Article 1 – Purpose and Scope of the Call

MUS.E Foundation, a private legal entity under public control – whose members include the Municipality of Florence, the Municipality of Vinci, the Municipality of San Giovanni Valdarno, and the Metropolitan City of Florence – registered under number 352 in the list established by ANAC pursuant to article 192 of Legislative Decree 50/2016 – intends to make this public call in collaboration with the Cultural Department of the Municipality of Florence, dedicated to the provision of studio spaces and fee for artist residencies at MAD Murate Art District for the period September 30^th , 2024 – October 31^st , 2024, through the selection of artists and/or artist collectives active in the field of contemporary art.

The MUS.E Foundation, in accordance with its statutory vocation and aligned with MAD’s objectives, as part of the Regenerating Territories Project, with the contribution of the CR Firenze Foundation and Regione Toscana as part of the call Toscanaincontemporanea, aims to support artistic training by providing performative studio spaces or artist studios at MAD Murate Art District. In order to support eligible residencies, MAD may provide an economic contribution of up to €5,000 to support the production of a single project, or divided among multiple equally deserving projects, at the sole discretion of the Commission. The Commission may also allocate contributions of lesser amounts, based on scores obtained from the submitted project, to partially or fully support projects that have obtained slightly lower scores than the top-ranked ones.

MAD Murate Art District is a center for research, artistic production, and international exchanges, housed in the restored spaces of the former city prison. Since March 2014, it has been organizing exhibitions, meetings, critical insights, performances, workshops, and public art projects focused on contemporary artistic themes and languages. The strongly interdisciplinary approach, on which projects are selected and produced, aims to actively involve the community.

Since its opening, MAD has focused its activities on producing works and performances, through the selection of national and international artists invited to undertake research periods dedicated to specific projects, with particular attention to the social context and historical memory of the place.

Article 2 – Objectives

Through this Notice, the MUS.E Foundation intends to achieve the following objectives:

• Support the research and work of visual and performative artists, directors, sound artists, musicians, designers, architects.
• Support a period of artistic residency and production for artists and/or artist collectives.
• Enhance MAD as a place for training, production, and residency for artists.

Article 3 – Recipients of the Call

Visual and performative artists, directors, sound artists, musicians, designers, architects – including those forming artistic collectives – who present a project of artistic production to be carried out during a residency period at MAD lasting no less than 7 working days and no more than 3 months, can participate in this selection.

Article 4 – General Eligibility Requirements

All individuals specifically mentioned in Article 3 of this Notice must meet the following eligibility requirements:

a) to be at least 18 years old at the time of submitting the application (for all candidates);

b) to be a professional in the field of art or entertainment proposing an unpublished project;

c) to have already worked in a professional context in Italy and/or abroad.

Article 5 – Commission

The evaluating commission will be composed of a member of the Cultural Department of the Municipality of Florence of the Municipality of Florence, an external professional appointed by MAD, and the artistic director of MAD Murate Art District serving as the President. The role of recording secretary will be carried out by an employee of Mus.e stationed at MAD Murate Art District.

Article 6 – Economic Contribution for Artist Residency Studio Space Grant

As indicated in Article 1, a financial contribution is provided for the winning projects, with a maximum amount of €5,000 (five thousand euros), to be awarded as a lump sum or divided based on the number of projects that achieve equal scores, according to the appropriateness of the requested contribution in the budget submitted to the applicants. A residency period will also be assigned to one or more individuals who are deemed eligible according to the ranking, and they will be able to carry out their residency at Murate Art District without receiving any monetary contribution.

Article 7 – Studio Space Grant for Artist Residency

To those recipients declared eligible by the Commission and who request it, winners of this call will be granted a residency space tailored to their needs for a period of no less than 7 working days.

Based on the presented project, one of the following spaces may be allocated:

• artist’s studio (15 sqm) equipped with Ethernet internet, table, chairs;
• Ketty La Rocca room (144 sqm) equipped with Wi-Fi internet, dance platform, ceiling-mounted video projector, projection screen, audio system with 8-channel mixer, lighting system.

Additional technical equipment and/or furnishings may be specified in the technical sheet to be attached to the participation application, as indicated in Article 9 of this notice.

Article 8 – Application Procedure

Individuals interested in the residency must submit their application by no later than 09:00 AM on September 20, 2024. Failure to do so will result in exclusion. The application should be sent, along with the documentation specified in the following sections, to the email address lemuratepac@pec-legal.it.

Paper submissions and hand-delivered packages will not be accepted. Any requests for information must be communicated via email to info.mad@musefirenze.it by 11:59 PM on September 15^th, 2023. Please note that the Association will respond to clarification requests on business days.

If the documentation is submitted from a regular email address (non-PEC), MUS.E Association is not responsible for non-receipt and disclaims any responsibility regarding the loss of applications.

The participation application should be in PDF format, contained within a single document, and should not require a password for protection.

The email subject should read: “Call for MAD Residency September 2024 – October 2024”. The application cannot be modified after submission.

Adhering to the deadline is imperative, and for this purpose, only the email messages received strictly by the date and time specified in paragraph 1 will be considered. Messages received after this deadline will not be valid for the current selection, and these email messages will be directly deleted. Therefore, it is recommended to submit applications well in advance to avoid potential technical issues that may delay their transmission.

