Poets on the move as Hear My Voice announces Mobility Fund

Following the success of the Mobility Fund in 2020, the Hear My Voice team has re-launched the fund this year.

The Mobility Fund encourages poets and poetry platforms to apply for their digital and physical events.

It covers part of the participation fee or related travel expenses of South African poets who have been invited to participate in an international or inter-provincial literary festival or related platform.

The fund will contribute towards poets’ mobility costs to the maximum of R10 000.

In the instance of digital mobility, the fund will either match or contribute towards the poets’ performance fee.

About Hear My Voice

Hear My Voice is an NPO based in Tshwane and supports hundreds of spoken word artists.

It assists through organising local and international exchange programmes, workshops, live spoken word shows, open mics and other literature programmes for schools, private companies, government, libraries, festivals and other cultural institutions.

‘We aim to contribute to building a viable and vibrant SA poetry circuit. The aim is to open four rounds of applications this year to support poets not only for one season, but to offer consistent support throughout the year,’ said executive director Ishmael Sibiya.

How to apply

Interested applicants can find qualifying criteria and the application by visiting www.hearmyvoice.co.za/submissions.

Applications are open year-round but will be assessed a maximum of three times a quarter as per the below schedule:

January – March
April – June
July – September
October – December

For more information, contact Ishmael Sibiya at ishmael@hearmyvoice.co.za