Submissions for «Community Based» are now closed. This was the call for entry:

Do you want to try your hand at supporting culture and be responsible for selecting cultural or art projects? Do you belong to a migrant or post-migrant community? You are in the right place. You can submit your own funding concept to «Community Based» for a chance to receive a one-time budget of 90,000 Swiss francs. Within the constraints of this budget, you will be responsible for deciding on behalf of Stadt Zürich Kultur which cultural and artistic projects by cultural practitioners and creatives from a migrant or post-migrant community living in Zurich should be supported. The funded projects must be open to the public in the city of Zurich.

The «Kultur Labor Zürich» team will advise the winning project on the preparation of their funding concept or to provide them with contacts, coaches, etc. for the subsequent implementation of the funding project.

• Applicants for «Community Based»” must belong to a migrant or post-migrant community in the city of Zurich.
• Applications can be submitted by individuals or groups (e.g. teams, collective bodies, organisations, associations, etc.).

All applicants must submit a funding concept. The funding concept can be submitted in German or English. The interview with the jury will be held in German or English. If you would like to write the funding concept in another language or if you need a simultaneous translation for your interview, please let us till 30 September 2021. Please observe the deadlines (see «Dates and Deadlines»).

The funding concept (max. 5 A4 pages) must be submitted as a PDF file to Lotte Kircher, Project Assistance to «Kultur Labor Zürich». The funding concept should describe the content of the project and provide information about the planned implementation.

The following points must be covered by the funding concept:

• (Working) title of the project
• Description of the content of the project, including information on how the cultural work or cultural practitioners/creatives of the community will be selected (e.g. selection criteria, selection process, etc.)
• Intended impact of the project
• Timetable for the implementation of the project
• Information on the budget and the financing plan (estimated costs and possible income)
• Details of the parties involved and their responsibilities
• Description of the community represented in the city of Zurich (possible organisational form etc.)

The funding concept should enable the jury to assess the project on the basis of the questions listed in «What are the selection criteria?»

Cultural Affairs Office: Check of Formal Criteria

After the submission deadline, «Kultur Labor Zürich» will check whether the application meets the formal criteria (consult “What are the selection criteria?”)

Jury: Assessment of Content-related Criteria

All applications that meet the formal criteria will be verified and assessed in terms of content by a jury of experts. After studying and discussing the funding concepts submitted, the jury will invite two or three applicants or groups to an interview. The interviews are expected to take place in Zurich on 19 November 2021. The interviews will be based on the funding concept submitted with the other application documents.

Directorate of Culture: Selection of a Funding Concept

Once the interviews have been completed, the jury will recommend a funding concept to the Directorate of Culture. A written agreement will govern the practical implementation of the project by 15 January 2022 on the basis of the funding concept submitted. Details of the drafting of the agreement will be communicated in writing to the person(s) responsible for the project by the end of November 2021.

Formal criteria

The following formal criteria must all be met:

• Applications are accepted in electronic form only.
• The funding concept must be a maximum of 5 A4 pages long and be complete, i.e. it must cover the required points (see «How do I apply?»)
• Applications must be submitted by the deadline.

The following will not be supported:

• Funding concepts and projects initiated as part of school, vocational training or further education projects (e.g. Master’s and Bachelor’s theses) 
• Funding concepts and commercial projects that do not require public funding
• Projects that concern infrastructure only
• Funding concepts and projects with discriminatory content (e.g. sexism, racism, glorification of violence)
• Funding concepts for projects that are not open to the public
• Funding concepts for projects that have already been implemented or projects that can/will not be implemented within the specified time frame

Content-related Criteria

The jury will assess the funding concepts submitted on the basis of following questions (content-related criteria). Not all questions have to be answered at the same time (cumulative):

• What are the objectives of the funding project? What is it aiming to achieve?
• Which cultural/artistic areas does it seek to support?
• What criteria should be used to distribute the funding budget to cultural/artistic projects?
• What selection process is envisaged for this purpose (distribution channels)?
• Is the implementation of the funding project realistically planned and calculated?
• Who is responsible for the funding project and who is involved in its organisational implementation (list of persons in charge and of participants)?
• What partnerships, if any, will the funding project enter into?
• Who is the funding project aimed at (cultural artists, audience, etc.)?

The jury consists of the following members

• Adamo Antoniadis, Project Manager Integrationsförderung Stadt Zürich
• Mîrkan Deniz, Artist, Zurich
• Patrick Gusset, Theater Practitioner; PhD Student and Lecturer ZHdK, Basel
• Natascha Nassir-Shahnian, Consultant for Diversity, Stiftung für Kulturelle Weiterbildung und Kulturberatung, Berlin
• Nora Refaeil, Conversations for Change, Board Member of Institut Neue Schweiz INES

24 August 2021         Start of call for entries

10 October 2021       Deadline for applications that are not in German or English and still need to be translated

24 October 2021       Deadline for applications in German and English

19 November 2021   Interviews

Ende of November 2021   Announcement of the selected funding concept

15 December 2021    Deadline for the submission of a detailed funding concept

15 January 2022       Agreement between the persons responsible for the funding project and Stadt Zürich Kultur on the basis of the detailed funding concept

31 December 2022   Implementation of the funding concept

We are excited about your interest in «Community Based» and we are looking forward to your projects. Since this is a pilot project, many things are new for us as well.

If you have any questions regarding our call for entry, we are here for you.

Please do not hesitate to contact us via phone (+41 44 412 35 59) or our contact form.

Ulrike Schröder (Overall Project Manager) will be answering your questions regarding «Community Based» and your submission process.

«Community»: In this call for entries, the term «community» means a set of people with experience of migration and a sense of belonging that perceives or defines itself as a group.

«migrant» and «post-migrant»: These terms are used to refer to people who have been influenced by the experience of migration. Migration is seen as a process that contributes significantly to the shaping of society. «Post-migrant» is used to designate people and their stories and perspectives who have not been affected by migration themselves, but who can contribute experience of migration in the form of personal knowledge and collective memory, for example second-generation migrants or members of a subsequent generation.