Engaging Publics

Engaging Publics is:

A free 6-month hybrid public workshop program diving into engaging practices from spatial interventions, creative writing, and design for social transformation to approaches to inclusive cultural spaces.

A funded, 12-month online and on-site fellowship for emerging cultural practitioners exploring community-oriented projects, cultural mediation, and activist practices from digital worlds to urban space, and rural environments. The open call in November 2025 invites three Basel-based fellows and two international fellows to develop a participatory project and an accompanying text to be published on Futuress.org.

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From compulsive scrolling on our phones to AI-generated content flooding our feeds, digital interfaces increasingly mediate our worlds. Yet despite this hyperconnectivity, social media’s algorithmic echo chambers and filter bubbles merely reinforce existing beliefs rather than foster genuine discourse. As tech magnates influence policies, the internet has increasingly become entangled in capitalist, neoliberal systems of surveillance and exploitation, turning the very platforms that were meant to connect us into vehicles of a new authoritarian status quo. However, the internet has also revolutionized access to information and connections across different geographies and lived realities. From viral hashtag campaigns—such as #MeToo, #BlackLivesMatter, #NiUnaMenos, #RhodesMustFall, or #WomanLifeFreedom—to encrypted messaging, digital communication enables civil society movements to coordinate and mobilize collective action with unprecedented speed and scale.

Simultaneously, resistance persists—and thrives—beyond the digital realm. Educators discuss politics in the classroom, publishers amplify dissenting voices, community spaces build resilience, and protesters take to the streets to demand justice and fight against precarity, instability, injustice, and exploitation.

As globalization and digitalization have profoundly shaped political discourse and practice, new forms of mediation are urgently needed to foster conversations, build relationships, and imagine collective life.

The Engaging Publics fellowship and public program explore participatory practices that span across digital worlds, urban spaces, and rural environments. It asks: How do we engage in conversation across differences? How do we create resilient communities amid fragmented attention and the temptation of our glowing screens? How can we reimagine public engagement in the face of growing precarity, instability, and systemic fatigue?

Overview

Open program:

• Start: May 2026
• End: October 2026
• 5 free workshops online via Zoom and on-site in Basel, Switzerland
• Language: English
• Registration opens soon! Stay tuned through our newsletter!

Fellowship:

• Start: April 2026
• End: March 2027
• 9 hybrid sessions with fellowship mentors, as well as individual work time on the project
• Monthly on Thursdays from 7-9 pm CE(S)T
• Honorary of 840 CHF gross per fellow for research, writing, production, and publishing
• Application deadline: January 14, 2026, 23:59 CET

Open program

More details coming soon—stay tuned through our newsletter! 

Fellowship

Engaging Publics offers a space for developing cultural projects that address urgent social issues such as gender, social inequality, climate change, technology, and more. 

Program details

What we offer:

• Digital publishing of your text on futuress.org
• Space to conduct or present your project at the DOCK cultural space in Basel, Switzerland in December 2026
• Support in reaching out to possible collaborators to facilitate your project
• Access to the Futuress Zoom account and Slack channel to promote and facilitate your project
• An honorarium of 840 CHF gross per fellow for research, writing, production, and publishing; paid in two installments: the first after the first fellowship session, and the second upon publishing your work

What happens in the mentoring sessions?

From April 2026 to March 2027, hybrid group sessions at the DOCK cultural space in Basel, held both in person and online, will give space for exchange and mutual support. The first half of the fellowship, from April to November 2026, provides practical and theoretical guidance in developing your project in monthly sessions with fellow participants and the two mentors. Each session takes place on a Thursday from 7-9 pm CE(S)T. The first part culminates in a public exhibition/workshop day at DOCK in December 2026, where you try out or present your participatory format. The second part of the fellowship, from January to March 2027, focuses on transforming your findings into a compelling text, with hands-on tips and individual guidance from one of the mentors.

What happens in the public program?

The public program provides input for the fellows and a broader audience. From May to November 2026, five workshops will introduce you to practices working with a variety of publics—from writing to public interventions and process design, considering how to consider diverse audiences and accessibilities. Stay tuned through our newsletter for more info!

