Rehearsal Spaces Fellowship

Open Call for Campaigns

Rehearsal Spaces Fellowship is a programme over summer/autumn 2026 that will provide infrastructure for socially engaged artistic practices within the context of place-based spatial justice campaigns in London.

The fellowship is a paid artist opportunity to develop creative tools in service of campaign aims and seeks to give space to the production of work that responds to social, political and ecological conditions within the urban environment. Through rooted and trans-local artist–community collaborations, Rehearsal Spaces creatively and strategically supports the (re)imagination of the spatial justice movement across London.

Our Fellowship asks...

How can artistic practices support and further the aims of place-based campaigns?
How can artists develop their practices to become more socially engaged?
How can local, placed-based campaigns connect to broader struggles for spatial justice?
What does a community-led vision of the arts entail in the neoliberal city?

This open call is the first of a two-part process: We are currently seeking to partner with place-based campaigns*, in London, working towards spatial justice. Once we have a campaign partner we will jointly recruit artists via a second open call.

*a local campaign or a community group that is concerned with spatial justice in response to the climate of gentrification in London

If you're a campaign and would benefit from participating on this fellowship where we resource creative work to support your aims, please read the information below and fill out this application form HERE. The deadline to apply is Midnight, Sunday 26th April.

Background

We, Kin Structures, are artists of Global Majority background, living and working in London, one of the most diverse cities in the world, shaped by migration, workers and through a rich history of protest. London is also ranked as one of the top art capitals in which artistic, aesthetic and creative production is abundant. Yet this culture exists within the condition of the neoliberal city: a site in which the macro-politics of global economies converge and shape the micro-politics of people’s everyday lives in multiple and complicated ways, acting as a driving force for gentrification.

A recent study by Trust for London identified over 50 of London’s neighbourhoods as “gentrified”; a process where a poor urban area is changed by wealthier people moving in, sometimes spontaneously, at others more intentionally, by design. This displacement of the working-class has a disproportionate and confounding impact on racialised, migrant, and other marginalised and vulnerable communities such as women, queer people, and disabled people. Indeed, across these areas, the study found a decline in Black community presence, fewer children, more people in professional occupations, and a lower proportion of people living in social housing. This all raises questions about who is able to live, remain, and meaningfully belong in the city.

By concerning the Rehearsal Spaces Fellowship with questions of spatial justice, we understand that urban space is both shaped by and produces social relations rather than being merely the arena in which social (in)justice is negotiated. We are also engaging in a feminist politics of location which reminds us that spatial justice concerns the physical, the bodily and psychic spatialities of our being which are specific but inseparable from systems of violence, bordered struggles, and fights for personhood. Location is also politicised as the site of cultural, intellectual, and collective memory.

We are interested in grassroots artistic and creative practices that emerge from and respond to these conditions, understanding that no art is neutral but instead intertwined in the social, political and spatial structuring of the city. As such, we recognise some of the limitations of formal art institutions because of the historic and ongoing ways in which they may replicate and uphold systems of power as well as regulate the spatial confines of artistic practices that are often incompatible with a community-led vision for the arts. This fellowship is therefore especially aimed at supporting grassroots artists who might work outside of, independently from, and in critique of these circumstances.

Place-based campaign criteria

We understand “place-based campaign” to be a local campaign or a community group that is concerned with spatial justice in response to the climate of gentrification in London and welcome applications that resonate with these issues and adjacent struggles. Examples could include but are not limited to:

Campaigns for community-owned/-led spaces
Campaigns for housing
Campaigns to save community centres or public spaces that are at-risk of closing down or other negative outcomes associated with gentrification

Place-based campaign groups must meet the following criteria:

Have not hosted a funded artist project before (e.g., via fellowship, residency, grants etc)
Would meaningfully benefit from creative collaboration
Have a clear goal for working with an artist
Have access to a usable space for six weeks within the window of July-September 2026, where the artist can work during the fellowship placement
Have someone who can be on site to facilitate the artist’s use of the space OR have a system whereby the artist can be a key-holder to access the space (with minimal administrative burden).

Whilst it is not necessarily criteria, it is important to us and our work that our partnerships are made with campaigns that are actively concerned with issues of collective liberation and anti-oppression work.

Artist criteria

Please note that the open call for artists will take place in May/June. This criteria is indicative and may be subject to change/refinement based on campaign consultation.

Any artistic practice is welcomed and we especially encourage applications from grassroots artists. Artists can be at any stage in their artistic career. Artists can already be associated with the campaign group they are interested in working with.

Artists must meet the following criteria:

Be committed to developing a socially engaged practice
Be available for the entire fellowship
Be available to work at least 1-3 days per week for the duration of the fellowship placement
Submit a portfolio/examples of work
Demonstrate an interest in collaborative work and community-led projects

The Fellowship Structure

Selected campaign groups will work with Kin Structures for up to eight weeks in the “rooting” period to facilitate relationship-building so we can better understand the aims and objectives of working with an artist in the fellowship placement. After this rooting period, Kin structures will begin artist recruitment. Once an artist is jointly selected, the artist will engage in work at the site provided by the campaign for the six-week fellowship placement which will take place in summer/autumn 2026.

