Young adults aged 18-25 in Leicestershire now have the opportunity to bring their creative ideas to life, with bursaries from £100 to £25,000 available as part of Tour de Moon.
Nelly Ben Hayoun and friends introduce Tour de Moon – A Cosmic Celebration, which is now inviting young people to come together, bring their ideas to life and help define alternative futures for Earth and beyond. The open call for submissions is split into various categories with nightlife artists, performers, creatives, makers of new worlds, digital artists, musicians and writers, all invited to apply.
For those aged 18-25 this offers an incredible experience to see your creative aspirations a reality through the project funding. 850 bursaries are available ranging from £100 to £25,000, all to go towards projects inspired by our very own creative satellite, the Moon.
The scope for bursary applications is broad, the brief radical and the possibilities endless. It might be a piece of music woven with the sounds of the galaxy, a film exploring our relationship with the moon, a concept for a float or a digital installation, a script for a play, an online experience or a DJ performance. With Tour de Moon, Nelly Ben Hayoun Studios’ principal goal is to amplify a plurality of young creative voices, ignite imaginations, and shine a spotlight on the plurality of possibilities for alternative futures for humanity.
The Tour de Moon bursaries will be awarded across eight programming strands:
Moon Experiences, Moon Sports, Moon Press, Moon Music, Moon Cinema, Moon Bar, Moon Hotline and Moon Convoy.
Those interested should go to https://tourdemoon.com/apply to see full details on applications. Whether you want to create a short film, create digital content on TikTok, write a short play, perform original live music, take part in “Moon Sports”, get paid for your writing, perform a DJ set, and even more, there are routes for you to apply to be involved.
With a special focus on nightlife and night-time culture, the multifaceted initiative will culminate in a live 4-day experience in Leicester from 13-16 May, followed by similar events in Newcastle and Southampton. The 4 day event will see the projects that received funding come together and performed live at venues across the city.
Bursary applicants also have the opportunity to collaborate with leading scientists and thinkers from NASA SSERVI (Solar System Exploration Research Virtual Institute), the African Astronomical Society, the SETI (Search for the Extraterrestrial Intelligence) Institute, as well as institutions and organisations across the sciences and humanities . By distributing this budget among a combination of individual creatives, youth groups, and nightlife workers, Tour de Moon aims to distribute essential funding and provide a high-profile creative platform to a sector and demographic that has been hit especially hard by the impacts of Covid and funding cuts over the last few years.
Tour de Moon’s programme will be supported by the independent and non-traditional publishing outlet Moon Press, which will release print and digital editions with each full moon; and the music label Moon Recordings, which will bring together voices from two generations, 18–25 and 66+, to collaborate.
The Tour de Moon project is the brainchild of the designer of experiences, artist and filmmaker Dr Nelly Ben Hayoun of Nelly Ben Hayoun Studios. Nelly is the founder of both NASA’s International Space Orchestra and the tuition-free University of the Underground. Her large scale projects have included collaborations with Noam Chomsky, Pussy Riot, Massive Attack and Kid Cudi to name a few.
The directors will be supported and challenged by the Tour de Moon Board – a collective of scientists, nightlife workers and performers, curators, and inspirational creators of all ages, who will help steer the event and select the successful bursary applicants whose work will be developed to feature in the festival programme. Alongside the board, a panel of youth reporters, aged 18–25, will be monitoring and documenting the event at every stage, ensuring it maintains its commitment to equity, plurality, community, collaboration, decolonial practices, social and racial justice and solidarity.
