Programming
Call for proposals 2026-2027
EMBODDY: Joyful Militancy and Irresistible Activism
As part of its three-part call for proposals (performances, critical thinking, and public writing), the DARE-DARE artist-run center is seeking proposals for artistic projects to develop its 2026–2027 program.
TO EMBODDY: Joyful Militancy and Irresistible Activism
A call articulated by: Khadija Ben Ali, Marcela Bórquez, Lucas Ferguson-Sharp, Marcella França, Valérie Gariépy, Yanick Tanguay and Martin Dufrasne
For its 2026–2027 program, DARE-DARE welcomes project proposals that explore the presence of mobilized bodies in public space. We are looking for proposals that touch, awaken and displace — like a ripple in the air, a collective uprising, a disruptive instant in which reality is reimagined. We call for direct action, here and now, so everyone can participate in urgent transformation without delegation or delay.
We are not seeking works as answers, but gestures as beginnings:
- Gestures that recognize that art is not only representational, but also action and relation, a political and poetic way of standing in the world;
- Gestures that engage the body — protesting, rejoicing, validating— and that reaffirm its power to be visible, audible and irreplaceable in public space;
- Gestures that manifest futures less hostile, less isolated, less alienated, less artificial, less virtualized;
- Gestures of constructive dissent, gestures of mutual aid that refuse resignation, gestures of complicity and care
Reflections: Where bodies vibrate, futures shift
In a world saturated with tensions, scarred by inequities, and fractured by visible and invisible borders, we continue to seek passages. How can art open new dialogues and invent forms of life that are sensitive, emancipated, and in solidarity? How do we commit to this with joy — an affect that is neither unconscious optimism nor a naïve way of ignoring the violence of reality, but a living, potentially subversive force, born of the resistances and desires that move through us?
In struggle, joy is not a refuge: it is a movement that carries us beyond ourselves, connects bodies and minds, and creates a sense of the common. It expands our capacity to act, to endure, to transform what moves through all of us. It is rooted in trust, mobilization and mutual aid; it is at once political, resistant, and creative.
Despite overlapping crises, one thing persists: the capacity of bodies to resonate, to make new worlds, to bend the present. The most modest gestures — those we believe to be almost imperceptible — can amplify our power to exist, allow us to imagine alternatives to existing systems of power, and open a freer space for all. There, at the heart of disturbance, a breath circulates: a jubilation that pushes us to conceive a future shaped by our actions and struggles, rather than accepting the present as fate.
We call on artists, performers, researchers, writers, practitioners and collectives from all margins to propose interventions. In the spirit of greater diversity, DARE-DARE strongly encourages applications from people and practices that are underrepresented in the arts.
The call for projects is divided into three components: Interventions, Public Writings, and Critical Thinking.
INTERVENTION COMPONENT
► Three projects will be selected for the upcoming program year (presented between April 2026 and March 2027).
The call TO EMBODDY: Joyful Militancy and Irresistible Activism is addressed to artists who wish to embed art in everyday life, and who seek to intervene in the geographical and social environment through strategies of all kinds and of varying duration.
DARE-DARE offers:
- Support for project coordination, dissemination, and promotion
- Exhibition and reproduction fees (CARFAC fee schedule) $2,924
- Artist fee for a talk or public presentation $541
- Reimbursement of production materials $1,200
- Assistance in obtaining required permits and authorizations
- Photographic documentation
Send us your proposal in a format that suits you (text, visual, or audio), paying attention to these five points:
- Explain your artistic practice.
- Explain your project and its feasibility.
- Explain your support needs.
- Images and/or web links.
Only applications sent in digital format will be considered—total file size maximum 15 MB.
Accepted formats: PDF documents, mp3 audio, mp4 video (max. 5 minutes), JPG (max. 15 images), website
CRITICAL THOUGHT COMPONENT
► Independent research residency centred on the artists, projects, and activities of the program.
With the goal of fostering in-depth reflection on its program TO EMBODDY: Joyful Militancy and Irresistible Activism, DARE-DARE invites artists, researchers, writers, and curators to apply for a research residency. The selected person will develop, over the course of one year, a critical and creative reflection inspired by the various events in the program. The residency will conclude with a public presentation and the printing of a booklet, or another form of archiving, which may take the form of a series of interviews, texts, videos, etc.
DARE-DARE welcomes those who wish to explore and experiment with marginal or alternative research approaches and methods, as well as those interested in practices of intervention in public space, performative practices, or any other practice that challenges space. We believe that creating unique links between practices will enable us to propose collective experiences that question our relationship to research, archives, and exchange.
The centre offers:
- Residency fees of $2,574
- Copyright and reproduction rights: $350
- Reimbursement of production expenses: $850 (upon presentation of receipts)
- Free access to the HALTE book collection*
- Photographic, audio, or video documentation of the residency’s public outcome
- Support for research coordination and the dissemination of the public sharing
The researcher commits to:
- Being present, as much as possible, at the various events of the 2026–2027 program
- Offering a public outcome in a form of their choosing
- Providing a form of archiving of their research at the end of the residency
Your proposal, in a format that suits you, should address the following points:
- Explanation of your artistic and/or research practice (approximately 250 words)
- Explanation of your interest in the themes and artists included in the 2024-2025 program (approximately 500 words)
- A document presenting one or more relevant research, curatorial, or publication projects you have carried out in the past (whether completed or not)
- Your CV or professional background A press kit (optional)
Accepted formats: PDF documents, MP3 audio files, MP4 video files (max. 5 minutes), JPG images (max. 15 images), websites Only applications submitted in digital format will be considered.
La HALTE and Our Collection:
You will find a selection of publications, essays, and monographs addressing art in public space, art and politics, performance art, architecture, design, urban planning, as well as civic, community-based, participatory, and decolonial approaches, zines, artist books, micro-editions… and much more!