PA4OW: PartArt4OW 2nd Open Call

Website	https://partart4ow.eu/second-open-call
Submission link	https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=pa4ow
Submission deadline	October 2, 2025

DISCLAIMER: the information reported here are a short version of what included in the Guide for Applicants which you must read carefully before the submission. 

 

Topics: community engagement sustainable practice environmental preservation pollution

 

The PartArt4OW Second Open Call Challenge: Engaging Mediterranean Communities to prevent, study and tackle water pollution

 

Why does this matter?

Water pollution is both an environmental and a social challenge. Tackling it means addressing the health of ecosystems as well as the well-being of people. Polluted water spreads disease, contaminates food chains, and damages habitats, with serious consequences for both nature and human communities. Its effects are often felt most severely by vulnerable groups - those living near industrial zones or ports, in areas with limited access to clean infrastructure, or in regions already burdened by social and environmental inequalities.But the impact goes beyond people. Pollution is one of the main drivers of biodiversity loss, putting species at risk of extinction and disrupting fragile ecosystems.

What are we looking for?

We are looking for projects that engage local communities in preventing, studying and reducing the pollution of our ocean. 

We invite bold proposals that actively engage citizens, moving beyond simple awareness-raising by combining science-based research with experimental and understudied artistic practices to co-create new ways of understanding and tackling pollution.

The focus should be on the communities living in close proximity to the ocean, water basins and rivers. Proposed projects should address key societal and environmental challenges of those communities and amplify unheard community voices.

Proposals can focus on any type of pollution, such as solid waste, chemical pollution, nutrient pollution, micro- and nanopollutants, biological pollution, noise, light, thermal, or pathogen pollution. These forms of pollution include plastics and marine litter, agricultural and industrial runoff, sewage discharges, harmful underwater noise, invasive species introduced through ballast water or aquaculture, and microscopic contaminants that accumulate in the food chain. All of them pose serious risks to marine ecosystems, biodiversity, and human health, especially in a vulnerable and enclosed sea like the Mediterranean.

We particularly welcome proposals that:

• adopt a whole-system approach, considering the entire chain of actions that generate pollution and the interplay between fresh-water and ocean; 
• focus on less investigate forms of pollution and their effects;
• investigate the invisible, uncertain, and unknown aspects of pollution, including its sensory absence - how we make sense of something we cannot directly perceive;
• investigate the societal impact of pollution, including how its effects reshapes communities, their ways of living, how they see their future and how already-existing communal practices can be valorized. 

Why the focus on the Mediterranean?

This second open call is exclusively for proposals that can host the PartArt4OW Sailing Lab in a yacht harbor or marina during its Mediterranean navigation route.

The PartArt4OW Sailing Lab is a 15-metre sailboat traveling across the western Mediterranean to connect, document, and promote the work of the project that will be selected via the Second Open Call. 

• Route & Dates: The Sailing Lab will sail from Nettuno (Rome) to Badalona (Barcelona) between 21 June and 26 July 2026, visiting selected projects along the way.
• Sailing Lab activities: During each stop, the Sailing Lab team will attend the hosted events, meet artists, experts, and community members, conduct video interviews, and produce high-quality photo and video documentation. The goal is to strengthen connections among creative communities and increase the visibility of the projects supported by PartArt4OW.

What is expected from applicants?

• Organise one event (ideally the final event of your programme) in a harbor or marina within the area marked in red on the map included in the Guide for Applicants, and within the Sailing Lab tour period (21 June – 26 July 2026) (please see Annex 6 of the Guide for Applicants for details).
• Provide a Letter of Intent from the relevant harbor or marina confirming their willingness to host the Sailing Lab. (See Annex 6 of the Guide for Applicants).

More details are available in the Guide for Applicants, please carefully consider the eligibility criteria related to the hosting of the Sailing Lab as listed in this document.

Questions & Contact

Refer to the Guide for Applicants and FAQs on the PartArt4OW website for details (https://partart4ow.eu/the-calls). Join one of our webinars or contact us at opencallpartart4ow@gmail.com for further assistance.