Open Call: Fellowships 2023

~Application Deadline: Monday May 15, 2023, 11:59PM PST~

The Processing Foundation is currently accepting applications for the 2023 Fellowship Program.

Apply here:
Link to application

Info session here:
Link to info session recording

Info session slides here:
Link to info session slides

The Processing Foundation Fellowship program supports artists, designers, activists, educators, engineers, researchers, coders, and collectives — and many combinations of these — in projects that conceive new directions for our softwares, our community, and open source software for artists. Fellowships are an essential element of our foundation’s work in developing tools of community power, connection, stewardship and in nurturing the aims/needs of the people and communities who use our software.

Fellowships are self-initiated projects proposed by members of our community, which we support with mentorship, infrastructural, technical, and practical resources as well as community connections. Fellowship projects can range from development of the existing Processing software projects and related Processing projects (Processing, p5.js, Processing.py, Processing for Android, ml5.js), to creative and exploratory research for new iterations. We are interested in supporting work by fellows that connect groups — be they students and educators, creators, artists, activists and organizers.

We are open to applicants from all backgrounds and skill levels, and support proposals that center investigations, experiments, and learning. We are attentive to proposals that demonstrate enthusiasm and the evolution of a fellow’s practice rather than their pre-existing technical skills.

For 2023, we will support five (5) (art/creative/technology) Fellows and three (3) Teaching Fellows with stipends, mentorship, and other public-facing opportunities. The number of Fellows this year has been expanded, thanks to the generous support and collaboration of SOSO Limited. We are additionally grateful for the support of Bocoup and our other outside mentors. And we continue to collaborate with the College of Education & Human Development at Georgia State University to sustain the work of past Teaching Fellowships. To learn more about the fellowship priority areas, stipends and guidelines, read on!

Fellowship Priority Areas for 2023

Fellowship projects can range from development of the existing Processing software projects and related Processing projects (Processing, p5.js, Processing.py, Processing for Android, ml5.js).

This year we aim to support fellowships that respond to and meet the needs of the priority areas below. Applicants are asked to address at least one of the below, describing how their project responds to the concerns of the topic.

Accessibility

• Foregrounds accessibility on the internet as core for building online communities.
• How can we expand accessibility of existing tools, whether assistive technology on the web, integrations with screen readers, or assistive features in p5.js?
• What kinds of accessible, liberatory design tools can we use? For example, increasing accessibility on the p5.js editor?
• How can we translate accessibility guidelines across disciplines, for example, from design patterns to art made using p5.js?

AI Ethics and Open Source

• Advocates for ethical approaches to new machine-learning and AI tools in the form of creative, artistic, and/or critical projects.
• How do we forefront accessibility, diversity, equity, and belonging in the process of machine learning in critical ways?

Ecology & The Environment

• Focuses on the ways design and technology can steward the environment, ecology and sustainability, thinking holistically about tech and the conditions it creates.
• How can we center the environment, materiality, and the human labor necessary in producing technology, in creating designed experiences using technology?

Internationalization

• Supports translations, educational materials, and documentation in different languages.
• What are new ways to think about working across languages, borders, and cultural contexts?
• How can we center and support the creativity of BIPOC across borders?

Continuing Support

• Maintains and sustains projects that have already been initiated by past fellows (which you can learn about here and here) and/or members of the open-source community.
• How can we continue the work of previous projects, communities, environments, and knowledge systems?

See Fellowship Guidelines below before applying.

The application period opens Wednesday, March 8, 2023 and closes Monday, May 15, 2023. Selected fellows will be notified no later than the last week of May 2023. Late applications will not be accepted. Fellows will be selected by the Processing Foundation’s team and Board of Directors.

Apply
https://processing.formstack.com/forms/processing_fellowship_2022.
If you have questions, please email foundation@processing.org.

The Foundation is looking for potential funders who would be interested in sponsoring part or all of a fellow’s project. If you are interested in sponsoring a fellow for next year, contact Tsige Tafesse, Program Manager, at tsige@processing.org.

2022 Fellowship Guidelines

We place the most emphasis on projects that activate, foster, and cultivate community, speaking to the needs of specific groups through outreach and engagement. Barriers to access and commitments to equity should be thoughtfully addressed and included in the project’s scope.

Our past fellowships are good examples of work we believe is important, and of how those projects have evolved into self-sustaining projects in their own right. Applicants should familiarize themselves with previous fellowship projects and read our Medium’s series of articles where past fellows describe, in their own words, what their fellowships entailed.

Fellowships are open to U.S.-based and international applicants. For a collective body of work/project, only one person (a lead applicant) should apply. Only one application per person is allowed.

2023 Teaching Fellowships
This year we will continue to support a separate cohort of three (3) Teaching Fellows, who will produce teaching materials to be published via our Medium publication. The teaching materials can range from a syllabus to reading lists, video tutorials, to lesson plans. Applicants for the Teaching Fellowship must demonstrate how their project will go above and beyond currently available, while incorporating one of our core priorities.

The Teaching Fellows will dedicate 90 hours of work throughout the summer of 2023. During this time, they will participate in 1:1 meetings with mentors and collaborate with the cohort of Teaching Fellows to generate ideas, research existing materials, and create new ones. Additionally, they will commit 10 hours during the school year to finalize the materials, present their work at CC Fest, and participate in a lengthy interview on Medium.

