About “ECHO Ac”
This is the application form for the ECHO Academy that will take place in Athens, Greece, from 12 June to 2 July 2023.
The Academy will focus on Comics. 10 Selected comic artists will travel and stay in Athens for a period of 3 weeks and create:
- an artwork inspired by Karagiozis Shadow Puppet Theater and
- a plan for a pilot project designed to be implemented in their home country in collaboration with Inter Alia and a local micro-organisation.
The call is addressed to artists that live in (a) EU countries and (b) countries of the Western Balkans (Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia, and Serbia). Basic knowledge of the English language is required.
The final selection of the ten (10) participating artists will consist of 5 artists from the EU and 5 artists from the Western Balkans.
The selected artists will create original comic artworks (2-5 pages per comic artist) that will be published in a collective volume by Jemma Press. Comic artists will need to transfer the economic rights (granted by copyright) of the final designs to Inter Alia for the purposes of the publication. The artists will retain the moral rights of their works, along with the copyrights of any sketches they will create during their participation in the Academy. Revenue generated by the selling of the publication will be attributed directly to the artists at regular intervals.
Note
At the end of the Academy, an international judging committee will elect three (3) winners (based on both their artistic creations and the pitching of their pilot projects) that will receive a cash prize, and will be called to implement the presented pilot project in their home countries using ECHOAc funding.
The prizes for the winning artists are:
1st prize: € 3000
2nd prize: € 2000
3rd prize: € 1000
At first, all three winners will be given the amount of €1000 each so as to develop and implement their pilot projects on equal terms. After their completion, and based on specific set criteria, the judging committee will decide on the final ranking of the winners (1st, 2nd, 3rd), and will award the remaining amount of the prizes.
The 3 associated micro-organisations (selected by the winners) will also receive the amount of € 2000 each for the needs of the project implementation.
The programme covers travel costs and accommodation expenses, and foresees food for the whole duration of the Academy.
Eligibility for the Artists
- Residents of the EU and the Western Balkans
- Young and emerging artists
- Basic English language communication skills
- Academic or empirical skills in the required artistic field
Benefits for the Artists
- Portfolio development
- Capacity Development
- Networking, international collaboration, and visibility
- Mentorship and one-to-one consultations
- Consultations for marketability
Benefits for Micro-Organisations
- Capacity Development
- Networking, international collaboration, and visibility
A FEW WORDS ABOUT the Athens Academy The Athens Academy will work with the artistic means of Comics and the specific heritage object of Karagiozis Shadow Puppet Theater. Karagiozis has been inscribed in UNESCO List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage by Turkey since 2009. However, it is also a common heritage practice in Greece, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Georgia since it was spread and popularized in different regions during the Ottoman period. Karagiozis touches social issues like the educational gap between economic and social classes, relations and behavior of poor people against the law, working class inventiveness and multicultural coexistence. Selected comic artists will be called to get inspired by the form and style of shadow puppet theater and the issues the plays touch (and not to directly imitate) and elaborate on Karagiozis in order to produce comic stories.
FEW WORDS ABOUT THE EU project ECHO Academies
ECHO Academies (ECHOAc) is an arts project that aims to foster young and emerging European talents in the fields of comics (in Greece-GR), fashion design (in Bulgaria-BU), music (in North Macedonia-MK), photography and architecture (in Hungary-HU) by using heritage (Karagiozis Shadow Puppet Theatre-GR, Traditional Folklore Costumes of Rhodope region-BU, Ritual Songs-MK, and Urban Industrial Heritage of Budapest 1860-1960-HU) as a means and inspiration for their work.
Partner Organisations
INTER ALIA, Greece
OPEN SPACE FOUNDATION, Bulgaria Partner
SFERA INTERNATIONAL North Macedonia
PRO PROGRESSIONE, Hungary
CUMEDIAE, Belgium
More Information
For more information or / and any question, regarding ECHO Ac, you can contact:
- Veroniki Krikoni (krikoni@interaliaproject.com)
- Nikos Pasamitros (pasamitros@interaliaproject.com)
- Revekka Kefalea kefalea@interaliaproject.com
- Elina Evangelopoulou (elina@interaliaproject.com)
Co-funded by the Creative Europe Programme of the European Union
More information about ECHO Academies project:
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