OPEN CALL FOR PROPOSALS: MEDIA INNOVATION LAB Creative Collective: Digital Security

• Eligibility criteria:– Teams of individuals, freelancers, and professionals who are passionate about media, such as journalists, editors, NGO representatives, IT developers, and designers to come up with innovative ideas. Partnerships with media outlets or media organizations for joint applications are strongly encouraged, as is including young and creative professionals in each team.
  – Individual may apply for a fellowship or as part of a team of no more than five people. It doesn’t matter if you have worked together before or you have just met, but groups should reflect a diverse set of skills and interests (ex. media professionals, designers, technologists).
  – Individuals and teams that bridge nationalities, specialties, and sectors: BMAP Forward actively encourages partnerships across borders of all kinds.
  – Applicants’ teams need to be gender balanced.
• Type of funding: programmatic
• Target countries: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia
• Application language: English

The Balkan Media Assistance Program to Foster Organizational Readiness While Advancing Resilient Development (BMAP Forward), funded by USAID and implemented by Internews as part of the PROGRESS Human Rights Support Mechanism, is opening the call for the 1st Media Innovation Lab, slated for October, 2022.

The Media Innovation Lab is an annual event that provides a creative, collaborative space where media professionals, designers, technologists, and others can come together to develop localized tools and projects that will help tackle challenges facing digital media across the Balkan region. This year’s Innovation Lab theme will be Digital Security. The lab will hosted virtually.

During the four days of the Lab, six selected projects will have the opportunity to work intensively on developing their ideas for innovative projects related to the Lab theme with the guidance of top-notch regional mentors. The Media Innovation Lab will gather leading experts in the field and provide different perspectives, teach new skills, and inspire participants to tackle new challenges. On the last day, participants will present their projects to a jury for a chance to receive seed funding of up to $5,000 USD to further develop their prototypes and ideas after the event into full-fledged tools and projects that can be rolled out for use by media across the region. Three projects will receive seed funding.

See here to learn more and apply.

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