We have already told you on previous occasions on METAL about Forecast, an exciting platform dedicated to facilitating, mentoring, and promoting trailblazing creative practices and audacious artistic practitioners that could change your life forever. Having closely followed its last two editions, we can confirm that this project is unique and offers an unprecedented experience that will allow you to develop your personal project with the help of outstanding professionals. If you want to be part of the initiative, you're in luck because the call for ideas for their 2025–26 edition is now open. Hurry up because the deadline for applications is 11:59 pm CET on Monday, February 10!
“Essentially, each phase in the annual Forecast process is designed to bring together the right people so that they can work together productively and with the greatest possible freedom,” Freo Majer, Artistic Director of Forecast, told us when we last spoke to him in this interview. In this conversation, we asked him about the dynamics of this platform whose projects, including its mentorships and collaborations, are carried out by the German non-profit association Skills e. V., which was founded in Berlin in 2014 and is supported by the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media.
After nine successful editions in which many selected profiles from all over the world have been able to make their dreams come true, having developed their projects under the mentorship of great internationally recognised professionals in different creative areas and presenting them to the audience having the chance to share their vision, Forecast is now working on what promises to be its most special edition to date, its 10th call. If you are interested in being part of this very important moment in the platform's history, you can apply now through this link by telling them what you are interested in and plan to work on.
The first thing you'll need to do when filling out the registration form is to choose which of the six mentors who are collaborating with Forecast in this edition you would like to work with. The mentors in Forecast Mentorships' 2025-26 edition use modes of defamiliarization in their work, expanding the tools and mediums they work with to generate new propositions. You will have the opportunity to work hand in hand with fashion designer Hussein Chalayan (Cyprus/UK), vocalist and composer Elaine Mitchener (UK), performer and theatre-maker Lulu Obermayer (Germany), artist and filmmaker Ruth Patir (Israel), video and installation artist James Richards (UK), and electronic musician Sote (Iran/USA).
Forecast's tenth anniversary also brings a significant novelty that demonstrates the potential of this platform and how it can boost a project to unsuspected limits. For the first time, one alumna of the program will serve as a mentor: theatre-maker and performer Lulu Obermayer, who participated in Forecast 5. Offering artists and creative thinkers from anywhere in the world the chance to work with accomplished mentors toward bringing their projects to fruition, in the application form you will also have to explain the core concept of your project, expressing what you want to realise, describe what you are hoping to achieve and how you want to do it, and attach some files and additional relevant information.
Please note that Forecast can only accept applications submitted in English via the online application form, we recommend you consult the Guidelines and FAQ sections on their website before applying. We will keep you informed of the next phases of its edition, and we promise to update you as soon as we get news. Until then, we wish all participants good luck!
