Tekst na srpskom je u nastavku.

## what if an open call could be a collaborative act itself?

Traditional open calls extract labour: artists spend unpaid time crafting proposals, most receiving nothing but rejection. Radionica #5 experiments with a different model: mutual investment, shared risk, and collective benefit.

Shared Visions invites artists, cultural workers, and practitioners to co-create initiatives that explore collaborative futures in the arts. Rather than competing for scarce resources, we’re cultivating an ecosystem where every proposal contributes to collective knowledge. We welcome ideas that are just beginning to form. You don’t need a complete initiative ready to execute within this open call’s timeframe. Instead, we’re looking for seeds that the cooperative can incubate, nurture, and help grow over time.

We particularly encourage applications from artists in the Balkans region and welcome early-stage artists alongside established practitioners. Individual artists, collectives, and cultural organisations are all invited to participate; however, priority will be given to team projects.

## what we’re looking for?

Examples of initiatives we’re excited about:

• Leading art education tours in various museums and sites in the Balkans
• Publishing and distributing artists’ books
• Workshops teaching consensus decision-making for artist collectives
• Courses for time banks or local currencies for creative communities
• Print workshop for the communities and the commons
• Shared Visions Radio as a web-based platform for collective listening, storytelling, and sonic exchange across borders.

## how it works?

After an initial pre-selection process by the organising team of the workshop, five shortlisted proposers will be invited to Novi Sad for a collective decision-making session on September 19th-22nd. Here’s where it gets interesting: instead of a traditional jury deciding your fate behind closed doors, workshop participants will use quadratic voting. This means each participant gets a budget of voice credits to distribute across all proposals. You can spread your credits evenly or concentrate them on initiatives you’re most passionate about. This system ensures that intense preferences are heard while preventing any single person from dominating the outcome.

Through this transparent participatory budgeting process, the workshop participants decide which ideas receive initial funding to begin development. This open call is itself research into collaborative processes: we’re experimenting with whether competitive models can be transformed into mutual support systems.

## what we offer?

Selected initiatives will receive micro-grants up to €1000 to further develop their idea into a workable proposal, which will be considered for implementation by the cooperative, plus ongoing access to the platform, mentorship, and skill-sharing networks.

Covered travelling and accommodation expenses for selected participants of the session in Novi Sad in September.

Ongoing support in the development, conceptualisation, and realisation of ideas for the coop, drawing on the shared knowledge and experience of everyone involved in the Shared Visions project.

## what is the timeframe?

Publication of the open call: 12/08/2025

Closing date: 29/08/2025

Announcement of shortlist: 02/09/2025

Workshop: 19-22/09/2025

Finalisation of the proposal: 30/10/2025

## how to apply?

Submit your application via the application form* by 29/08/2025. Include your idea, how it relates to collaborative practices, and what support you’d need to begin development.

*Applications should be in English, the workshop’s official language.

*Let’s stop competing for crumbs and start baking a bigger loaf.*