Cities on Fire Fellowship 2026 - Apply Now

Cities on Fire Fellowship 2026: ChildFund's Paid Art and Media Call for Young Creatives Across Five Asian Cities

ChildFund has opened applications for the Cities on Fire Fellowship 2026, a paid programme that brings together young artists and journalists to document one of Asia's most under-reported climate stories: how extreme urban heat is quietly dismantling childhood. The fellowship spans five cities; Bangkok, Colombo, Jakarta, Manila, and New Delhi, and is built around a deceptively simple proposition: extreme heat isn't just an environmental issue. It's a child rights issue.

Applications close on 30 May 2026 at 11:59 pm IST. If you're an early-career artist or journalist based in one of the five cities, this is a serious opportunity to put your work in front of a regional and global audience while contributing to a campaign that's pushing heat resilience onto the public agenda.

The Story This Fellowship Wants to Tell

Across the five fellowship cities, playgrounds sit empty during peak heat hours. Classrooms turn into furnaces. Children show up to school dehydrated, then go home unable to sleep. Headaches and lethargy replace homework. None of this makes headlines because the harm is slow, distributed, and easily reframed as "just the weather."

ChildFund's framing flips that. Cities on Fire treats extreme heat as a public health emergency, an education crisis, and an equity crisis; one that compounds existing socio-economic inequality rather than affecting everyone equally. Children in informal settlements, in poorly ventilated homes, in schools without cooling infrastructure, are taking the heaviest hit.

The fellowship exists because that story isn't being told well enough. Mainstream climate coverage tends to focus on adaptation policy or disaster events. The everyday corrosion of children's lives, the lost play hours, the cognitive cost of learning in a furnace, the mental health toll of sleeplessness, gets lost in the noise.

About the Host: ChildFund

ChildFund is one of the longest-standing child-focused international organisations in the sector, with regional operations across Asia and decades of work on child protection, education, health, and climate-resilient development. Its Asia regional office has been building Cities on Fire as a multi-city advocacy initiative aimed at reframing urban heat through a child-rights lens. The fellowship is the campaign's creative engine.

What the Fellowship Covers

The Cities on Fire Fellowship runs along two parallel tracks. You apply to one, not both.

Art Track Fellows produce one original art piece that interprets the lived, emotional, and social experience of extreme heat. The brief is open to a wide range of formats: visual art, mixed media, photography, illustration, sculpture, 3D, and digital art. Strong submissions will centre children's realities and challenge audiences to imagine cooler, more child-friendly urban futures.

Media Track Fellows produce two published media reports in established outlets with demonstrable reach. Formats include in-depth features and photo essays. Acceptable outlets include national or regional media, credible digital publications, recognised independent journalism platforms, and high-quality multimedia platforms. Personal blogs and low-reach platforms don't qualify as primary publication venues, so factor that into your pitch.

Both tracks share the same editorial centre of gravity: lived experience, children's perspectives, inequities, and emerging solutions.

Who Should Apply

Eligibility is tightly defined. You'll need to meet all four criteria:

• Age 18 to 30 years

• Working proficiency in English (spoken and written)

• Early-career or emerging practitioner — artists across visual, mixed media, photography, illustration, sculpture, and 3D; journalists across print, digital, and multimedia formats

• Based in Bangkok, Colombo, Jakarta, New Delhi, or Manila, with active work or interest in urban contexts shaped by extreme heat

You don't need a long CV. The selection panel weighs creativity, ethical storytelling instincts, and the strength of your proposal more than credentials.

How to Apply

The application has four components:

1. Synopsis of proposed work (500–600 words) — Art applicants submit a concept note for their proposed piece. Media applicants submit two separate synopses, each 500–600 words, covering the two features they plan to produce. Media applicants also list intended publication outlets and confirm they'll handle internal editorial permissions themselves.

2. Portfolio / work samples — 2 to 3 examples of previously published or exhibited work.

3. Short bio — Background, experience, and current location.

4. Submit via the official Google Form — Two separate forms are in use: one for residents of Bangkok, Colombo, Jakarta, and Manila, and a separate one for New Delhi residents (linked under the India-specific "Cooler Cities. Healthier Children. Brighter Futures" branding).

To apply: Application links are available via the ChildFund Asia team. Write to childfundasia@childfund.org with the subject line 'queries' if you can't locate the form, or check the original call shared by ChildFund and APFSD networks.

• Application for Art & Media Fellowship for residents of New Delhi.

• Application for Art Fellowship for residents of Bangkok, Colombo, Jakarta and Manila.

For any clarifications during the application window, the same email address is the official point of contact.

Fellowship Timeline and Support

Duration: June to August 2026 Final delivery: All outputs due by 15 August 2026

Selected fellows take part in orientation workshops, structured check-ins, and (for the media track) mentorship and peer learning sessions. Art fellows submit their finished work to ChildFund's office in their respective cities, with digital art and photography accepted online.

Stipend: USD 200 to 375, calibrated by city to reflect local cost of living and exchange rates. Fifty per cent of the stipend is released at the start of the fellowship; the remaining fifty per cent on successful completion.

Fellows retain full copyright of their work. ChildFund receives a non-exclusive, royalty-free licence to use, publish, and adapt the outputs across its campaign channels, with full attribution to the creator in every use. A standard acknowledgement line accompanies all published outputs.

Selection Criteria

The panel will assess applications against six core criteria:

• Relevance to the theme and depth of understanding

• Creativity and storytelling strength

• Feasibility within the June–August timeframe

• Potential to shift narratives and inspire action

• Ethical and sensitive approach, particularly around child representation

• Diversity of perspectives and representation across the cohort

If you're working in or with marginalised communities, that's a strength, not a complication; but bring the ethical rigour the topic demands.

Key Details at a Glance

• Initiative: Cities on Fire — Cooler Cities. Healthier Children. Brighter Futures

• Host: ChildFund

• Eligible Cities: Bangkok, Colombo, Jakarta, New Delhi, Manila

• Age Range: 18–30 years

• Tracks: Art Fellowship OR Media Fellowship (one application per person)

• Duration: June–August 2026

• Final Delivery: 15 August 2026

• Stipend: USD 200–375 (location-adjusted)

• Contact: childfundasia@childfund.org

• Application Deadline: 30 May 2026, 11:59 pm IST

A Final Word

Climate storytelling fellowships are increasingly common. Climate storytelling fellowships that centre children, work across five cities simultaneously, and pay fellows to produce serious creative or journalistic output are rare. If you're sitting in Bangkok, Colombo, Jakarta, Manila, or New Delhi, and you've been looking for a credible platform to do this kind of work, this is one of the strongest opportunities currently on the calendar.

The deadline is tight. Keep your synopsis specific rather than abstract, ground your proposal in a story or visual idea you've already started thinking through, and submit early. Tight applications usually beat polished generalities.

For more fellowships, grants, and creative opportunities across the humanitarian and development sector, stay with Community For Development.