CALL FOR ARTWORKS: PARALLEL TO PANDEMIC

The project aims to increase the participation of artists in the health community of the Free State by supporting the agenda of public health. In the spirit of continued solidarity in the fight against HIV/AIDS, we are launching a call for artists to produce and submit artworks that speak to the multi-layered psychosocial implications of actualising as Africans parallel to pandemic.
The project will support the health campaigning efforts of the local health stakeholders in the province whilst simultaneously making the opportunity available for emerging artists to impact upon the community narrative, advancing the discourse of HIV/AIDS in South Africa.
We will select 8 artworks that will front an information and condom distribution campaign. The artworks will be reproduced on A8 as part of an information pack. The selected artists will be rewarded for the reproduction rights of their artworks and promoted on our media platforms for their involvement in this initiative.
Submission requirements:

• This project is open to all emerging artists who are still developing their practice, are still working towards gallery representation, or whose practice falls outside the gallery tradition.
• Collaborations and multidisciplinary work will be accepted
• Up to 4 jpegs per artist (max file size 2mb)
• An artist statement describing the work
• A Curriculum Vitae

The deadline for submissions is 19 May 2024, at 12pm. Artist can email submissions to MC.Roodt@volksblad.com, subject heading: Parallel to Pandemic. Queries can be directed to the same email address. Successful submissions will be notified by 24 May 2024.
About us:
Free State Arts & Health is a pioneering arts and health initiative operating in central South Africa. We support and design community-centred intermediations by arts-workers with the aim of positively impacting on the health and well-being of the communities we work for. Using the arts, the project engages communities in arts practices and projects that address key health aspirations, understanding that good health is imperative in the creation of cohesive societies.
This initiative addresses the need for increased collaboration between the arts and the health communities of the Free State by connecting cultural practitioners interested in community well-being with skills, networks and platforms to engage with pressing health issues. In doing so, the Free State Arts and Health Programme endeavours to mobilise communities to raise the bar on their collective health, stimulate the growth of vibrant, comergent forms of artistic and cultural expression in Africa, and build new audiences and models of participation for works produced.
Guided by the values of community agency and autonomy, we strive to be at the forefront of community-led engagement that promotes self-reliance and sustained well-being. With an emphasis on measurable outcomes, we facilitate spaces for meaningful reflection and dialogue around health and aid in the creation of strategies to address them.
Free State Arts & Health is a bi- lateral partnership initiative of the Vrystaat Arts Festival, and DADAA, Australia supported by the Australia Council for the Arts, The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation through the Programme for Innovation in Artform Development (PIAD), an initiative of the Vrystaat Arts Festival and the University of the Free State.