C3: Codes, Creativity, Communities

C3 - Project launch © Goethe-Institut / Max Mueller Bhavan Mumbai

C3: Codes, Creativity, Communities invites applications from artists, musicians, film-makers, writers, coders, and creative cultural practitioners from all fields. The program aims to build on and contribute to existing open source knowledge platforms and resources, to extend existing communities, networks, platforms, and databases with a collaborative approach, and to move towards innovation efficiently. 

C3 is developed with the basic understanding that for every collaborative project, every open-source initiative, there is already an existing network and community around it, most operational and moving forward. The program aspires to become a bridge between these different communities, and to catalyse  collaborations within these communities themselves.

While communities are spread globally and belong to diverse cultures and countries, technical language remains universal bridging all differences. Mastering such a language allows creatives to grow and to reach more people, thus furthering the reaches of the program.

During this year-long engagement that commences upon their successful selection, participants would be able to take advantage of regular meet-ups, brainstorming sessions, workshops, and impulse sessions. The structure of these meetings would be adapted to the requirements of the cohort. 

The primary aim of this program is to bring together creators from across the regions of South Asia, Tehran and Germany, to:  

  • Understand and master the (un)written rules of open knowledge and digital communities 

  • Explore and extend existing communities, networks, platforms, and databases to create active collaborations within cultural, academic, and technical spheres that are of common interest and deal with civil society

  • To work within open source to contribute to its larger ecosystem and at the same time develop locally relevant projects by using available resources, and contribute to lowering the entry barrier for new participants.

Applications are closed!

The program would enable participants to:  

  1. Master digital tools and interact with professionals from different areas of interest 
  2. Develop ideas in small continuous steps through active networking and knowledge exchange 
  3. Explore and experiment in the true sense of its spirit without the pressure to “complete” a project as C3 defines success more in terms of progress and contribution to the field rather than the commonly encountered linear manner with a predefined “result”

Requirements

  1. A basic understanding in all three components: tech, arts, and societies. Each participant would have core expertise in one of these fields but should be familiar with the two other domains
  2. A desire to volunteer and contribute a part of their own work, under a suitable open source license 
  3. Contribute at least one personal project that is developed during the program with co-participants 
  4. Allocate approximately 30 hours of their time to attend the different sessions organised during the year 

Methodology

Participants are expected to attend the carefully crafted and curated meet ups organised under this program 

  1. After three sessions, participants could seek collaboration partners from within  the cohort in order to develop proposals
  2. Only applications for projects that fall within a general premise of the project would be considered 
  3. A first pitch and feedback session would be organised in mid November 2020 for collaborative project ideas 
  4. Proposals could request project support grants in order to develop the project. A grant of a maximum of €2000 would be allocated per successful project proposal based on submitted budgets in the proposal.
  5. Successful applications would proceed to develop the work
  6. There will be a second pitch session in March 2022, for ideas developed after November 2021 
  7. It is not obligatory to develop a project, participants can also be part of C3 in order to contribute and exchange knowledge and networks, and be part of a creative community
  8. At the end of this year-long engagement in August 2022 the Goethe-Institut would present the work created. The format of the presentation would depend on the restrictions prevalent at that time 
  9. Depending on the projects developed, GI and ZKM may also invite members of the cohort to be part of other initiatives, for example conferences, exhibitions, concerts etc 
  10. It is also possible to integrate projects developed within this program into other large initiatives of the Goethe-Institut and ZKM. 


C3 focuses on organic development of creative ideas and processes.  It intends to be a safe space for practitioners to collaborate, ideate and develop ventures. The program seeks to enable easy yet structured sharing of ideas by working with open source principles, to lend itself to creating synergies across disciplines, and to build on existing projects without reinventing the wheel.

C3: Codes, Creativity, Communities is initiated by Goethe-Institut / Max Mueller Bhavan Mumbai and Zentrum für Kunst und Medien ZKM, Karlsruhe, and further developed in collaboration with BeFantastic.

Frequently asked questions