To coincide with the Dakar Biennale 2024, the Metis Arts and Development Fund is launching the first edition of its “Prix Metis” art prize. 

Introducing the METIS - Arts and Development Fund

The Metis Fund - Arts and Development, launched in 2021, aims to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)1 - environment, health, education, employment, peace, gender, food, etc. - by mobilizing the arts as a vehicle for development. - by mobilizing the arts as a vector of transformation. It is hosted by Agence Française de Développement (AFD) and supported by public and private financial partners. 

Its raison d'être is to reinforce and complement the necessary sector-based technical approach to development dynamics, through the power of the arts and emotions. The initiatives financed by the Metis Fund lead to the creation of committed works of art inspired by concrete social realities. These initiatives are implemented with and for local populations, in developing territories. The Metis Fund defends the fact that the arts enable human beings to connect with their sensitive side. The arts connect, liberate, heal, emancipate, educate, initiate debate, and shift our outlook and perceptions. They stimulate our willingness and ability to learn, and set us in motion.

Metis sees itself as a “transmitter of emotions, a vector of transformation”.

“People will forget what you said, they'll forget what you did, but they'll never forget how you made them feel.” - Maya Angelou

Introducing the Metis Award:

To contribute to its mission and to the deployment of the strength of the Art and Development link, the Fonds Metis is launching a new prize: the Prix METIS. It will reward an artist for the realization of an “Arts and Development” project. 

The jury is currently being formed. 

Candidates' applications will be examined: 

1. on compliance with eligibility criteria. 

2. on the relevance of the application to the selection criteria. 

Eligibility criteria : 

Be a visual artist (no age limit).

Be an artist with tax residence in one of the countries or territories on the African continent. 

*For artist collectives: all members must meet the above criteria.

Financial terms and conditions: 

The winning artist will receive a 2,000-euro stipend for the project. 

The costs necessary for the realization of the project presented by the winner will be covered. 

The maximum amount awarded is 10,000 euros. 

How to apply : 

Candidate artists must submit their application before 15/02/2024 via the dedicated form: https://forms.gle/iXXsdcwJeMVbHcCK9 

To prepare your application online, please note that the application file must include : 

1.  A curriculum vitae or biography of the artist. This should include references to solo or group exhibitions and publications (for artist collectives, one CV/biography per artist). 
2.  A portfolio of 3 to 10 works by the artist (or group of artists), with dates of production and possible exhibition venues. 
3.  A 2-3 page written statement of intent / or video presenting the project. Candidates are expected to present their project in accordance with the four criteria set out above, and to answer the associated questions. These four criteria are the result of in-depth work carried out by Metis. Compliance with these criteria ensures the implementation of a creative and artistic project that engages and transforms all its stakeholders, resulting in a unique artistic work of Art et Développement.     

• A Metis project addresses a theme explicitly linked to one or more of the Sustainable Development Goals defined by the United Nations. The question your project must answer is: What is the social issue it addresses, and which SDG(s) does it contribute to? 
• It is anchored in a clearly defined territory (a neighborhood, a village, a natural park, a region...) and involves at least one of the classic development players working technically on the SDO(s) addressed (e.g.: an NGO, a company, a network of schools, health centers, a municipal department, a ministry, a farmers' union, etc.). Questions to be answered by the project: What is the territory in which your project is anchored? Who are the traditional development operators involved in the project in this area? 
•  It is built with and for a given population, concerned by the target area and the theme addressed (students, patients, trainers, park wardens, a citizens' group, a group of women farmers, the mothers of a neighborhood, etc.). The project includes a phase of interaction with this population, the artist and the associated development operator(s). Around a specific creative process (writing workshops, creative workshops, work on dance, theater, slam poetry, photography, etc.), a sensitive experience is set up for all. This phase can lead to artistic creations by the participants. These works may be presented with or alongside the artistic work created by the associated artist(s). Questions your project should answer: How does your project propose to involve the local population concerned by the theme addressed? For how long? How will it be organized both before and after the final artistic creation? 
• It associates / is supported by a demanding local artist motivated by social immersion, a source of inspiration for his work. The artist brings his own vision. It's the artist's artistic ambition that allows us to shift our gaze and perceptions. It's through him or her that a sensitive experience is created. Works may be created by the participants, but each project also leads to a creation by the artist. This in turn becomes a source of exchange and experience. Questions your project needs to answer: Who is (are) the artist(s) involved? What is their artistic field? What kind of creation is he/she aiming for? A participatory creation? Or a creation of its own, fueled by the experience of those involved in the project (cf. the interaction phase described above)? How will the final work be shared and presented? What happens to the final work? Who owns it?

1. A detailed budget: as a reminder, the Metis funding allocated to the winning project is a maximum of 10,000 euros. This amount must be sufficient to cover all the work involved in the project. 
2.  A project timetable. 
3. A concise note explaining (1) how the final work could be presented at Dak'Art 2024 (2) with an indicative budget if necessary for this presentation. Dep

Selection criteria for artists and their projects : 

 

Relevance of the proposed project engineering with regard to the four above-mentioned criteria.

Originality and ambition of the artistic approach to the chosen social theme. 

Financial relevance of the project. Suitability of the project timetable with regard to the agenda mentioned below. 

Relevance and feasibility of presenting the final work at Dak'Art 2024.

Please note that the proposed projects may have already begun before the Biennial and lead to a finalized work at a later date. In this case, particular attention will be paid to the engineering and possible valorization during the Biennial.

 

Provisional timetable for the call for entries : 

 

February 15, 2024: Closing of the call for applications. 

End of February 2024: Announcement of the winner. March - April 2024: 

Development of the initiative and production of the work. May 2024: 

Presentation of the artist and his work at the Dakar Biennale during the award ceremony.