How much time do I have to invest?

We deeply value exchange and mutual support. We expect fellows to attend all nine 2-hour hybrid fellowship sessions. During these sessions, fellows will present updates on their projects and offer feedback to others. Between sessions, fellows will conduct research, develop their projects, and write their texts, which should be completed by the end of the fellowship. Additionally, participants will peer-review each other’s texts and projects during the final steps.

Who will own the rights to my work?

You will retain the moral rights of the author and will be credited as such. Futuress will retain exclusive publishing rights to your work for 12 months after publication, and unlimited, non-exclusive rights thereafter. For republishing, your text must be credited as originally appearing on futuress.org.

How good does my English have to be?

To participate in the fellowship, it is necessary to communicate in English with the other participants and mentors. There is no expectation to be fluent or grammatically correct, but you should feel comfortable enough to exchange, present, and write. 

Who are the fellowship mentors?

The fellowship is facilitated by Mio Kojima and Maya Ober, who currently run Futuress together.

Mio Kojima (they/them) is a German-Japanese design educator, editor, and publisher focused on politics in and through design. Their work critically discusses modes of doing to expand the values and experiences centered within them. In doing so, they often work with protocols, prompts, propositions, and process documentation—exploring the politics of invitation, ways of collaboration, modes of storytelling, and more.

Maya Ober (she/her) is an anthropologist, designer, editor, publisher, educator, and lifelong learner. Her work reimagines academia and institutional life through feminisms and community-building, bridging disciplines to challenge existing structures. Focused on feminist practices and collective knowledge-making, she explores themes of complaining, listening, queering, and embodiment through ethnography, poetry, film, and curatorial work.

What is DOCK, and what is its role in the program?

DOCK is a hybrid between an art space, archive, and library, promoting art in Basel, Switzerland, and the surrounding region. It is a meeting place, information center, exhibition space, and forum for discussion, bringing together people from a wide variety of backgrounds. As a collaborator within the program, DOCK hosts the workshops, fellowship sessions, and public fellowship presentation on-site.

Your fellowship application

Who can apply?

Applicants can apply up to two years after graduation or two years after entering their current field of work. Due to the program’s funding from the Culture Department of the Kanton Basel Stadt, the fellowship offers three seats for Basel-based residents (regardless of nationality or migration status) and two seats for international fellows. We particularly encourage applications from marginalized communities including migrants, BIPOC, queer, chronically ill, disabled, low-income, and other structurally excluded groups.

Can people apply together? Can collectives apply?

Yes, teams and collectives are welcome to apply for a single spot. However, please note that the honorarium cannot be adjusted accordingly. Please outline in the application form how you intend to participate in the mentoring sessions and work on the text and project facilitation as a team or collective.

How do I apply?

Applications are only accepted through the Google form provided through our website from November 26 on. You will be asked to share a short project abstract along with a situated biography. Please review the form carefully for details.

The open call closes automatically on January 14, 2026, at 23:59 CET. Make sure to upload your application in time, as the form might need a second to process.

What does my project proposal require?

We are seeking participatory, activist, and community-oriented projects that address pressing social issues. Your proposal should outline the following aspects:• What social issue(s) does your idea engage with?

• To which context (community, physical space, discourse, etc.) is your project related? What is your relationship with the context? And how do you plan to incorporate it into your process?

• What format might your project manifest in? And how do you aim to facilitate your project within the timeframe of the first part of the fellowship (April to November 2026)? 

You may present a new or ongoing research project you wish to develop and share with a broad audience—this could be a thesis in the works, a final-year project, a semester assignment, a long-standing obsession, or a piece of research you’ve been pursuing on your own. 

Please review the Google form in detail to ensure your project meets the requirements.

How are the applications reviewed, and when can I expect to hear back?

All applications will be reviewed through a two-step process. A first selection of 30 applications will be made based on questions 1-7 in the form. All applicants will be informed of their application’s status by mid-March, so please refrain from asking about your application’s status.

If you have questions about the fellowship or the application process that are not covered by the points above, please email us at learning@futuress.org.

Visuals by Heba Daghistani.