Last Open Call for Intercurricular Educational Platforms! - Round 5

Editorial Board

Do you want to develop experimental education? Do you want to organise a research platform outside the structure of a department? Do you want to team up with students, teachers and workshops specialists from across the academy to explore a particular topic?

The Editorial Board is looking for two new intercurricular platforms to start in January 2024. Please send your proposal before 22 November 2023 to redactieraad@rietveldacademie.nl!

What?

An intercurricular platform offers additional, small-scale education related to current topics and innovative issues, and is open to students and staff from all departments of the BA and MA programmes. A platform is a way to bring students, teachers and workshop specialists together around a topical question that drives their knowledge production. All platforms define their own working method, and will share their activities and research with the rest of the academy. Platforms position themselves in the spaces between, beside and outside regular departments, as well as engaging with spaces and practitioners outside of the academy.

Examples?

Have you heard of Writing Classes, Recipes for a Technological Undoing, the Garden Department, aux), Embodied Knowledge Bureau, Crip the Curriculum, Material Monopolies, Bread Oven, Motormond, Cranberry Juice or BYOB? All of these previous and current platforms built their own educational models, developed research and formed communities around shared urgencies, interests and desires. They, and the platforms to come, challenge existing educational structures and limits. They provide forms of learning and thinking that are not prioritised, or are actively rejected by, more traditional institutional demands. We strongly advise those who would like to scale up an existing initiative to apply.

How?

We hope that your own interests and concerns will lead your application. We are looking for applications that address topics that are not currently the focus of existing departments and other initiatives, that encourage experimental and interdisciplinary approaches to education, and require rethinking relational structures within the academy.

Need to know

Conditions:

All platforms should be initiated by a core group of at least three people. They can be students, alumni, teachers or workshop specialists. Each core group should include at least two current students. Teachers and workshop specialists should preferably already have a position at the academy.
The core group is responsible for initiating the platform, organising its activities, communicating events, updating the editorial board, managing the budget, submitting updates to the website, and sharing the outcomes with the rest of the academy.
The members of the core group will be compensated for their efforts for these practical and organisational matters only. Students do not receive compensation for the time spent on their education.
A platform should have a minimum of 10 participants alongside the core organisational group.
The group will be supported by the coordinator of the platforms who will assist with the budget, communication and planning.
A platform should be open to students from the Gerrit Rietveld Academie and Sandberg Instituut.
A platform will exist for two semesters.

What we offer:

A budget of € 12.750 for each platform, to last two semesters.
An online platform for the publication of the progress and results of the intercurricular platforms.
A coordinator who facilitates and coaches the platform, helping to manage the budget, deliver a financial report, guard the quality, substance and schedule of the platform, publish updates on the website, update the editorial board and share the outcomes and end result with the rest of the academy. (0,1 FTE per platform).
One review meeting with the coordinator and members of the editorial board.
Support from the editorial board with public presentations and documentation.

Applications:
Please submit a project plan and a budget overview. Together, these should not be more than four A4 pages. Include:

Names of all initiators and a description of their previous and current positions at the school.
If your initiative already exists, please be clear about previous and current activities, previous and current funding, and clarify how your new proposal relates to this.
Who you think will join your platform, why and how you will reach them.
What kind of research, events, experiments and questions your platform would like to develop or answer.
What kind of community you hope to build with your platform, and why.
Why your research is important for the academy.
A description/schedule of your activities and a plan for the two semesters.
A budget.
The location where you plan to host your activities (inside or outside of the academy), how often they will take place, and which facilities you think that you will need.

Send your project plan and budget overview to redactieraad@rietveldacademie.nl before November 22, 2023.

The Editorial Board will select 2 proposals in December 2023, and will take into account: urgency of proposal, feasibility, originality of either educational model, approach, or topic. The selected groups will be informed in December, and will begin their platform in January 2024.

Questions?

If you have questions or would like to join the digital walk-in consultation hour on Wednesday 1 November 10.00 – 11.00, please email: redactieraad@rietveld academie.nl.

Budget examples

Below are some sample budgets and sample applications. You are not meant to copy these verbatim, but for those who have little or no experience with writing applications they are meant to offer a bit of help and insight into what information an application can contain.

The compensation for working students is fixed in scale 1.4. The school prefers to offer working students a contract.
Please take into account that the budget of € 13.500 is including VAT costs.
In order to organise a contract for non-EU students, Gerrit Rietveld Academie needs to apply for a working permit.

