The Artivist Fellowship: Young Artists for Change : YLAC
First deadline 3rd Sep 23 / Scholarship deadline 3rd Sep 23 / Final Deadline 1st Oct 23
Founded in 2016, Young Leaders for Active Citizenship (YLAC) aims to increase the participation of young people in the policymaking process and build their capacity to lead change. Our interventions are designed to equip citizens with a better understanding of the society they live in and the challenges that it confronts. The aim is to help young people broaden their perspective, think critically about their socio-political construct, tap their leadership potential and acquire skills to create long lasting impact.
We are delighted to bring to you the Artivist Fellowship: Young Artists for Change, a revitalized rendition of YLAC’s prestigious Counter Speech Fellowship (CSF). Over the past 6 years, CSF empowered over 1300+ young artists across 60 cities in India, harnessing their exceptional creativity to raise awareness and shape a brighter world. The Artivist Fellowship builds on this legacy, offering a more profound and immersive experience to explore selected themes and curate groundbreaking campaigns.
Spanning over five weeks, the fellowship will be run in Delhi, Mumbai and online. During this time, selected fellows will design and execute offline and online campaigns on three pivotal themes: Climate Justice, Gender Identity, and Disability Rights.
As an incubator for the future generation of leaders, the YLAC Artivist Fellowship is a unique platform for creative teenagers to use the power of art to mobilize change.
Whether in the form of an introspective piece of writing, a touching chord of music, or a striking painting, art can be a powerful medium to evoke emotion, encourage reflection and inspire change in behaviour. Through the Artivist Fellowship, YLAC aims to harness this potential of art and combine it with the power of advocacy to make the world a better place.
The Artivist Fellowship represents a revitalized rendition of YLAC’s prestigious Counter Speech Fellowship (CSF). Over the past 6 years, CSF empowered over 1300+ young artists across 60 cities in India, harnessing their exceptional creativity to raise awareness and shape a brighter world. The Artivist Fellowship builds on this legacy, offering a more profound and immersive experience to explore selected themes and curate groundbreaking campaigns.
Applications to the 2023 editions of the Artivist Fellowship are now open. This year the fellowship will be run in Delhi, Mumbai and online. All high schools students in grades 8th to 12th are eligible to participate. Please follow the links below to see details and apply.
Fellowship Themes for 2023
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The 2023 fellowship will focus on three themes: Climate Justice, Gender Identity and Disability Rights. To understand what the themes entail, please click on the links below:
Climate Justice Gender Identity Disability Rights |
Fellowship Structure
Nov – Dec 2023
The Artivist Fellowship is scheduled to run from 19th November to 17th December. The overall duration of the fellowship is five weeks and its schedule can be easily accommodated alongside regular school work and examinations.
Multiple cohorts of the fellowship will be run in parallel – two cohorts will run in hybrid mode with both offline and online sessions in the cities of Delhi and Mumbai, and one cohort will be run completely online (all sessions via Zoom). The schedule for all cohorts will be the same – with workshop sessions over the weekend and mentorship check-ins on Wednesday evenings.
At the start of the fellowship, each fellow will be allocated a theme and assigned to work with a team of 4-5 other fellows. On average, a fellow is expected to commit ~15 hours per week to the fellowship. This includes workshop sessions and mentorship check-ins, as well as time spent in working with team members to build art based local campaigns on the assigned theme.
Schedule
Nov – Dec 2023 (Indian Standard Time)
For the Delhi edition of the fellowship, the in-person workshop sessions will be run at the Triveni Kala Sangam in Mandi House. For the Mumbai edition, the sessions will be held at VMSB in Tardeo. For the online edition, all sessions will be run online via Zoom.
Time: 10:00 AM – 5:00 PM IST
Location: In-person for the Delhi and Mumbai edition; Zoom for the online edition
Sessions
How can art lead to social change?
Introduction to fellowship themes
Sunday 26th Nov
Time: 10:00 AM – 1:00 PM IST
Location: In-person for the Delhi and Mumbai edition; Zoom for the online edition
Sessions
Art of developing public narratives
Guest speaker
Sunday 3rd Dec
Time: 10:00 AM – 1:00 PM IST
Location: In-person for the Delhi and Mumbai edition; Zoom for the online edition
Sessions
Progress updates and feedback
Sharing experiences of execution
Time: 10:00 AM – 1:00 PM IST
Location: In-person for the Delhi and Mumbai edition; Zoom for the online edition
Sessions
Community mobilization and scaling your campaigns
Guest Speaker
Sunday 17th Dec
Time: 10:00 AM – 5:00 PM IST
Location: In-person for the Delhi and Mumbai edition; Zoom for the online edition
Sessions
Reflections and fellowship culmination
Campaign Showcase
Pillars of the Fellowship
During the five-week-long fellowship, fellows will run campaigns to generate momentum for change while focusing on the three core pillars of the fellowship: Awareness, Support and Advocacy.
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Awareness Building awareness is the first step in any campaign. It starts with educating oneself, conversing with others and removing taboos. To this end, fellows will leverage both online and offline channels to engage with others and create content to build greater awareness on their theme. |
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Support The fellowship themes are issues that many young people deal with on a daily basis. Any call for change must therefore begin with empathy and an extension of support to those who have been adversely affected. As part of their work, fellows will develop online and offline interventions to lend support to those who need it the most. |
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Advocacy The fellowship is a powerful platform for teenagers to reach out to key decision makers such as community leaders, educators and parents to get their opinions heard and ask for better support systems for themselves and their communities. Therefore, the fellows will also work with their teams to come up with innovative solutions and build support for these solutions among decision makers. |
Selection Process & Deadlines
In our Artivist fellows, we look for passionate, spirited, creative, empathetic and committed teen leaders who wish to see the world as a more inclusive and kind place. There are no prerequisites in terms of fields of study. The final evaluation of applicants is based on their responses to the questions in a short application form and their performance during an informal interview.
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The selection process constitutes two rounds:
Round I: Written Application – to be submitted via the website Please mark the following dates in your calendar: Scholarships deadline: 3rd September (Sunday) Please note that candidates applying for scholarships must adhere to an earlier deadline. Both their program and scholarship applications should reach us on or before 3rd September 202 |
Fees & Scholarships
Fees Rs. 10,000 (+ GST @18%)
To make the program self-sustaining, we charge a fee to cover the operating costs of the program. This fee is payable only after an applicant has been selected into the program.
Scholarships
We recognize that all deserving candidates may not have the means to fund their participation. To support such candidates, we are committed to offering need-based scholarships.
For the Artivist Fellowship, YLAC will offer scholarships worth 50% to 100% of the program fee to the selected candidates. To be considered for a scholarship, applicants must submit an additional essay explaining how they plan to use the learning from the program and why they need a scholarship to attend. They must also submit a short letter of recommendation from a teacher at school.
You are requested to apply for the scholarship only if you need the financial support to attend. You may apply here.
Applications
| To apply to the fellowship, please fill in the application form here.
Please note that attendance at the program sessions is mandatory and all program deliverables are tightly managed and supervised to control for quality. Before you sign up, please ensure that you are available on the session days and can commit the time required by the fellowship. |
