The Visual Arts Research Grant are intended to promote the artistic development of Berlin based artists and curators. Artistic/curatorial development requires in particular the opportunity to develop new ideas and approaches. For this reason, grant recipients should be given the opportunity to carry out research projects of their own choice, e.g:
- research or preliminary work on a specific topic
- development of new projects
- development of new working techniques
- continuation or finalisation of certain projects
- art education, documentation or publication
Conditions
- Visual artists and curators who have completed artistic training and/or can demonstrate several years of artistic/curatorial activity in the field of visual arts are eligible for funding.
- Applicants must live and work in Berlin and maintain their 1st place of residence in Berlin during the application process as well as during the grant period.
-
Applicants can re-apply every year. There is no 2-year-restriction as in previous calls. Individuals/Groups who last applied for the 2024 research grant can apply again.
- Students (including PhD-students) cannot apply. Violations may result in the cancellation of the grant.
Funding volume
Subject to the availability of funds in the year 2025 the research grants comprise 8.000 € each and are being paid in four monthly rates of 2.000 € from September to Dezember 2025.
Call for applications
A call for applications to the research grants is usually issued at the beginning of each funding year.
Application process
Applications and all necessary attachments can only be submitted online.
- Please refer to the information sheet on the funding programme for all requirements and conditions.
- The online application form including the short project description have to be filled in in German. The artistic CV with portfolio can be submitted in English if necessary.
Your application will be reviewed.
- Only complete and formally valid applications will be admitted to the award procedure.
- Missing documents will not be requested.
In 2025, the research grants will be awarded for the first time via a partially randomised* procedure (*definition: something is decided partly by chance). This is a a pilot project of the Senate Department for Culture and Social Cohesion.
Steps of the partially randomised procedure:
- Artists/curators submit their online application.
- The jury selects all applications that meet the criteria of the funding programme.
- All applications selected by the jury will be formally reviewed by the Senate Department for Culture and Social Cohesion.
- The remaining eligible applications will be drawn by digital lottery.
The names of the jury members will be announced at a later date.
All applicants will be informed of the results of the draw by email in July 2025. The names of the funded artists, curators and groups will be published.