Rate per hour from 1-6-2022 +2%:
Bachelors teacher — € 45,20
Masters head — € 61,50
Masters teacher — € 47,35
Alumni equal to salary costs scaled in 1-7 — € 24,75
Working student equal to salary costs scaled in 1-4 — € 23,15

Budget overview example 1
Working student (0,2 FTE, 8 hours per week: 2 students 4 hours per week or 4 students 2 hours per week x 44 weeks) € 8.148
Guest teachers (30 hours) € 1.356
Public programme € 1,000
Publication € 2,500
Unforeseen € 496
Total € 13,500

Budget overview example 2
Guest teacher (50 hours) € 2.260
Working student (0,2 FTE, 8 hours per week: 2 student 4 hours per week or 4 students 2 hours per week) € 8.148
Exhibition € 1,000 Materials € 2,000
Unforeseen € 92
Total € 13,500

Budget overview example 3
Working student (0,1 FTE, 4 hours per week, or 2 students 2 hours per week x 44 weeks) € 4.074
Alumni (100 hours) € 2.475
Guest teacher (40 hours) € 1808
Materials € 2,000
Exhibition € 2,000
Unforeseen € 1143
Total € 13,500

FAQ

Q: How many people have previous platforms engaged with?

Although the organising core group should be at least three people, a bigger organisational group makes for an easier and more evenly divided workload. Groups of around five organisers have fared well.
Regular attendees of the activities of the platform should be 10 or more people. Most platforms have gathered around 15 people on the regular. Some platforms have drawn 70 or so attendees to the occasional lecture, but this is in the extreme. Keep in mind scheduling conflicts for attendees! And whether there is something you can do to help people make it to your events, for instance by using a fixed day or setting your programme sufficiently in advance.

Q: Can alumni join too?

Yes, alumni can join the core group of a platform. Most of the platforms so far have at least two current students in their organising team.

Q: How can the platforms use their budget?

Each platform has a budget of €13.500, which should last two semesters, but some platforms spend more money in one semester than the other. The funds can go to inviting guests and teachers, purchasing materials, for excursions and workshops, or whichever other education and research related activity the platform might undertake.
A part of the budget goes to paying the organisational group for the labour of running the platform, but only the administrative hours are reimbursed, not the learning or attending of activities

Q: What other support, except financial, does the platform get?

All platforms are coordinated by Rosie Haward, who assists with budgeting, planning and communication. Additionally, the Editorial Board tries to support the platforms in providing spaces in the academy in which to gather, communicate, web presence and archiving. However, these tasks are still partially the responsibility of each platform. While platform gathering has precedence over personal student projects, platforms still need to communicate with their coordinator, reception and facilities about which spaces they need, when, and how often. If this is left until last minute rooms might not be available due to being used by departments.
Another example: while the Editorial Board and Public Rietveld happily amplify the communication sent out by the platforms, it’s essential that the platforms deliver their announcements and the material they would like to have archived.
Finally: the platforms meet with the Editorial Board at the end of the second semester, to give feedback and raise concerns. The Editorial Board is constantly trying to grow with the platforms and better figure out how to support them.

Q: What is the outcome of the two semesters that a platform exists?

The point of the platforms is to give the Rietveld/Sandberg community a chance to delve into topics and methods that they are interested in, but which aren’t currently accessible in the academy. The learning and the community that forms around each platform is the ‘result’.

Q: How active are platforms?

A realistic frequency for platforms to host events is once or twice a month, perhaps with a smaller gathering/s in-between. To host one or two events each week is, while possible, perhaps too ambitious to be realistic and sustainable. To host only one event every two or so months is probably not frequent enough, and might not provide enough of a base for the research that the platform is meant to do.

Q: How much time do organisers usually spend on their platform?

Bear in mind that the platforms organise small-scale education. How much time platform organisers spend on the platform varies greatly, depending on their activities and the form they take, as well as who the organisers are. On average most participants get reimbursed around 2-6 hours per week, averaging 15 hours per platform. This could be evenly or unevenly divided among organisers.
Platforms can have teachers or staff in their organisational team, who, with their higher hourly rate, would use up more of the budget. This is something to keep in mind.

Ambitious organisers have often spent much more time on administration than what has been budgeted for, which the Editorial Board cannot prevent, but keep in mind that this could present challenges when combining the platform with your regular study. We advise individuals in their final year to team up with other students, to better divide the workload and avoid overwork.

Q: What happens after two semesters of funding?

Platforms have asked the Editorial Board if extra funding was available to continue the platform after two semesters. During the quality agreements period (2019-2024) the Editorial Board wants to support a total of 13 platforms. Therefore, the Editorial Board will prioritise new platforms over platforms that have already received funding. Naturally, the members of the Editorial Board will help with introducing platforms to other parties in the school that may help them continue their work.