At long last the Rhizome Microgrants are back! Since 2014, the Rhizome Microgrant Program has awarded small grants ($500 - $1500) for the creation of new artworks, online exhibitions, and other web-based projects. The goal of this program is to empower anyone who has an idea for a creative project that responds to network culture and digital technologies to make it. The application is short, and proposed projects should be scoped according to the support provided by a “micro” grant. Select projects may receive additional support and/or have the opportunity to be included in the Rhizome ArtBase.
This year, we invite submissions in the following categories: articles about born-digital works in the Rhizome ArtBase and browser-based projects. The submissions will be juried by Rhizome staff. Please see below for more information and examples.
If you aren’t sure if your project qualifies, please apply. We are considering these categories expansively and we would rather hear from you than not! We encourage proposals from people who are historically underrepresented in art and technology spaces. We welcome applications from people based in all locations; at least four microgrants will be awarded to New York City-based applicants. Feel free to email [email protected] with any questions.
Applicants are only allowed one entry per category. If you are interested in submitting a proposal for a browser-based project and article about a work in the Rhizome ArtBase, this is permitted, but please only submit one of each type.
The deadline to apply is 11:59pm ET, April 10, 2023. Responses will be sent out in mid May.
Articles about works in the Rhizome ArtBase
We are accepting pitches for 1000-1500 word articles that offer new research and perspectives on born-digital works in ArtBase. These articles may discuss a single artwork, several artworks, a particular medium, or theme.
Examples:
“What Up Internet” by Alexander Iadarola
Twine Could Be Your Life by Grace Converse
Christmas as a Service by Lyndsey Jane Moulds
Browser-based projects
We are accepting proposals for browser-based projects. We are defining this category broadly: any creative project that happens in a web browser qualifies! If you want to provide more context to explain, please use the additional info field in the application.
Previous Rhizome Microgrant awardees have included the following browser-based projects, some of which received additional support:
Cassie McQuarter, Black Room, 2018. Screenshot, 2023, Firefox 110.0 on Mac OS 12.5, http://hgjfkdhskjdgturrgehdsbjkfhdsjkahturaytklfdjjfjfff.net/banshee.html.
Black Room by Cassie McQuarter, a browser-based game that weaves a dreamlike personal narrative populated by iconic female characters from video game history.
Tega Brain and Sam Lavigne, The Good Life (Enron Simulator), 2017. Screenshot, 2023, Firefox 110.0 on Mac OS 12.5, https://enron.email/.
The Good Life (Enron Simulator) by Sam Lavigne and Tega Brain, an artwork that recreates the experience of receiving all 500,000 emails from the Enron email archive via a chronological timescale of the viewer's choosing.
Rafia Santana, RAFiA’s WORLD, 2015. Screenshot, 2023, Firefox 110.0 on Mac OS 12.5, https://rafiasworld.com/.
RAFiA's WORLD by Rafia Santana, an interactive archive of digitized childhood drawings, journal entries, and classwork assignments made by the artist between 1992 and the early 2000s.
The Rhizome Commissions Program is supported by Jerome Foundation, American Chai Trust, and the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Kathy Hochul and the New York legislature.