Article 9 – Description of Application Selection Phases

Individuals mentioned in Article 3 must submit an application containing the following documentation, not exceeding 8MB in size:

1. Application form as per Annex 1 with personal data of the applicant;
2. Valid identity document (for all participants in the case of collectives);
3. Updated detailed curriculum vitae (including solo and group exhibitions, residencies, projects, publications, filmography, participation in festivals and events, etc.);
4. Portfolio accompanied by texts, images, reproductions, links to websites and videos (in PDF format);
5. Description of the proposed residency project. The document should include motivations, objectives, content, and an indicative project timeline, a technical sheet related to necessary materials or technical setups, involved personnel and their relevant professional title, contributions by other artists or the public, and any material deemed necessary for a complete understanding of the project.
6. Description of how the residency project will be presented to the community, such as an exhibition, performance, workshop, talk, training moment, screenings, concerts, or any other method deemed suitable and coherent with the research project;
7. Motivational letter;
8. Release form (Annex 2) granting permission for the provided data and images to be used on the website www.murateartdistrict.it and the Association’s social media channels for promoting proposed cultural activities.

Article 10 – Selection and Evaluation Criteria

Applications must be received within the deadlines specified in Article 5. They will be evaluated by an assessment committee constituted as indicated in Article 4. The names of the residency recipients will be published by September 27^th, 2024, on the website www.murateartdistrict.it. This publication will serve as notification to the applicants. Any clarifications can be exclusively requested via email at info.mad@musefirenze.it.

It is hereby clarified that the list of accepted individuals, along with their projects and CVs, will be published on the MUS.E Foundation website in accordance with legislative decree no. 33/2013.

Article 11 – Selection and Evaluation Criteria

The participation applications must adhere to the following formal requirements:

• Compliance with the deadline for submitting the application as per the Notice;
• Fulfillment of the subjective requirements outlined in Article 3 of the Notice;
• Completeness of the requested content and proper documentation.

The applications that have successfully passed the formal requirements check will be selected by the Committee based on the following criteria:

Article 12 – Application Evaluation Criteria

1. Artistic quality, innovation, and sustainability of the proposal.
2. Qualitative evaluation of the curriculum and portfolio.
3. International scope of the submitted proposal.
4. Quality of the proposed public presentation plan.

Evaluation Criteria and Scoring
Artistic Quality, Innovation, and Sustainability of the Proposal
0 – Insufficient/Not Significant
1 – Poor/Low Significance
2 – Adequate/Fairly Significant
3 – Good/Significant
4 – Very Good/Highly Significant
5 – Excellent/Very High
Qualitative Evaluation of Curriculum and Portfolio
0 – Insufficient/Not Significant
1 – Poor/Low Significance
2 – Adequate/Fairly Significant
3 – Good/Significant
4 – Very Good/Highly Significant
5 – Excellent/Very High
International Scope of the Submitted Proposal
0 – Insufficient/Not Significant
1 – Poor/Low Significance
2 – Adequate/Fairly Significant
3 – Good/Significant
4 – Very Good/Highly Significant
5 – Excellent/Very High
Quality of the Proposed Public Presentation Plan

0 – Insufficient/Not Significant
1 – Poor/Low Significance
2 – Adequate/Fairly Significant
3 – Good/Significant
4 – Very Good/Highly Significant
5 – Excellent/Very High

Maximum Points Allocatable: 20

Art. 13 – Granting of Studio Residency Space

The winners must sign the conditions for the use of the space; failure to do so will result in the revocation of the awarded residency period.

Art. 14 – Residency Period

It should be noted that the indicative project schedule may be subject to changes by MAD Murate Art District due to unavoidable reasons arising from regular programming, in order to ensure the proper participation of all artists and/or artistic collectives awarded through the competition.

Art. 15 – Personal Data Handling

In accordance with Legislative Decree No. 196/2003 and subsequent amendments and the European Regulation (EU) 2016/679, it is informed that the personal data provided by the candidates, mandatory for the purposes connected to the completion of the procedure of this notice, will be used exclusively for the performance of the identification procedures and to comply with legal obligations. The data controller is the MUS.E Foundation, headquartered in Florence, at Via Aurelio Nicolodi No. 2. The data processing officer is the legal representative of the Association. Regarding the processing of personal data, the rights of the data subject are those provided for in the European Regulation (EU) 2016/679. Each entity under Article 3, by submitting their application, declares to be aware of and to accept the aforementioned processing, collection, and communication methods, viewable on the institutional website of the Association at the following link: http://musefirenze.it/privacy/.

Art. 16 – Procedure Manager

The Procedure Manager for the MUS.E Foundation is Dr. Valentina Gensini.

Art. 17 – Publicity and Transparency

This Notice and its attachments can be consulted and downloaded from the institutional website of the MUS.E Foundation, through the following path https://musefirenze.portaleamministrazionetrasparente.it/pagina728_sovvenzioni-contributi-sussidi- vantaggi-economici.html, and on the website of the MURATE ART DISTRICT at the following link: https://www.murateartdistrict.it/callforartistresidencies2023/.

Art. 18 – Referral Rules and Competent Jurisdiction

In the event of a dispute concerning the interpretation and/or execution of this Contract, the parties will strive to reach an amicable resolution thereof, including through the use of alternative methods of dispute resolution, such as, solely by way of example and not exhaustively, mediation-conciliation and/or assisted negotiation. In the event that, despite all reasonable attempts to amicably settle the dispute, it is not possible to achieve an extrajudicial resolution, the matter shall be submitted by the Parties to the exclusive jurisdiction of the Court of Florence.