TRAVEL GRANTS FOR WRITERS

Written By From the Margins

An Open Call
Deadline for Applications: 1 June, 2026

Phụ Lục, Sáu Múi, 2025, performance video installation. Image courtesy of Đặng Thuỳ Anh and Phụ Lục.

deCentral offers  emerging writers living in Thailand the chance to travel across the country, researching specific artistic communities. 

Responding to the growing landscape of independent art initiatives and artistic practices witnessed across Thailand, acknowledging the scarcity of patrons and expansive audiences that keeps pace with it, deCentral responds with a travel grant for art writers in Thailand. 

This program invites 6 emerging writers (regardless of age or nationality) currently living in Thailand, to propose travel and research, towards one piece of writing that critically engages the art ecology beyond Bangkok, discussing exhibitions, art events, artists or collectives.

Each grant aims to raise invested awareness of artistic communities across Thailand, whilst encouraging new voices in art writing, towards fostering deeper reflection of this country’s diverse artistic scene. 

Selected essays will be published in partnership with Art & Market and 101 World, in English and Thai respectively.

Grant recipients will receive a writer’s fee and travel support to conduct research and fieldwork for up to 10 days. All recipients will be expected to attend an online workshop on critical considerations of art writing, with specific focus on the role of critique in relation to art and its social engagement.

Applications will be assessed by Zoe Butt, Van Do, Vipash Purichanont and Ariane Sutthavong

APPLY NOW

CONDITIONS OF SUPPORT

Conditions of deCentral Support:

  • Grant of 38,000 THB each (inclusive of air and ground travel, accommodation, per diem and writer’s fee)

  • Writer must submit one text for publication within 2 months of travel completion

  • Length of text:

    • Articles: 3,000 words (excluding footnotes)

    • Reviews (exhibitions, art events): 1,000-2,000 words

  • Length of research travel: minimum 7 days

  • The writing can take the form of critical essays, reviews, interviews (or any other form approved by deCentral)

  • Introductions and connections to relevant people, organizations, and initiatives in the Thai art scene, if desired

  • Writer to provide one short reflective piece (journal/diary-style) or excerpt from submitted essay, for deCentral’s website (max 500 words)

ASSESSMENT CRITERIA

Applications will be assessed on:

  • Originality and clarity of the proposed idea

  • Relevance to local/regional art scenes in Thailand 

  • Strength of writing (writing sample required)

  • Feasibility of travel and research plan, with clarity in articulating the need for travel and how groundwork is implemented during your stay

ELIGIBILITY

Eligibility of proposal:

  • Exhibitions/art projects should take place within one year of the grant’s open call

  • Artists or collectives discussed, whether still active or not, should be based in Thailand 

  • Engage critical and comparative observations of current dynamics of a specific art ecology

  • Writing must have never been published anywhere

Eligibility of applicant:

  • Writer can demonstrate ability to write fluently in Thai or English

  • Writer must be an individual living (with work permit or residency status) in Thailand

  • Writer has references that confirm ethical attitudes towards working with community

  • Writer has limited publication history

  • Writer has a commitment to continuing to write about art

APPLICATION REQUIREMENTS (Application submission in Thai or English)

Submit all of the below as a single PDF (file size ≤ 15 MB):

  • Abstract of 500 words 

  • Proposal outlining form of writing, area of interests, existing research, travel plan (max 3 pages), specifying the need and relevancy of research travel

  • 1-3 writing samples (published or unpublished) in Thai or English 

  • Biography of the writer (200 words) in Thai and English

  • Two references, including names, emails, and contact details

Applications that do not provide all of the above information will not be considered. Successful applicants will be notified by 1 July, 2026

From the Margins