opportunities

FOR UNDERREPRESENTED COMMUNITIES IN ART AND TECH

 

Current opportunities

how do I know if I qualify?

All of our opportunities are for underrepresented communities in art and tech, including women, BIPOC, and LGBTQ+, who otherwise would be unable to attend an online course or in-person program due to financial limitations. 

For example, you may qualify for financial hardship if you have significant debt, have significant medical expenses not covered by insurance, have educational expenses, or receive public assistance.

You may not qualify for financial hardship if you own the home you live in; have investments, retirement accounts or inherited wealth; travel recreationally; have access to family resources in times of need; have received funding (e.g., from an employer or a grant) for continuing education; or work part-time (or not at all) by choice.**

We ask everyone to consider their financial situation honestly before applying. As a small, independently funded organisation, we rely on tuition fees to support our instructors, cover our space, and keep our programs running. We appreciate you reading these guidelines carefully and applying for financial support if you genuinely need it.

*Additionally, for Berlin-based scholarships, we ask that applicants have lived in Berlin for at least a year (anmeldung may be requested).

**Credit and gratitude to Tamera for lots of this wording.

 

solidarity tickets

For our online courses, we offer a limited number of reduced-fee solidarity tickets. The deadline to apply is no later than one week before the course begins. We will notify you if your application has been approved shortly after this deadline (as our regular sign-ups determine the number of solidarity tickets we can accommodate, we can only notify you shortly after the sign-up deadline). To see which courses offer solidarity tickets and to apply, see below.

This will allow participants to pay a reduced fee for online courses (€155 for our five-week classes).

scholarships

For our in-person programs, we offer a limited number of full scholarships for those living in Berlin*. The deadline to apply for these scholarships varies. To see which courses offer scholarships, for deadline information, and to apply, see below.

work exchange

For those living in Berlin* who want to take either an online course or an in-person course and have time but not the full fee, we offer a limited number of work exchange opportunities, which give the option to have 25% to 50% of the fee covered through working at the School of Machines. The work exchange will take place only on-site at our space in Berlin (remote work is not possible) for a minimum of 5 hours. Work exchanges should start four weeks before an online course or an in-person program begins, so please apply as soon as possible.

Work duties could include:

  • Admin and Operations: Processing applications, correspondence, scheduling support

  •  Content & Documentation: Photo/video documentation of programs, alumni interviews, writing for the blog

  • Technical Support: Website maintenance, Discord/community management, AV setup during programs

  • Space & Physical Support: Studio upkeep, event setup and breakdown, hosting during open hours

  • Partnership & Outreach: Helping build and maintain relationships with other orgs, spaces, and collaborators

Examples of how it works assuming a 25% work exchange:

  • 75% of the fee is paid before the program starts.

  • The remaining fee is worked off at €25/hour, ideally completed during the month before the course starts (the €25/hour rate is the same rate we use internally).

  • If the hours aren't completed, the remaining balance becomes due.

This is real work, not a few social posts, and we treat it that way. We'll figure out together what fits based on your skills and our current needs. 

To see which courses offer a work exchange and to apply, see below.

application form

The application form for solidarity tickets, scholarships, and work exchanges is below. Please note: unfortunately we rarely but sometimes need to cancel a course (for example, instructor illness or failure to meet the minimum number of sign-ups). If this happens, we will work with you to find a solution, but we may need to cancel the opportunity and issue refunds where applicable.

Deadlines:
After Hours: (AI) Agent Provocateurs, full program scholarship apply by 20. September
Latent Bodies, reduced fee solidarity tickets apply by 21. September