Biennale College Arte

Biennale College Arte is a strategic programme for training and supporting young emerging artists from all around the world. Biennale College is already operating in other Departments of La Biennale di Venezia, including Architecture, Cinema, Dance, Music, Theatre and the Historical Archives of Contemporary Arts.
The goal of Biennale College is to foster new talents through training programmes in close collaboration with international mentors, in order to develop new ambitious art projects.

Biennale College is a project of crucial importance for the Art Department of La Biennale di Venezia: it will consist of a number of permanent activities “before and beyond the Exhibition”, with a strong commitment to developing new artistic creations.

The goal is to supplement the International Art Exhibition with an advanced training workshop for the conception, development and production of artworks by emerging artists under the age of 30.

Biennale College will support up to 4 new productions by visual artists.
They will all be exhibited in the context of the 60^th International Art Exhibition.

For this International Call, Biennale College Arte is looking for artistic projects developed by young emerging artists under the age of 30 that can be produced with a budget of up to € 25,000.00 and should be realized by April 1^st 2024 to be presented, out of competition, at the 60^th International Art Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia.

The announcement of the 12 selected projects for the October training will be made by September 15^th, 2023.

The Biennale College Arte International Call will be open, starting from June 22^nd 2023, for five weeks until July 24^th 2023.

The call is devoted to young emerging artists under the age of 30, from all over the world, with a record of inclusion in at least 1 group exhibition and 1 solo exhibition in recognized national and/or international exhibition spaces.

Biennale College Arte will select 12 projects and the artists will be invited to participate in a 10 day workshop in October in Venice.

The October workshop in Venice will be devoted to develop the proposed projects, and will include presentations organized at Ca’ Giustinian, La Biennale’s historical headquarters.
The workshop will be run by the Director of the Art Department and a group of curators and artists who will act as tutors and mentors for the group. The workshop will alternate between group and individual sessions as well as dedicated meetings with visiting professors and cultural producers.
At the conclusion of the first workshop each artist will present their projects to the Artistic Director of the Art Department of La Biennale di Venezia.

After the workshop, the artists will have three additional weeks to work on their projects and deliver a final proposal including budget for production. Upon receipt of these materials, the Director of the Art Department of La Biennale di Venezia will select up to 4 projects by artists which will receive a grant of up to € 25,000.00 for their production.
The Director’s selection will be notified by December 7th, 2023.

The selected artists will participate in online meetings in December 2023, to finalize the project and develop the budget. Following these meetings, each artist will sign an agreement with La Biennale di Venezia, which will define the obligations of the artists and terms to access the € 25,000.00 grant.

Artists will be expected to deliver regular updates on the advancement of the artistic project in order to receive payments of the grant.

All artistic projects will have to be completed and installed by the 1^st of April 2024 in Venice.

The application consists of a number of written and visual materials, which you will need to submit digitally (see list below).
Please supply all requested materials. Incomplete applications will not be considered.

The call is devoted to young emerging artists under the age of 30, from all over the world, with a record of inclusion in at least 1 group exhibition and 1 solo exhibition in recognized national and/or international exhibition spaces.

Applicants will have to submit the following materials in English by July 24^th 2023:

a. Written statement describing the specific proposal: both the proposed artwork and its inspiration and context (1 page, max 350 words or 1,800 characters)

b. Drawings, sketches, and/or renderings of proposed artwork (no more than 5 items)

c. Previous works by the artist/s (max 5): digital images or videos, with list of captions for works and photo credits

d. Projected Budget up to a maximum of € 25,000.00 for fabrication and any extraordinary maintenance or staffing costs (for example, if the project has a performance element, the fees for performers should be included)

e. Curriculum Vitae (2 pages, max 700 words or 3,600 characters)

f. Short video presentation, in English, by the artist (max 3 minutes)

g. Contact information: email address, phone number, and mailing address

h. Rights Disclosure with regards to full ownership of rights to the submitted artistic project or, should the rights of third parties be involved, a guarantee that the acquisition of all rights in view of production has been concluded or is currently being negotiated. In the latter case the cost must be indicated in the budget, which in any case, as specified above in point d, cannot exceed the total of € 25,000.00

i. Signed agreement by the artist/s (max 2) confirming willing to complete the project within the requirement and schedule of the programme

j. Confirmation that the project has not been supported already with funds for development or production

k. List of grants for which the project has been already presented

The selected artists will be involved in a series of online and offline activities starting from October 2023 up to the 60^th International Art Exhibition.

22 June 2023 – Call for Applications “Biennale College Arte”

24 July 2023 (23:59 CET) – Deadline for applications “Biennale College Arte”

23 August 2023 – Notification of the results to the applicants

15 September 2023 – Announcement of the 12 selected artists

23^rd October – 1^st November 2023 (travel dates: Sunday October 22^nd – Thursday November 2^nd) in Venice – Workshop for the participating artists of the 12 selected projects

23^rd November 2023 – Deadline for participating artists of the 12 selected projects to deliver final project, budget and schedules

By 7^th December 2023 – Notification of the results for grant selection

18 - 21 December 2023 – 4 days online meetings dedicated to pre-production

1 April 2024 – Delivery date in Venice

The official text of the call Biennale College Arte is available online at https://www.labiennale.org/en/art/2024/biennale-college-arte-20232024-call.

La Biennale di Venezia reserves the right in any case to modify, cancel or interrupt the initiative described above, in that the announcement or the selection do not constitute a binding contract for the same, nor do they entail the right to the reimbursement of any expense other than those specified above.