Call for Proposals: Documentary Photography Distribution Grant

A Grant to Encourage New Ways of Presenting Documentary Photography to the Public

OSI's Documentary Photography Project seeks applicants for a grant that encourages documentary photographers to propose new ways of using photography as an advocacy tool. The grant enables photographers who have already completed a significant body of work on issues of social justice to collaborate with a partner organization and present the work to targeted audiences to stimulate positive social change.

All photographers must have another entity (such as a nonprofit or community-based organization) that agrees to collaborate with the photographer to present the work in innovative ways and to reach out to specific communities to advocate for social change. The partner must engage with the photographer to accomplish these goals—and not just fund or publish the project.

Grants of $5,000 to $30,000 will be awarded.

Traditional media offer limited opportunities for presenting documentary photographs in a way that fosters social change. The Open Society Institute's Documentary Photography Project supports photographers, working in collaboration with a partner organization, to present their work to specific audiences to stimulate positive social change.

All photographers must have another entity (such as a nonprofit or community-based organization) that agrees to collaborate with the photographer to present the work in innovative ways and to reach out to specific communities to advocate for social change. The partner must engage with the photographer to accomplish these goals—and not just fund or publish the project.

Grants of $5,000 to $30,000 will be awarded.

Eligibility
Proposals must present strong images that are contextualized, when necessary, with words, sound, or other media.
Proposals must address a current social justice issue. Preference will be given to work that coincides with the issues and geographical areas that concern OSI.
Proposals must use creative and appropriate strategies to present the work to the public.
Proposals must engage a specific audience or community.
Applicants must partner with an organization that will provide programmatic and financial support.
The following projects are not eligible for funding:

Projects that involve the making of new photographs;
Projects whose only goal is to raise awareness in a general way;
Books absent an advocacy use for the publication;
Gallery exhibitions that serve only the interests of the photographer or the gallery;
Documentary film.
OSI cannot support lobbying activities. Projects that include lobbying activities will not be funded. OSI does not discriminate on the basis of gender, race, religion, ethnicity, or sexual orientation.

Application, Review, and Selection Process
To apply, log in to the OSI Online Application System at https://oas.soros.org/oas and submit completed application by Friday, July 6, 2007, at 5:00 p.m. EST. Semi-finalists will be selected in mid-September and may be contacted at that time with requests for additional information. Applicants will be notified by mail and grant recipients will be announced in late November.

Application Checklist
A complete application consists of responses to all required fields in the following 7 sections of the online application:

Applicant Information (enter contact information and upload resume)
Project Summary (enter answers to all 4 questions describing your project)
Applicant Questions (answer and upload all 7 questions as a Word document)
Partner Organization Questions (enter contact information, upload letter of support, and answer and upload all 4 questions as a Word document)
Budget (enter answers to all 3 questions and upload itemized budget)
Examples of Work (upload 15 low-res jpegs, captions, and accompanying text)
Letters of recommendation (enter contact information and upload letters of recommendation from 2 references)
Deadline
Complete online applications must be submitted no later than Friday, July 6, 2007, at 5:00 p.m. EST.

Contact
If you have any questions, please contact Whitney Johnson at whjohnson@sorosny.org.