Nature Cultural Fellowship (NCF) 2025: Support for Art-Led Ecological Healing Projects

DR. RABIU RABIU DR. RABIU RABIU
Apr 14, 2025 - 23:18
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Nature Cultural Fellowship (NCF) 2025: Support for Art-Led Ecological Healing Projects

The Nature Cultural Fellowship (NCF) is an immersive, interdisciplinary program by Kinship, co-developed with the Global Youth Biodiversity Network. It brings together 55 participants from 30+ countries for a transformative journey exploring the cultural dimensions of ecological healing and systemic change.

Fellowship Timeline

  • Immersive Learning Journey: May–July 2025
    Engage with a global cohort in storytelling, embodiment practices, values-based dialogue, and reflection.

  • Project Implementation Period: August–November 2025
    40 selected Fellows will receive financial support and mentorship to implement community-based, art-led projects.

What Makes the Fellowship Unique?

This program is not a traditional academic or technical fellowship. It is a co-creative journey that centers art, ancestral knowledge, intergenerational exchange, and cultural imagination as powerful tools for social and ecological transformation.

Participants will explore:

  • The cultural and systemic roots of ecological crises
  • Collective healing through grief work, ritual, and ancestral remembrance
  • The role of creative expression in shaping narratives, identities, and policy change
  • How to build reciprocal relationships with communities, ecosystems, and the more-than-human world

Fellowship Phases in Detail

Phase 1: Tending the Soil (May–June)

Fellows begin by grounding themselves in cultural narratives and systems thinking. Through storytelling, rituals, and grief work, they reconnect with community wisdom and explore what needs to be released to move forward.

Key themes:

  • Collective grief and remembrance
  • Systems of oppression and disconnection
  • Power and relational dynamics with human and non-human beings

Phase 2: World of Possibilities (June–July)

Participants explore creative emergence through reciprocal listening and imaginative practices. Project ideas are developed with peer feedback in collaborative spaces.

Key activities:

  • Co-working sessions
  • Mentored project development
  • Practices of curiosity and deep listening

Phase 3: Seeding Regenerative Futures (August–December)

40 selected Fellows activate their community-based projects with financial and mentorship support. They engage in experimentation, documentation, and reflection.

This phase includes:

  • Monthly mentorship check-ins
  • Cultural actions rooted in ancestral and creative knowledge
  • A culminating Celebration to showcase fellow projects and shared visions

Is This Fellowship Right for You?

This Fellowship is ideal for those who want to:

  • Work at the intersection of culture, community, and ecology
  • Move beyond scientific or policy-only frameworks
  • Embrace mystery, experimentation, and unlearning
  • Learn from and honor Indigenous and traditional wisdom systems
  • Commit to a journey of self-transformation and social imagination

You should not apply if:

  • Your main interest is technical, policy, or advocacy-only work
  • You prefer structured, Western-science-based learning without cultural or emotional components

What You’ll Gain

  • A supportive global community of changemakers
  • Deep insight into cultural regeneration and ecological healing
  • Mentorship from facilitators and peers
  • Financial support to bring your community project to life
  • Opportunities to engage across generations, disciplines, and cultures

Who Should Apply?

We are looking for individuals who are:

  • Rooted in community: You have a circle you can inspire and engage
  • Self-motivated and reliable: You can follow through on a 5-month journey
  • Open and reflective: You’re ready to unlearn and sit with uncertainty
  • Collaborative and generous: You value mutual support and co-creation
  • Creative and curious: You’re excited to explore cultural and artistic tools for change
  • Oriented toward the future: You want to cultivate long-term impact and relationships

Time Commitment

  • Learning Journey: 3 months (May–July 2025)
  • Project Implementation: 4 months (August–November 2025) for selected fellows
  • Includes weekly to bi-weekly sessions, mentorship, and independent project work

How to Apply

If you feel called to reweave the threads of culture, nature, and community — to imagine and co-create a future rooted in healing and relationship — we invite you to apply. This Fellowship is more than a program; it’s a movement of kinship and transformation.

Apply now and help seed regenerative futures from the inside out.

For more fellowship opportunities, please visit our website

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