Public notice offers grants to journalists and artists for productions about the ocean
Registration will be open from this Wednesday, 19th, and will continue until April 27th
The Boticário Group Foundation for Nature Protection, in cooperation with UNESCO and the Museum of Tomorrow, is launching this Wednesday, April 19, the fifth edition of the Ocean Connection Environmental Communication Call, which will support journalistic and artistic productions related to ocean conservation. With the theme "Art and the Ocean," this edition's main novelty is the inclusion of the Art category, which will award up to five grants of R$10,000 each to artists, plus an additional amount of up to R$14,000 for the production of selected proposals. In the already traditional Journalism category, up to five reporting projects will be selected to receive grants of R$10,000 each. Applications will remain open until April 27 and must be submitted through form online available on the website of Boticário Group Foundation.
"Amid the Decade of the Ocean, our goal is to foster the production of quality journalistic content, deepening debates on various topics about the challenges and examples of ocean conservation, with approaches not always seen in the daily coverage of Brazilian media outlets. This year, in addition to reporting, we will support the production of works of art that raise awareness, educate, and engage society in favor of knowledge, awareness, and conservation of the oceans," says Omar Rodrigues, Senior Manager of Engagement, Communications, and Institutional Relations at Fundação Grupo Boticário, an institution that celebrates its 35th anniversary in 2025. Recognized as one of the representatives of the Decade of the Ocean in Brazil, the Foundation works in partnership with UNESCO and other institutions in the country to influence public mechanisms in favor of the ocean and raise awareness.
Opportunity for artists
In the new Art category, artists can apply for support for the production of new works that address, in an engaging and meaningful way, the ocean and marine environments and the conservation challenges they face. Proof of regular work for at least two years is required, along with a CV and portfolio. Applications are individual.
The works may be created using a variety of techniques, including sculpture, painting, graffiti, engraving, drawing, digital works, and other formats and techniques. Selected proposals may be exhibited in the outdoor areas of the Museum of Tomorrow in Rio de Janeiro as part of its program.
The selection will consider projects that successfully translate complex environmental issues into transformative artistic experiences, demonstrating how art can be a powerful tool for understanding contemporary environmental challenges. Another key criterion will be the ability to raise awareness of marine conservation, as well as its dialogue and viability, should it be presented in the open-air exhibition space of the Museum of Tomorrow, located on the shores of Guanabara Bay.
Journalistic content
In the Journalist category, proposals will be accepted that explore how artistic expressions can stimulate social engagement in favor of ocean conservation or that demonstrate how marine conservation can influence art. Graduate journalists or professionals who have demonstrated regular work in the field for at least two years can apply for reporting grants, without needing to specialize or cover environmental issues. Submissions must include a letter of approval from a media outlet guaranteeing publication of the journalistic material produced with the financial support. Reports or series of reports may be published in print media, portals, podcasts, websites, radio, or TV stations.
Selection criteria include creativity, originality of the proposal, relevance of the topic to society, consistency of the investigation and dissemination plan, as well as the candidate's resume and quality of previous work.
Live to answer questions
The organizers of the Edital Conexão Oceano will host a live broadcast on March 26th, at 11 am, on the channel Boticário Group Foundation on Youtube to present more information about the selection process in each category and answer questions from those interested in submitting work.
Ocean Decade
The Conexão Oceano Call for Proposals is aligned with the Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development, or simply the Ocean Decade (2021-2030), which seeks to raise awareness among the global population about the importance of the ocean and mobilize public, private and civil society actors in actions that promote the health and sustainability of the seas.
SERVICE
Ocean Connection Environmental Communication Call
Registration: from March 19th to April 27th, this form available on the website of Boticário Group Foundation.
More information: Read the notice regulations here. Participate in the live broadcast about the notice on March 26th, at 11 am, on the channel Boticário Group Foundation on Youtube.
Journalist Category: aimed at journalists and press professionals with proven regular experience of at least two years. Grant value: up to five grants of R$10,000 each. Art Category: aimed at artists with proven experience of at least two years. Grant value: up to five grants of R$10,000 each, plus up to R$14,000 for the production of the work.
About the Boticário Group Foundation
With 35 years of history, the Boticário Group Foundation for Nature Protection is one of Brazil's leading corporate foundations working to conserve Brazil's natural heritage. Focused on society's adaptation to climate change, particularly in relation to water security and coastal protection, the institution works to prioritize biodiversity conservation across all sectors. Aligned with the UN Sustainable Development Goals, it believes that nature is the foundation for the country's social and economic development. A non-profit organization maintained by the Boticário Group, the Boticário Group Foundation helps mobilize diverse stakeholders to find solutions to key environmental, social, and economic challenges. It has supported more than 1,800 initiatives across all biomes in the country. It protects two Atlantic Forest and Cerrado nature reserves—the biomes most threatened by deforestation in Brazil—covering a total area of 11,000 hectares, equivalent to 70 Ibirapuera Parks. With 1.4 million followers on social media, it also seeks to bring nature closer to people's daily lives. The institution was inspired by Miguel Krigsner, founder and chairman of the Boticário Group Board, and was created in 1990, two years before the Rio-92 Earth Summit, a landmark event for global environmental conservation.
| www.fundacaogrupoboticario.org.br | @fundacaogrupoboticario (Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, Youtube, TikTok).
About UNESCO: The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization contributes to peace and security by leading multilateral cooperation in the fields of education, science, culture, communication, and information. With 194 Member States, UNESCO has over 2,300 staff and coordinates a network of more than 2,000 protected cultural and natural sites. Headquartered in Paris with offices in 54 countries, the Organization's Director-General is Audrey Azoulay. “As wars begin in the minds of men, it is in the minds of men that the defenses of peace must be built” – UNESCO Constitution, 1945.
About the Museum of Tomorrow
The Museum of Tomorrow is a science museum, permeated by the transformations of time, based on the interactions between humanity and the planet. Designed by architect Santiago Calatrava and located in Praça Mauá in Rio de Janeiro, the museum aims not to be a repository of objects, but rather a dynamic space of knowledge, where science, philosophy, and art intertwine to raise fundamental questions about the times in which we live and the world we inhabit. Museums are not neutral. They are social constructions, spaces for contested narratives, and places where the political imagination of the present is projected into the future. At the Museum of Tomorrow, the museological function is not only to conserve, but to activate. To trigger reflections, to challenge certainties, to provoke shifts in perspective, to displace crystallized discourses, and to propose new ways of seeing and inhabiting the world. In this sense, art permeates and tensions the museological experience. Not as an illustration, but as an epistemological gesture, as an exercise in language and critical imagination. The art we seek to shelter is not contemplative, but insurgent. It is the stuff of fissures and fabrications, capable of opening cracks in the order of the visible and engendering other modes of existence. We create exhibitions, actions, and programs whose poetics engage with the urgencies of our time and the challenges of thinking about the future. Not a linear, redemptive, or inevitable future, but a field of forces and possibilities, a contested territory that demands action and invention in the present. form