The artist’s fellowship will support the campaign’s aims whilst also giving the artist space and time to develop a socially-engaged practice.

Indicative timeline:

30th March-26th April: Campaign recruitment

May: Rooting period with the campaign

May-June: Artist Recruitment

July: Artist-campaign onboarding

July-September: Window for fellowship placements (exact dates to be determined within the rooting period)

Methodology

Rooting:

Our organisational approach to partnerships uses a practice of “rooting” which is a way of working that begins with witnessing and being with what is, before sensitively responding to context. We see our work as relational and durational, requiring initial and ongoing relationship building. We will take this approach with the place-based campaigns we partner with and facilitate this as an artist engagement practice.

Trans-locality:

Whilst we root ourselves and our work in local places, in a globalised world what is “local” requires a rethinking about spatiality. A geographic locale is shaped by multiple and changing histories, economies, ecologies, and infrastructures that mean it is interconnected to and interdependent on the global scale and all scales in between. A “trans-local” method of working in the context of the Rehearsal Spaces Fellowship recognises that neighbourhoods across London all experience different but connected urban realities. By facilitating collaboration, reciprocal knowledge and coalition-building practices across borough scales, we explore how socially engaged artistic practices can situate local issues in wider struggles for urban spatial justice.

FAQs

Who is organising this fellowship?

Kin Structures is a Community Interest Company, building and sustaining infrastructure for community and cultural expression. Our work is not for profit and is currently funded by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation. This funding is limited, however, and we are currently seeking additional funding to maintain and expand our work in the future.

In the absence of this, members of our community support our work through a paid membership model for our newsletter (£1 per month).

Who can participate?

Selected campaign groups and artist pairings
Some events across the fellowship may be open to the public

When will the fellowship placements happen?

The fellowship placements, during which artists work to support the place-based campaigns for six-weeks, will occur within the window of July-September 2026. The exact dates will be determined during the rooting period with selected campaign groups.

How to apply

Fill out the applicable form HERE before the deadline: Midnight, Sunday 26th April

Fellowship fees & compensation

There are no application fees.

Kin Structures is a Community Interest Company and a non-profit. If you wish to support and engage with our work please sign up to our newsletter for £1 per month.

Artists will be paid for their work, by Kin Structures, across the six-weeks in line with Artists' Union guidance. Studio space will be provided by the campaign.

Place-based campaigns will receive the opportunity to work with a funded artist to develop creative tools in service of their campaign aims (visibility, engagement, documentation).

Kin Structures’ Programmes Lead will act as support across the fellowship to both the artist and the campaign group.

What kind of artist work can be done in the fellowship?

The fellowship could be very different depending on the aims of each place-based campaign. Here are some imagined scenarios below to offer some insight:

Scenario 1:

A community centre at risk of closing down due to under-resourcing is campaigning for a secure future and council support by local residents and volunteers. The campaign has three main aims: signatures for a petition, programming support, improvements to the interior hall.

The artist (painter) works with the campaign, with access to studio space in the centre, in the following ways:

They design two community workshops that involve art and community storytelling and engage a wide audience in the campaign (supporting campaign awareness, gaining petition signatures, and running programming).
They paint a mural in the interior hall that includes elements of collaborative design from participatory workshops (improving the interior hall design and celebrating community).

Scenario 2:

A local marketplace is campaigning to prevent the introduction of large commercial building developments in the area that would displace many vendors. The campaign has three main aims: signatures for a petition, increased awareness of their online campaign and physical market presence to support vendors.

The artist (graphic designer and photographer) works with the campaign, with access to studio space in the market hall, in the following ways:

They develop an online social media campaign through graphics and visual storytelling (supporting campaign awareness, and gaining petition signatures)
They create a popup rolling exhibition which showcases photographs of vendors and their stories during marketplace hours (supporting campaign awareness and celebrating vendors).

Scenario 3:

A tenants’ union is campaigning for better living conditions and long term rent security in a local estate. Their aims include: gaining more awareness amongst fellow residents, collecting tenant testimonies to support their campaign negotiations, gaining campaign awareness beyond the estate for greater solidarity.

The artist (DJ, musician, sound designer) works with the campaign with access to a communal space on the estate to to support the campaign in the following ways:

They design participatory sound recording workshops, collecting oral histories in listening sessions (supporting testimony collection and expanding tenant solidarity)
They develop the recordings into an immersive sound exhibition event (supporting campaign awareness and public engagement)

What happens if a campaign application is unsuccessful?

We will contact all campaigns with the outcome of their application. Unsuccessful applications will be considered for future programmes.

Contact

For further information and enquiries related to the Rehearsal Spaces Fellowship, please contact programmes@kinstructures.com