Beyond the priority areas, we welcome proposals that support specific needs and involve working with partners to build on past Fellowships. For example, projects extending the work of Sierra Gilliam’s 2022 project using personal data and visualization to support culturally relevant computer science education will be generously supported by Georgia State University and mentor Ben Shapiro. Similarly, projects that extend the Playful Teaching with p5.js project will be mentored by Angi Chau of the Nueva School.

Teaching Fellows will be able to work with mentors and receive guidance from the Senior Director of Outreach and Partnerships, Saber Khan (saber@processing.org). Each Teaching Fellow will be compensated at the same rate as our other fellows, with a stipend of $10,000 USD.

Fellowship Timeline

Processing Foundation Fellows are expected to commit 100 hours to proposed projects, over the course of June 1 to August 31, 2023. (Please note that the number of hours for Teaching Fellows is different; see below.)

The 100 hours of the fellowship must take place during this timeline. How the 100 hours are completed is flexible and decided upon between the mentor and the fellow. For example, if a fellow wants to work 100 hours over 2.5 weeks in July, that is fine. Or, if they want to log a few hours per week throughout the entire fellowship period, that is also fine.

Agreement of schedules and milestone dates is to be decided upon between the Fellow and their mentor (and advisors, if applicable) by the first week of the fellowship.

March 8, 2023 — Applications open

May 15, 2023 — Applications close

Late May, 2023 — Interviews with finalists and fellowship announcement

June 15, 2023 — Fellowship period begins

June 20, 2023 — Kickoff meeting

July 15, 2023 — Mid-point check-in

August 31, 2023 — Fellowship period ends

September 2023 — Interviews & Documentation wrap up posts for Medium

October 2023 — All fellowship medium posts go live

January 2024 (for Teaching Fellows) — Participate in a virtual CC Fest

Mentorship

Mentors are assigned to each fellow from within the Processing Foundation’s community. The role of mentors is to provide guidance (creative, technical), as well as serve as an advocate for the fellow’s work.

If a specific mentor is desired, please indicate this in the application.

Regular bi-weekly virtual meetings with a mentor throughout the fellowship are required.

Community

We follow the community guidelines of p5.js for our code of conduct.

At the start of the fellowship, an introductory meeting with all 2023 fellows will take place virtually. The meeting is an opportunity for this year’s cohort to meet each other and learn about each other’s work. Attendance is required.

Fellows are encouraged to build community with their cohort throughout the fellowship period, in group chats like Signal, Slack, or Discord, as well as Zoom meetups. Additionally, 2–3 Fellowship Program Alumni will deliver online talks and workshops with this year’s cohort. Attendance to these Alumni talks is strongly encouraged but not required, as they are meant to create connections and support knowledge-sharing within the fellowship community.

Along with mentorship, the Foundation staff will work to provide fellows with connections to other community members who might be able to support the fellow with specific needs in the roles of advisors and consultants; we will also look for organizations and spaces that might be able to host the fellow for future events and collaborations.

Project Documentation

Progress updates, via social media, blogs, etc., are required to be posted after each bi-weekly progress meeting with the fellow’s mentor.

Fellowship projects are featured on the Processing Foundation’s website, with a fellow’s bio, images, and a link to the project. These materials must be provided by the start of the fellowship.

Final online documentation of fellowship projects is required. Documentation can take many forms — a GitHub repository, a series of video tutorials, a website, etc. We are open to what fits best for the work.

Medium Wrap-Up Post

At the culmination of the fellowship, the fellow will be interviewed by our Program Manager, Tsige Tafesse. The interview will take place via zoom, transcribed, and edited for clarity. The Fellow must be available for the editorial process, which will occur at the end of summer 2023, with publication date scheduled for Fall 2023. The article must include 3–5 high-quality images (photos, screenshots, videos, gifs, etc.) that represent the fellowship project, the Fellow should produce visual documentation throughout their work period.

Project Legacy

Fellowship projects must be open source.

Project legacy is an important component of fellowships. We encourage applicants to think about how projects may support future sustainability or archiving of the work.

This includes, but is not limited to: code commenting and reusability, documentation, prioritized todo lists / roadmaps (if there’s more to do after your fellowship is completed), laying out infrastructure that enables others to carry on, summary of discoveries for research focused projects, etc.

Stipend
The stipend for the 2023 Fellowship is $10,000 USD. This applies to Fellows and Teaching Fellows. Payment of the stipend will be made in two installments: $5,000 USD paid at the start of your fellowship, and the remaining $5,000 USD upon its completion. Additionally, there is a small amount of discretionary project funds for the fellowship projects.

A fellow must complete the requirements of the fellowship for the stipend to be paid in full.

About us
The Processing Foundation’s mission is to promote software literacy within the visual arts, and visual literacy within technology-related fields — and to make these fields accessible to diverse communities.

Processing Foundation is committed to diversity in its programming and in nurturing a community culture and environment that is reflective of the diversity of the US as well as the global community networks we operate within. We aspire to create a climate where diversity is an asset for creativity and innovation. We strongly encourage applicants representing a range of differences that include — but are not limited to — age, national origin, ethnicity, race, religion, ability, sexual orientation, gender and sexual identity. Processing will consider all qualified applicants with criminal histories in a manner consistent with the requirements of the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance and New York City Fair Chance Act.

Further questions?
Please contact fellowship@processing.org

The Processing Foundation Fellowship Program is made possible by generous support from the National Endowment for the Arts.