PartArt4OW Second Call

Description

The PartArt4OW Open Call is intended to support the implementation of participatory art initiatives (PAIs) addressing the PartArt4OW challenge: “Engaging Mediterranean Communities to prevent, study and tackle water pollution”. ​​​​Each financed initiative can have up to 50.000 Euros. PartArt4OW is looking for interdisciplinary and intersectoral projects mixing art, science and participatory practices in innovative ways. PartArt4OW believes that collaborations between the creative and cultural sectors, the scientific community and the civic society organisations can lead to stronger projects, but this call is also open to individuals. The overall goal of the supported PAI will be to: increase citizens’ ocean literacy; increase awareness on the challenges and pressures faced by the ocean and inland waters and  mobilise citizens and stakeholders for the protection and restoration of oceans and inland waters. For this second open call, the specific challenge to be addressed is that of Engaging Mediterranean Communities to prevent, study and tackle water pollution. PartArt4OW is looking for projects that engage local communities in preventing, studying and reducing pollution of our ocean.  This call is for bold proposals that actively engage citizens, moving beyond simple awareness-raising by combining science-based research with experimental and understudied artistic practices to co-create new ways of understanding and tackling pollution. The focus should be on the communities living in close proximity to the ocean, water basins and/or rivers. Proposed projects should address key societal and environmental challenges of those communities and amplify unheard community voices. Proposals can focus on any type of pollution, such as solid waste, chemical pollution, nutrient pollution, micro- and nanopollutants, biological pollution, noise, light, thermal, or pathogen pollution. These forms of pollution include plastics and marine litter, agricultural and industrial runoff, sewage discharges, harmful underwater noise, invasive species introduced through ballast water or aquaculture, and microscopic contaminants that accumulate in the food chain.  This call particularly welcome proposals that: adopt a whole-system approach, considering the entire chain of actions that generate pollution and the interplay between fresh-water and ocean focus on less investigate forms of pollution and their effects investigate the invisible, uncertain, and unknown aspects of pollution, including its sensory absence - how we make sense of something we cannot directly perceive investigate the societal impact of pollution, including how its effects reshapes communities, their ways of living, how they see their future and how already-existing communal practices can be valorized Projects can focus on ocean or inland waters or on both at the same time. Successful applicants will be expected to refine their proposal, implement, and present the findings of a participatory art project to be implemented over the course of six months. In these six months period they will be actively engaged in the PartArt4OW Accelerator, which provides mentoring, networking opportunities, and training sessions. Selected projects are expected to be fully sustainable, including the use of sustainable materials, circular solutions and renewable energy. Proposals, if selected, must commit to a Climate Pact Pledge[1] leading to full decarbonisation or at least carbon neutrality of the project and of all the proposed activities. For more information on the challenge, please visit the project website at: https://partart4ow.eu/the-calls

Beneficiary & submission

Submission process: Applications will be made in English, online via a dedicated platform that is accessible via the PartArt4OW website: https://partart4ow.eu/second-open-call Applications will consist of a short proposal (maximum 5 pages) presenting the project idea, its objectives, the implementation plan, the resources needed, the team submitting the proposal, the communities engaged/beneficiaries of the initiative and the expected impact. The proposal should follow the template available in the PartArt4OW ‘guide for applicants’ available on the project website: https://partart4ow.eu/second-open-call and in the submission platform. Administrative information will be required too. A declaration of honour must be signed by the legal representative of the proposal lead and uploaded in the submission portal.  Proponents are also requested to upload in the submission portal a Letter of Intent signed by the legal representative of a harbour or marina authority that has been selected by the proponent for hosting the Sailing Lab (see below). The evaluation process can be divided into the following stages: 1.Eligibility check: Applicants must be individuals or organisations established or resident in EU Member States, Associated Countries or Third Countries. The call is open to Individuals, single legal entities, and consortia. For consortia, all applicants must be eligible. Project activities must take place in EU Member States or third countries associated with Horizon Europe but a main event (ideally the final one) must take place in the areas specified by the map here below. Indeed this Call is open only to proposals that can host - in a yacht harbour or marina - the PartArt4OW Sailing Lab during its tour. This implies additional eligibility requirements that are listed here after. Requirement related to the hosting of the Sailing Lab: Applicants must indicate in the submission platform and in their proposal the location and the approximate date of a relevant public event of their project.  The date of the event must be in the period between the 21st of June and the 26th of July 2026. Ideally this should be the main/final event of the PAI and it will be the one hosting the SailingLab if selected. The event location must fall within the area outlined in red on the map in the Guidelines for Applicants.  All applications MUST be accompanied by a Letter of Intent from the harbour authority that will host the Sailing Lab (a template is available in the Guide for Applicants and the in the Call Page of the PartArt4OW website). Each entity is allowed to participate in one application, either on its own or as part of a consortium. Entities that have been granted in the previous PartArt4OW call are not eligible for this call. 2.Proposals review: Each proposal will be assessed by three reviewers against three main criteria: relevance, quality and impact. Reviewers will be asked to provide a score on a 5-point scale for each criterion. Only projects that pass the threshold value on each of the criteria and the overall one, (see the detailed description in the Guide for Applicants), will proceed to the next step of the evaluation. 3.Shortlisting: Proposals that score above the thresholds will be ranked. The 21 proposals (3 times the number of winning PAIs) with the highest scores will be invited to an interview   4.Interviews: Shortlisted applicants will be invited to an online interview with an expert panel. The interviews will consist of a short pitch of the project followed by questions. After the interviews are concluded, the PartArt4OW consortium will decide which applicants will be accepted into the program. See PartArt4OW ‘Guide for applicants’ accessible via the project website for more detailed info on the evaluation process: https://partart4ow.eu/second-open-call

Further information

Further information are available on the dedicated page of the project website: https://partart4ow.eu/second-open-call It is also possible to reach the team responsible for the call by writing to: opencallpartart4ow@gmail.com