this possibility? Then you can apply together even if you are not a long-term collective.

We want to support ideas which are multidisciplinary, participatory and locally rooted.

THEME

Explore the umbrella theme of  WORM’s Ultimate Playground. We are curious to find ways to engage seriously with the world without taking ourselves too seriously. It’s about using joy, creativity, and experimentation to build meaningful relationships with each other, with ideas, with our bodies, and with wider social movements. By inviting you to create and lead a workshop series, we aim to foster mutual growth for both you and your participants.

You are invited to respond to one or more of the following themes:

  • Deep Listening. Listening as an active, intentional act. Not just reacting, but really taking time to hear and understand. What shifts when we truly listen?
  • Pleasure Activism. Taking pleasure and joy seriously – as values worth protecting and fighting for. Inspired by Adrienne Maree Brown, who writes that pleasure connects us to our deepest YES, and that from that place, we stop settling for less.
  • The Nervous System. Exploring how our bodies respond to the world. How do stress, calm, movement, and rest influence our creative and social lives? What does it mean to work with the body as well as the mind?
  • Conflict Resolution. Looking at ways we handle tension – whether in personal relationships or in larger social and political settings. What can art and creative processes offer when it comes to mediation, care, and repair?

We’re looking for collectives that bring their own perspective to these topics. You can design a series where each workshop engages with a different theme, or focus on one theme across all sessions. Interdisciplinary approaches are highly encouraged, think of DIY zine-making, movement classes, music courses, sonic workshops, storytelling sessions, audiovisual explorations, filmmaking, or anything else that reflects your practice.

We’re looking for workshop proposals that reflect your collective’s unique voice. Show us how your ideas, methods, and energy come together in a way that is both thoughtful and engaging.

WHAT TO EXPECT 

  • Each collective receives 5000 euros excl. VAT (fee and production cost) to realise their project in the form of three artistic workshops (2-5h each)
  • Online guidance (by two professionals with backgrounds on funding writing and workshop facilitating) before sending in the application regarding how to translate your artistic practice into a workshop. The online guidance will take place two weeks before the deadline closes.
  • Productional, technical help to realise the projects and use WORM’s facilities.
  • The workshop series will be spread over three weeks in November (03-21)
  • The methods used and insights gained will be bundled in a publication, which can again serve as a source of inspiration for new makers. The publication will be made during the process and launched after the realisation of the workshops.
  • Promotion and documentation of the workshops.

REVIEW

Four collectives will be selected to create and give workshops. The committee will focus on selecting projects that collectively activate the different themes and utilise knowledge sharing in various ways. A selection committee from both Amarte and WORM will select four final projects. The selected projects will be contacted on 30th of July. Confirmation of final participants 5th of August.

HOW TO APPLY 

We would like to get an impression of the artistic practice(s) of the collective and your plans.

  • Project plan (max. 2 A4)
  • Budget plan (max. 1 A4)
  • Portfolio (max. 3 pages)

Please note: Amarte and WORM are committed to the fair practice code. By this we mean that you offer yourself as a maker and the people you work with the following: clear agreements, a safe and inclusive working environment and also fair payments. Keep this in mind when preparing the application and budget plan. Make sure each collective member is adequately paid.