Banana Club has announced the second iteration of the Banana Club Artist Fund ( BCAF). The BCAF 2023 Open Call invites artists looking to discuss themes around ‘ The socioeconomic patterns among African LGBTQIA+ communities’ through their work. Interested applicants are encouraged to submit a portfolio of their work via a Google form on the bananaemoji. com website. Submissions to the call close Wednesday 5th July 2023, at 5pm. Established in 2022, The Banana Club Artist Fund is a three month- long residency designed to support LGBTQIA+ artists and creative entrepreneurs as they produce and present an artistic project facilitated through the support of Banana Club. The Fund, says a press release, is open to emerging LGBTQIA+ artists living and practicing in Botswana. This exciting opportunity aims to enable and nurture the creation of new work through a combination of support including mentorship from an established artist, financial and curatorial support, a dedicated public relations programme, and an exhibition at the end of the residency. The release further says that artists will be selected through a free open call and the shortlist and final selection of the artist in residence will be decided by an expert panel of curators and artists. The selected artist will create a new body of work over a period of approximately three months throughout August to October 2023. The entire programme, including the resulting exhibition, will be curated, and produced by Banana Emoji Studio. According to Tanlume Enyatseng, Banana Club Founder and Creative Director, over the years, the LGBTQIA+ community has often been sidelined, faced extreme marginalisation and exclusion. “Thus, there is a wide socioeconomic variation among queer persons that has been overlooked by previous research, even though socioeconomic status is deeply intertwined with sexual minority status and union status. Banana Club is not only driven to continue to explore and advance the work of marginalized artists and artisans but to promote the visual arts as a tool for social change,” he explains. He further says that the residency welcomes visual artists across all disciplines to apply for the transformative opportunity to receive support in making and exhibiting new work. Artists interested in applying and who would like assistance with their application can contact Banana Club Artist Fund on WhatsApp at < a href=” tel:+ 267 72892861”>+ 267 72892861</ a> or email bananaemojibw@ gmail. com*