International Support

• Norwegian and Norway-based artists, curators and other art professionals who are invited to participate in exhibitions or projects abroad.
• Art institutions and curators abroad who invite Norwegian or Norway-based artists, curators and other art professionals to participate in exhibitions and other projects abroad.

Artists who are collaborating as a group can apply together in a single application.

If you are applying for more than one exhibition or project, these must be applied for in separate applications.

If an institution or curator applies for International Travel Support on behalf of an artist, the artist may submit a separate application for International Production Support, provided that this support has not already been applied for by an institution or curator.

International Support is not eligible for:

• Projects or exhibitions that have been previously applied for. These are considered evaluated by the OCA jury and will not be accepted.
• Applicants who are students when the project applied for is taking place (PhD fellows are exempt from this rule).
• Norwegian institutions or organisations with annual public funding.

Applications for International Support are accepted for exhibitions or projects abroad. Projects abroad include active participation in professional seminars and other public programmes abroad.

OCA’s International Support scheme has funding allocated to two main types of activity: International Travel Support and International Production Support.

Participation in art fairs must be applied for through the International Support for Galleries and Independent Exhibition Spaces (ISGIES) support scheme. Individual artists working with printed matter are eligible for International Travel Support when presenting their self-published artistic practices at art book fairs.

International Travel Support

Support can be provided for:
✔️ Travel
✔️ Accommodation
✔️ Transport of artworks, including packaging and building of crates
✔️ Insurance of artworks during transport
✔️ Technical production (graphic design and printing) of relevant printed material, such as catalogues

Support is not provided for:
╳ Per diem or living costs
╳ Salary or other honorarium
╳ Project development, research or study trips
╳ Rental of spaces or participation fees
╳ Fees for the writing of texts
╳ Travel for production assistants

Costs that are not supported will be deducted from the total application amount if they are applied for.

International Production Support

Artists invited to produce new artworks, that will be shown for the first time in an international exhibition or project, are eligible for International Production Support.

Support can be provided for:
✔️ Materials
✔️ Services (technical expertise directly involved in the production of the artwork, such as sculpture casting companies, videographers, performers, etc.)

Support is not provided for:
╳ Installation costs
╳ Travel
╳ Equipment and tools
╳ Costs for employees at the hosting institution
╳ General costs for studio assistants
╳ Rental of studios and workshops
╳ Artist fees (other than for external performers/technical expertise involved in the production of the work)

Costs that are not supported will be deducted from the total application amount if they are applied for.

All applications that are complete and approved by OCA's administration are assessed by an international jury appointed by OCA. The OCA jury consists of four members appointed by the OCA board.

The OCA board formally approves the proposals made by the OCA jury.

All applicants are treated equally. Equality means that all persons are equal regardless of their gender, pregnancy, parental leave, caring responsibilities, ethnicity, religion, beliefs, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression or age.

The OCA jury makes decisions based on its professional and discretionary judgment of the artistic quality of the project. Artistic quality is assessed based on:

• The artistic practice
• The project
• The institution or exhibition space

Support is prioritised for applications with projects initiated by, or taking place at, key international art institutions and project spaces. The jury may also emphasise the potential opportunities to expand international activity and contribute to the applicant’s long-term development.

The budget and other funding is taken into account when assessing if the project’s finances are realistic.

Grants are prioritised based on the scheme’s criteria, the cohort of applications received in each application round, and the budget allocated to the scheme. Applicants will receive a response within 6–8 weeks of the application deadline.

Please note that the jury's decisions are final and cannot be appealed. OCA does not provide reasons for individual grant decisions.

The OCA jury adheres to the rules on impartiality in the Public Administration Act (chapter 2).

Application deadlines

3rd of February, 3rd of May and 3rd of October. The application form closes at 23:59 (CET) on the day of the application deadline.

Language of the application

English – all information, text and attachments in the application must be submitted in English.

Requirements for the application

• A formal and signed invitation from an art institution, gallery or art space abroad, including the names of all the Norwegian and/or Norway-based artists applied for and a period for the project.
• CV and personal information for the Norwegian and/or Norway-based artists applied for.
• Information about the applicant.
• Descriptions of the project.
• Portfolio (visual material).
• Budget.

