• Call for Participants: Raise Your Voice | Autumn 2026 

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    Posted: 11 September 2026


    A talent-development program for starting creatives with a technology-oriented design/art practice

    October → November 2026


    Raise Your Voice (RYV) is a talent development programme for emerging designers and artists with a technology-oriented practice. The trajectory supports participants in developing their ‘voice’ amid the complexity of this topic, and in taking their first steps in the professional field.

    The programme includes sessions on the skills needed to set up a professional creative practice; individual coaching on both content and business development; and visits to cultural organisations in and around Eindhoven, connecting participants to the local professional field.

    The trajectory is intended for starting makers who work with and/or reflect on current technological developments. The dominant technological narrative is based on the idea that technological progress is inevitable and needs to endlessly extract resources, human and material alike. At Baltan, we reject the idea of a technological monoculture, and we research and implement alternative technological frameworks based on diversity, hope, solidarity, and regeneration, rooted in contemporary philosophy, art&tech, and tech-activism. We believe that artists and designers who work with a variety of technologies can break through top-down narratives and have the ability to translate critical research into digital culture, bringing these important topics to a wider audience.

    Raise Your Voice is organised in collaboration with DutchCulture and the alumni department of Design Academy Eindhoven and kindly supported by Cultuur Eindhoven.


    Program Overview:

    Session 1: Introduction | Friday 30 OCT: 15:00 - 18:00
    Participants are introducing themselves, their practice, and/or a current project they are working on to the group. Receiving feedback from the group and facilitators. Together we’ll discuss their main questions, challenges and dreams for further developing their practices.

    Session 2: Project Plan | Friday 6 NOV: 15:00 - 18:00
    We will work on developing and writing a project plan for different purposes: a funding application, a residency application, an open call for an exhibition, etc. Baltan presents examples, answers questions and offers feedback and guidance.

    Session 3: Budget | Friday 13 NOV: 15:00 - 18:00
    We focus on the financial side of artistic practice and project execution. We will do exercises on budgeting for projects or a practice, discussing which costs to include and how to define a proper hourly rate. Baltan will show budget formats and answer questions. Next, we will discuss existing financial tools in the sector, funding opportunities and the funding landscape in the Netherlands.

    Session 4: Formats | Friday 20 NOV: 15:00 - 18:00
    In this session, we discuss different formats to present projects to the audience. Focusing on a recent/current project you’re working on, we will explore alternative or additional formats to present the project. How do you structure a workshop? Which aspects of your project suit which formats?

    Session 5: International Opportunities | with DutchCulture and TransArtists / Friday 27 NOV: 15:00 - 18:00
    Simon de Leeuw from DutchCulture comes to present international opportunities for start-ups and enter into conversation with the participants about how these could fit with their practice. DutchCulture is a network and knowledge organisation for international cultural cooperation. It supports the Dutch cultural and creative sector with information, advice, and training. Lotte Geeven from TransArtist (TBC) will join and present an overview of relevant international residency opportunities. TransArtists shares knowledge and experience on artist-in-residence programmes and other international opportunities for creative professionals to temporarily stay and work elsewhere. They offer tools and services to artists, creative professionals, and policy makers on artist-in-residence programmes and related issues.

    Both Simon and Lotte are available during the session to answer questions and think along with the participants.

    Session 6: Local tour | Friday 4 DEC: 13:00 - 18:00 (TBD)
    We close the trajectory with visits to the cultural ecosystem in and around Eindhoven. During the trajectory, we will define, in conversation with the participants, which organisations would be relevant to visit and introduce them to.


    Practical Info:

    Deadline for Applications: Friday October 16th (roll-in basis, no selection).
    Registration: Please register by filling out the Tally form →here←. In the form, please include: your invoice details (for the participation fee), a short bio, a short motivation for why you want to join the trajectory, and (optional) a short description of a project you are currently working on.
    Fee and Payment: The participation fee is €200 ex VAT and will be invoiced after registration. Your spot is secured after we receive the payment.
    We have 2 spots available for participants who cannot pay the regular participation fee. If you want to apply for one of these spots, please email a motivation letter to Marlou van der Cruijsen (marlou@baltanlaboratories.org) before filling out the form. Please note that we may need to select candidates for these spots.
    Location: All sessions take place at Baltan’s BlaBlaLab in the Natlab building at Kastanjelaan 500 in Eindhoven. The sessions are planned on Friday afternoons from 15:00 - 18:00.
    Facilitation: Baltan Laboratories’ co-directors Lorenzo Gerbi and Marlou van der Cruijsen lead and facilitate the sessions, with occasional invited facilitators.
    Individual Coaching: While the sessions address the whole group, each participant can request up to 3 hours of individual coaching during the trajectory. Depending on your needs, the coaching sessions can be focused on content/artistic development, business development, or coaching, for example, on (funding) applications.


    About Baltan:

    Baltan Laboratories is an indisciplinary lab and development institution in digital culture, focused on (talent) development, learning, and research, based in Eindhoven (NL). Through para-academic and artistic research and cultural production, Baltan questions the current extractivist and accelerationist dynamics in the tech sector, based on the idea that technological progress is relentless and should feed on the inconsiderate extraction of human and non-human resources. In its current programme, Baltan gives centre stage to rehearsing alternative roles for technology in society by designing learning paths, projects, and collaborations that bridge different knowledge systems through creative strategies that go beyond a purely rational approach, including bodily, sensory, intuitive, and performative techniques. These alternative tech frameworks are grounded in diversity, hope, solidarity, and regeneration, rooted in contemporary philosophy, art & tech, and activist tech movements. In Eindhoven's tech ecosystem, Baltan offers a platform for debate on the societal effects of technology, connecting companies, cultural institutions, and academies in the region, nationally and internationally..
    Part of Baltan is its BlaBlaLab, an arts and tech makerspace and community for (starting) makers to work, make and experiment together. BlaBlaLab offers opportunities to work together in the space, experiment with technological equipment, get to know other makers at meet-ups, and further develop skills in making-oriented workshops.

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