PARA Fellowship Programme

Sharjah Art Foundation, in collaboration with Alkazi Foundation for the Arts, Asia Art Archive and Contemporary And (C&), invites emerging and mid-career art writers living and working in Asia and Africa to apply for PARA, a fellowship programme supporting the development and publication of new critical writing about contemporary art.

PARA explores what it means to be alongside of, to move toward, to stand against or to wander beyond. It speaks to the sense of adjacency and expansiveness inherent to art writing at once close to a subject while also broadening its scope across intersecting cultural fields. Seeking to interrogate established approaches to art criticism, PARA foregrounds situated practices that attend to diverse forms of criticality.

The programme offers material, communal and institutional support to five fellows, who are selected through an open call. Selected fellows will have an opportunity to publish two pieces of art criticism; engage in biweekly online seminars and tailored feedback sessions with established art writers and critics; attend a fully funded, week long programme of visits and peer led gatherings in Sharjah; and develop relationships with fellow writers, editors, publishers and academics, fostering collaborative and transnational networks.

PARA engages fellows in collective discussions informed by histories and specificities in the region that also contribute to ongoing conversations about art and criticism internationally. In doing so, it cultivates a vibrant community of practitioners where diverse voices can speak to one another to reimagine and invigorate art discourse in the region.

Who can apply: Cultural practitioners, including but not limited to writers, artists, curators, journalists and academics, living and working in Asia or Africa are invited to apply to PARA. How to apply: Complete the online application form through this link and attach the following to the form:

• Primary text: one new, unpublished piece of writing. This piece will be considered for publication in the compilation of new art criticism.
• Supporting texts: two published writing samples. These texts should provide context for your writing practice at large.
• CV (max. 2 pages).

Primary text guidelines:

• The text must be 1000 words maximum (please indicate the word count at the end of your text);
• It should respond to an artwork, series of artworks, or an exhibition that you saw in the preceding year ();
• It may be in English or, if originally written in another language, accompanied by an English translation;
• It must be submitted as a Word or PDF document;
• It can take any form, including a traditional review, explorative essay, interpretive feature or insightful reportage;
• Texts may encompass a broad range of genres, such as the journalistic, essayistic, prosaic, fictional or ekphrastic;
• Texts should be written solely by the applicant. No parts of the text should be plagiarised or drafted using AI.

The application deadline is 11:59 pm, UAE local time (GMT +4), on Sunday, 20 July 2025. Late submissions will not be considered. For further information, please consult our FAQs below. If you need any additional information, please do not hesitate to contact with 'PARA 2025' in the subject line.

FAQs

• Submitted texts should: offer insightful and expansive perspectives on contemporary art; communicate clearly and be structurally cohesive; demonstrate deep knowledge of subject matter and context.

When must fellows be available for programme activities? Fellows must be available for all parts of the PARA programme: online sessions (January-June 2026), in person residency (March 2026) and editorial process (June-August 2026). Participation in all components of the programme is mandatory. Anyone not participating in all activities will be asked to forfeit the programme.

What is the language of instruction of the programme? The language of instruction is English; however, fellows will have opportunities to work across different languages over the course of the programme if they choose to. What will the fellows receive?

• Writer's fee of 2000 AED for their text to be published in the compilation;
• Writer's fee of 3000 AED for their text to be published in the anthology;
• Copy of the compilation and anthology;
• Mentorship sessions with five established art critics;
• Flights, visa, accommodation and a per diem during the one week residency in Sharjah.

What are the key dates of the programme?

• 10 June 2025 - Launch of the open call for applications
• 20 July 2025 - Deadline for open call submissions
• 21 July-12 September 2025 - Jury deliberations
• 25 September 2025 - Announcement of the five selected fellows
• September-December 2025 - Development of the compilation
• January-June 2026 - Online seminars and feedback sessions; development of a new piece of writing for second themed anthology
• March 2026 - One week residency in Sharjah and release of compilation
• June-July 2026 - Editing and drafting process of newly developed piece of writing
• November 2026 - Publication of the themed anthology