Budget requirements

• If you apply for support to produce new works, OCA will need a detailed breakdown of the production costs. All the expenses applied for (the various materials and technical services) must be clearly stated.
  
• OCA's support is not intended to cover the entirety of the project. In addition to the support applied for from OCA, the application must include other sources of funding, such as public or private funding, support from the hosting institution or own means.
• If applying to any of the other organisations in the Norwegian Arts Abroad (NAA) network, the total support from the different applications cannot exceed the amount stated in the budget presented to OCA. It is the applicant's responsibility and obligation to inform OCA of the results of the other applications if this exceeds the stated budget.
  

An application may be rejected on administrative grounds if:

• It does not meet the application requirements for International Support set out in these guidelines
• It is received after the application deadline
• The project takes place in countries, areas or regions that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs advises against visiting in its official travel advice.
• The project has opened or been finalised before the application deadline.
• The report from a previously granted project has not been submitted within its deadline
• The necessary application requirements, such as a budget or invitation, are missing or incomplete
• Material or text in the application is in languages other than English and is not corrected within the deadline set by the administration.

Right of complaint

If you wish to appeal an individual decision made by OCA regarding grants or administrative assessments, the appeal must be submitted in writing to OCA within three weeks of receiving the decision. The complaint should be justified based on the information that OCA has used in connection with the specific decision.

Only errors in administrative decisions and decisions based on incorrect facts can be appealed. The decisions of the OCA jury are final and cannot be appealed. OCA does not provide reasons for individual grant decisions.

If the conditions for processing the complaint are met, OCA's administration may either reverse the decision or forward the complaint to the relevant appeal body. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is the appeal body for International Travel Support and the OCA Board is the appeal body for International Production Support. The decision of the appeal body is final and cannot be appealed further.

The grant is earmarked for the specific project, and the eligible costs within the support received (International Travel Support and/or International Production Support). Funding cannot be transferred to other projects. If the project is cancelled or postponed from the dates stated in the application, the applicant must notify OCA immediately.

Significant changes to the project (location, content, participants), schedule or expenses must be applied for in writing and approved by OCA before the grant can be spent.

The grant must be used within two years after the date on the grant confirmation letter; otherwise, the grant will be considered cancelled. Unused parts of the grant must be returned to OCA.

If the grant is not spent in compliance with the terms and conditions of the agreement, OCA can withhold or reclaim the grant in part or in full. This can happen if:

• The grant has been spent on a different purpose or exhibition space than that for which the grant was awarded, without written approval.
• The project is cancelled.
• The grant is not spent during the period for which it was awarded
• There is no satisfactory account of how the funds have been utilised
• The grant recipient provided OCA with incorrect or misleading information or concealed facts that had a notable impact on the grant decision, amount or terms of the grant.

As a grant recipient, please note that you are obliged to keep up to date with and follow the Norwegian authorities' official travel advice.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs also produces practical travel information that you may find useful to familiarise yourself with.

As a condition for this support, OCA requires that the institution hosting your project give credit to the Office for Contemporary Art Norway by reproducing its name and logo in all printed matter, catalogues, invitations, press releases, press events and web-related material released in conjunction with the project.

When you post about your project on social media, you can mention OCA by name or tag @oca_norway (Instagram) or Office for Contemporary Art Norway (Facebook)

For applications submitted in 2026 and onward:
To request grant payment, you must submit a payment request through the application platform eApply.

For applications submitted before 2026:
To request grant payment, you must submit a payment request through the application platform stikk. Under the section ‘Your application’ at the bottom of OCA’s page for Visual Arts on stikk.no, you need to enter the last five digits of your reference number to access the forms for your payment requests, reports, and the status of your application.

Note: there are separate payment request forms for International Travel Support and International Production Support.

