Open Call
Young Critics Program 2025
Rebuilding
the Role of Criticism
In a world overwhelmed by spectacle and commodified thought, criticism must regain its power as a tool for intellectual, ethical, and political engagement. The Young Critics Program 2025 invites a new generation of thinkers to engage deeply with cultural structures and histories.
Program Overview
This fully online program bridges archival wisdom, oral histories, and modern technology to explore socio-cultural dynamics, particularly within South Asia and the Global South. Participants will gain insight into how historical narratives shape present cultural realities.
AM I Eligible?
We invite emerging thinkers from all over the world who are committed to critical inquiry. The program seeks to foster arts practitioners, Curators, cultural programmers and everyone at the intersection in between.
The critic’s role goes beyond evaluation; it involves interrogating how value, identity, and power are constructed. This program encourages participants to become philosophical readers who understand critique within social, political, and historical contexts, not just as commentary on art.
Redefining Criticism
Program Structure
The program is a transnational, online initiative that offers mentorship, curated readings, and interdisciplinary engagement. Participants will delve into cinema, politics, media studies, postcolonial theory, and speculative inquiry. The program culminates in a collaborative project—a critical publication, symposium, or thought archive.
The
Rationale
In a world where criticism often seeks consensus, this program aims to embrace complexity and contradiction. It creates a space for intellectual discomfort and invites participants to articulate the unsayable. We seek to restore criticism as a public tool for meaningful intellectual discourse.
In the face of global homogenization, this program preserves and critically examines cultural narratives from the Global South. It fosters international dialogue and aims to bridge traditional knowledge with contemporary methodologies, ensuring that diverse cultural voices are represented.
Relevance and Objectives
Program Goals
Cultivate critics who analyse cultural phenomena through interdisciplinary lenses.
Bridge traditional knowledge with modern critical approaches.
Preserve and examine cultural narratives from the Global South.
Foster collaboration among emerging critics across borders.
Selection Process
Applicants must complete an application form, an online interview, and pay a modest commitment fee upon selection. Attendance and on-camera participation are mandatory, with a strict no-tolerance policy for harmful behaviour.
This program is for those eager to engage with cultural narratives critically and thoughtfully. If you believe criticism can transform the way we think and restructure conventional norms, we invite you to apply and join this intellectual journey.
Join The Discovery
Download the complete Open Call document for detailed information, application guidelines, submission link, FAQs, and more.
Key dates/ Timeline:
Applications Open: 1st May
Curriculum Published: 30th June
New Applications Deadline: 26th July
Mentors’ Announcement: 31st July
Interviews: on or before 30th July
Selection Emails Sent: 31st July
Confirmation of Applicants: 1st August
Program Dates:
4th August – 5th September 2025
with continuous mentorship and collaboration beyond the program duration.
