APE Creative Grant
The 2026 APE Creative Grant is now open!
The deadline for the creative grant is the 27th February 2026.
Archives Portal Europe (APE) supports archival research for the purpose of creative projects with grants up to €2,000 to assist artists operating in any field (including writing, visual arts, performative arts, photography, filmmaking, long-form journalism projects or documentaries, etc).
Furthermore, the awardees will have in-kind support in research (up to 20 hours in total during 2026) by APE and its network to help in the archival research.
The grant will assist in any aspect of the creative process related to the usage of archival material, such as:
- Person-hours of work dedicated to archival research;
- Travels and accommodation expenses for archival trips;
- Printing or obtaining the right of usage of the archival documents / historical material;
- Other costs related to the creation of the creative project / art work related to archives.
The grant is intended to pay for archival research and archival re-usage in the context of creating a piece of art. It CANNOT be used for:
- Expenses related to the staging of the work (e.g. pay actors, rent an exhibition space, etc);
- Expenses related to the distribution or marketing of the work;
- Anything that is not connected to the usage of archival material and archival research.
Artists can submit projects in any field and scope, as long as the projects will be based on and/or feature archival material. Examples of the works we are seeking to support are:
- Historical novels or period theatre/film scripts;
- History-based documentaries;
- Visual arts projects based on the re-elaboration of archival collections (such as memes, GIFs, collages, photography exhibitions, photographic re-creation, etc);
- Audiovisual projects using archival material;
- Any other work of art in which archival research and the usage of archival heritage is essential.
Submission procedure
The deadline for the submission of the application is 27 February 2026. Applicants can ask for up to €2,000.
In order to apply:
- Fill in the application form at this link: https://forms.gle/wUTUq8e6PC7mhFq5A
- Send a copy of your CV and/or portfolios with samples of your work (including any links) to info@archivesportaleurope.net
Outputs
Upon being awarded the grant, the recipients will be immediately reimbursed for any travel or accommodation expenses, as long as they take place no later than the end of October 2026.
Any remaining amount of the grant will be paid upon submission of the required outputs on part of the grant recipient:
- A working copy (finished or unfinished) of the work as of December 2026, with the sole purpose for APE to preserve this in its archive: no reproduction rights whatsoever will be acquired, the author(s) will remain the sole controller(s) of their work;
- A teaser or any material authorised by the author that can be used by APE to showcase what has been done using the grant, to be submitted by 11 December 2026;
- A short blog post (800 to 1,000 words) describing the project and how the artist has used archives within their practice, to be submitted by 11 December 2026;
- Organise and participate to an online or blended mode presentation of Archives Portal Europe and how it has helped your project; furthermore, help with communicating and disseminating your project within the grant will be expected. During your time as a grantee, you will be considered on a par with our ambassadors. You can read about the ambassadors scheme here
Please note that APE will also require to acquire a finished copy of the work, when this will be available, for the sole purpose of archiving, and not with the intention of distribution or display unless authorised by the author(s).
Please note that Archives Portal Europe should be mentioned in all drafts and materials related to the project that will circulate (e.g.: working copies, teasers, pitch decks, etc), as well as in any acknowledgment section of whatever form upon publication of the work.
For more information please contact us at info@archivesportaleurope.net.
Reports from previous winners:
- 2023 - Giulia Giannola, "Archival Ghosts" (Report)
- 2024 - Lia Carreira, "Spatial Narratives – Palácio das Belas Artes" (Report)
Pic: Siena State Archives, Biccherne (13th century), available here.