International Production Support can only be transferred directly to the artist, unless we receive a written confirmation from the artist stating that they prefer the institution to manage the production grant. If the applicant is an institution or a curator applying for production support on behalf of an artist, you need to inform the artist of this grant and that they must contact OCA to request the payment. We will then need the following information from the artist:

• Address
• E-mail address
• Telephone Number
• Bank account number
• Organisation number or personal number
• How much of the grant that is to be used on materials and/or services

The transfer of the grant can be done, at the earliest, six months in advance of the opening of the exhibition or event. It is the responsibility and obligation of the applicant to keep OCA informed of the correct dates for the exhibition/project. This is important for the payment, the report and the possibility for OCA to follow and communicate about your project.

Following Norwegian rules for grants, scholarships etc., the Office of the Auditor General of Norway (Riksrevisjonen) is entitled to verify that the grants are used according to the stated conditions. To facilitate this, the grantee must complete the report form and declare how the grant was spent within one month after the completion of the project.

For applications submitted in 2026 and onward:
Reports are submitted through the application platform eApply.

For applications submitted before 2026:
Reports are submitted through the application platform stikk.no. Under the section ‘Your application’ at the bottom of OCA’s page for Visual Arts on stikk.no,, you need to enter the last five digits of your reference number to access the forms for your payment requests, reports, and the status of your application.

• The report must include the project accounting that shows how the grant from OCA was spent. The project accounts must show the total costs for the categories applied for.
• If receiving International Production support, an additional production report must be filled in by the artist. This form must be uploaded as part of the main report for the project and can be downloaded from the main reporting page.
• Attendance number for the exhibition or project.
• Documentation of the exhibition or project.
• Deviations of more than 10% between the project accounting and the budget on which the grant was based must be explained.

OCA will not accept new applications to the support scheme if a final report from a previous project is missing past its deadline.

Applicants are required to send two copies of exhibition catalogues and all printed materials related to the funded project to OCA. When the exhibition or project has been documented, digital assets should be supplied (photography / video / audio etc.). Once the exhibition or project is completed, the press department should provide a comprehensive press file. Physical promotional material is to be sent to:

Office for Contemporary Art Norway
Re: International Support / Report
Ref.nr.: [your reference number]
Wergelandsveien 17
0167 Oslo, Norway

Please note that OCA may publish the names and projects of successful applicants, along with images from applications and reports on various non-commercial platforms, including the OCA website, newsletter, and Annual Report.

Registration of personal data, GDPR. Art. 5
To apply for support, it is obligatory for applicants and participants named in the project to register personal data for OCA to check that the application terms are met and for the jury to evaluate the application.

The applicant must register all data themself. The applicant may ask for corrections, deletions and limitations of parts of the data they have registered after the jury evaluation.

Archiving of personal data, GDPR. Art. 13
The personal data that applicants provide in the application will be archived in the application platform to provide a historical account of the applicants to this support scheme without any time limit. Previously received applications and support from OCA are included in the information that the jury might ask to access within the jury meeting evaluation process. For each application round, access to application data in the application platform is given to the jury members for a limited period until the jury meeting. OCA employees and IT personnel responsible for the technical platform have permanent access to all data stored in the application platform.

Applicants can ask for access to and rectification or erasure of parts of this data after the jury process.

Data on all applicants will be used for developing statistics for the evaluation of the support schemes and for other cultural-political purposes, without any links to the names of the applicants.

All have the right to complain to The Norwegian Data Protection Authority if the data controller of Office for Contemporary Art Norway (OCA), Nedre gate 7, 0551 Oslo. Telephone: 23233150, uses personal data stored in the application platform in conflict with what has been stated here.

Publishing of personal data, GDPR. Art. 6, no. 1, letter b
Those who are granted support must fill in a payment request to have the granted amount paid.

This obligatory payment request is an agreement between the Office for Contemporary Art Norway (OCA) and the participant(s) or institution(s) being given support. It is based on the assumption that Office for Contemporary Art Norway (OCA) is granted the right to convey data on whom the support is granted to, the main person(s) in the project, the description of the project that the support was granted for, the time for the project and the amount granted – without any time limit.

The Office for Contemporary Art Norway’s (OCA) mission from the Norwegian Government is to promote and professionalise Norwegian participation in international collaboration within visual art.

The support is provided by public means, and it is important that the allocation of the support is transparent.

Office for Contemporary Art Norway (OCA) executes a public function and must in retrospect be able to document how the institution has attended to this assignment by audit.