Announcing connect.hubs directory

CALLING ALL CREATIVE AND SOCIAL HUBS

British Council and Hivos are supporting collaborative projects between hubs. Selected hubs will receive project financing and mentorship on project development and pitching.

To be eligible to submit a project idea, enter your creative or social impact hub into our hubs directory before 5pm on Friday, 14 December.

about connect.hubs collaborations

connect.hubs is an initiative to support the social and creative hubs in Southern Africa that drive the creative economies and create social impact in the region.

Creative and social hubs support diverse communities of artists, entrepreneurs, activists and culture producers in physical or virtual spaces. Examples are makerspaces, music studios, fablabs, collectives, online networks, co-working spaces, incubators, and more.

Hubs bring their communities together. Now, we want to give hubs the chance to connect to each other and to collaborate.

Join the connect.hubs directory, and share the work that your hub is doing. Connect to other hubs in the directory, and stand a chance to have a joint project funded.

We will award grants ranging from £2 000 to £10 000 to up to 20 teams. Each team must consist of two or more different hubs. The team must work together to propose a collaborative project that boosts the creative and/or social impact sector. Selected projects will also receive project development and pitching feedback.

how to apply

STEP 1

ENTER YOUR HUB

Submit details about your hub to be included in the public connect.hubs directory. Only hubs in the directory will be eligible to submit a project for funding.

— Deadline : 5pm South African Standard Time, Friday 14 December 2018 —

STEP 2

GET TO KNOW OTHER HUBS

On Friday 21 December 2018, the connect.hubs directory will be made public. You can download the directory as a pdf from this website. The directory will also be emailed to hub applicants.

Hubs in the directory will be invited to join a private Facebook group and Slack channel. Hubs’ videos will be available on the connect.hubs YouTube channel.

Browse through the directory, and seek out any hubs that you might want to collaborate with.

STEP 3

CONNECT TO HUBS YOU WANT TO WORK WITH

In January 2019, Electric South will host a series of video chats where you can meet other hubs virtually and start conversations.

You can also independently reach out to hubs that you want to work with. Keep an eye on your inbox — someone might want to reach out to YOU!

STEP 4

COME UP WITH A PROJECT IDEA

Once you start talking to other hubs, brainstorm ideas for projects that you could do together. The possibilities are limitless. Some examples could be:

1. An event space and a vlog platform collaborate on a screening series
2. An activist group and a visual arts studio work together to create artful posters for a march
3. An online arts marketplace and a fashion collective collaborate on seasonal virtual pop ups

Make sure that your ideas are realistic. Grants will range between £2 000 to £10 000, and projects must be completed within 3 to 12 months.

We will share resources on the Facebook group and Slack channel about how to develop and scope your project idea.

STEP 5

APPLY WITH YOUR PROJECT

Submit a joint application with your hub collaborators for your team project.

— Deadline : 5pm, Thursday 31 January, 2019 — –

STEP 6

FINALISTS ANNOUNCED

Friday 8 February, 2019 — The shortlisted projects will be announced.

STEP 7

PROJECT DEVELOPMENT

Throughout February 2019, finalists will receive project feedback.

STEP 8

GO CREATE TOGETHER

From April 2019 onwards, selected projects will receive their funds and teams will execute their plans. Projects should be completed within 3–12 months.

For the projects not selected, we hope you continue the relationships and plans you have made.

Come connect, go create!

CLICK HERE TO ENTER YOUR HUB NOW

Deadline = Friday, 14 December, 5pm South African Standard Time.

FAQ

This is a running list of questions and answers about connect.hubs. If you have any additional questions, please drop us a line at connect.hubs@electricsouth.org.

What is the connect.hubs directory?

The directory will be a public pdf brochure that lists information about up to 500 hubs across Southern Africa. The pdf will be available for download on the Electric South website, and will be emailed to the hubs in the directory. Hubs can use the directory to identify other hubs that they might collaborate with. Since it will be shared with various cultural institutions, NGOs, charities and corporate social investment teams, the directory will also serve as a publicity tool for the hubs that are included.

Note that ONLY hubs in the directory will be eligible to apply for project funding.

Who can apply?

Hubs that work with creative or social impact communities in Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia, Mauritius, Mozambique, Malawi, South Africa, Swaziland, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

What is a “hub”?

We define hubs as any gathering point for creative and/or social impact workers where support is shared, and collaboration is encouraged. Creative and social hubs support diverse communities of artists, entrepreneurs, activists and culture producers in physical or virtual spaces. Examples are makerspaces, music studios, fablabs, collectives, online networks, co-working spaces, incubators, and more. If you bring your community together to work, collaborate or access resources, we want to support you. If you are not sure if you qualify, please go ahead and apply!

What is NOT a “hub”?

Hubs are not businesses where the only beneficiaries of value are internal staff members.

Where should the eligible hubs be located?

We welcome applicants from anywhere, including physical spaces, online networks and mobile groups. You must primarily work with communities from Southern Africa.

What are the selection criteria for the hubs directory?

1. The directory will contain a maximum of 500 hubs.
2. We will prioritize hubs with staff who are 18–35 years old.
3. No hub is too big or too small to apply, but we prefer hubs that have been running for more than 6 months.
4. We are particularly interested in a diversity of hubs, with balanced representation of women and people with disabilities.
5. The strongest applicants will be hubs that serve BOTH the creative and social economy, but this is not required.

What are the selection criteria for the collaborative projects?

More details on the project applications will be available in January 2019.

Can more than one person from a hub apply?

No. Please submit one application per hub.

Who is organizing connect.hubs?

British Council and Hivos are committed to growing the ecosystem of creative impact workers across Southern Africa

The British Council has developed programmes such as the European Creative Hubs Forum and Creative Hub MakingVietnam , and launched resources such as the Creative HubKit and Creative Hubs: Understanding the New Economy. They have also carried out mapping studies of creative hub networks in Europe, Vietnam and Taiwan and recently commissioned hub mapping research in Southern Africa and Southeast Asia.

The Developing Inclusive and Creative Economies (DICE) programme is a 2 year initiative by the British Council. DICE explores the intersection between the social and creative economies as a means through which to tackle issues of unemployment and unequal economic growth for youth, women and girls and marginalised societies. DICE has been launched in the UK and 5 key emerging economies: South Africa, Brazil, Indonesia, Egypt and Pakistan. The programme attempts to create an enabling ecosystem for social and creative enterprises by providing direct support to individuals, as well as intermediary organisations and policy makers. Supporting social and creative hubs is a DICE priority area.

Hivos has worked over more than 5 years to support creative hubs include Coworking for Sustainable Employment, Age of Wonderland, Resource of Open Minds, and Ubunifu. Hivos has also organised several Global Creative Hub meetings, such as the Creative Hub Thinktank in Southern Africa, the Coworking Summit in Tunisia, and the Future of African Cities summit in Egypt.