Process

• Complete the intake questionnaire and pay the application fee at checkout. The non-refundable application fee is a shared investment in the process, design, and alignment. This sliding scale fee contributes to the curatorial efforts and infrastructure that make these partnerships possible.

  • Sliding scale:

    • Organizational Budget Under $1M: $500

    • Organizational Budget $1M–$5M: $1,000

    • Organizational Budget Above $5M: $1,500

• Interviews with selected applicants will be conducted on a rolling basis to confirm engagement:

  • Indicate which tier (Sample Pack, Tier 1–3) your organization is applying for and why it aligns with your readiness, timeline, and scope of inquiry.

  • Review of Organizational Financial Statement (Past 2 Years) This is used to assess readiness, internal capacity, and ethical alignment—not to judge size or prestige.

  • Final decision will be based on fit, readiness, and the organization’s capacity to undertake artistic experimentation.

• Full payment must be made before the engagement begins

  • No counting hourly rates.

  • Artists take complete control of the budget to develop suitable interventions.

Background

UKAI Projects is launching this Request for Partnership (RFP) in response to a cultural and institutional moment defined by overwhelm, disconnection, and symbolic breakdown. Across sectors, we’re witnessing a hunger for meaning that metrics alone cannot satisfy. The rituals of innovation have grown predictable. The rebrands are losing their resonance. And while artificial intelligence accelerates everything, fewer people know what story they’re in anymore.

We are offering a different methodology: one honed by artists, tested in complexity, and grounded in care. Since 2017, UKAI has been working with high-potential individuals and organizations to transform how they engage with creativity—not as an accessory or communication tool, but as a methodology for structural and symbolic change. We believe this is a time to take risks—not reckless ones, but intentional, rigorous ones that expose new ground. Artists and cultural practitioners have long developed tools for navigating uncertainty, for transforming estrangement into insight, and for building meaning where systems falter. This accumulated practice has shaped an approach that is not only sincere but also urgent. We are inviting partners into encounters that shift how they think, act, and relate.

This RFP is an invitation to institutions and organizations that are ready to rehearse new modes of learning, change, and participation. It is sincere. It is demanding. It will feel unfamiliar. And it is built to be shared.

Partnership Model

Traditional Residency Model:
Organization identifies problem → Artist creates solution → Organization implements result

UKAI Model:
Organization names tension → Artist leads discovery process → Collaborative navigation of complexity

Anticipated Scenarios:

• Tech company: Artist spent 4 months examining "innovation fatigue," resulting in new approaches to creative risk-taking across teams

• Museum: Artist embedded in community engagement, leading to programming model shift after discovering performative listening patterns

• Healthcare org: Artist intervention in staff communication revealed hierarchical barriers; process paused mid-engagement for leadership restructuring, resumed 6 months later

Artists’ presence doesn’t seek to solve an assumed problem—it exposes what the problem really is.

Organizational Requirements

Minimum Investment: $20,000 CAD

Access Commitment:

• Senior leadership participation from selected organization (minimum 2 hours/week)

• Staff time allocation across departments, recognizing that the inquiry and artistic methodology are learned and shared through encounters, engagement, and direct action

• Providing visibility into Internal data, meetings, and decision-making processes

• Physical workspace and administrative support

Process Agreement:

• Artist leads creative direction during the engagement without institutional override

• Documentation of process (including challenges) for field learning

• There are no predetermined deliverables; instead, outcomes emerge through a shared process of discovery and response

• Up to 6-month timeline commitment

The absence of a final product is not a lack—it is an intentional design choice that prioritizes emergence, adaptation, and systems-level insight over packaged outcomes.

Investment Tiers

Sample Pack

• $20K

• 1 week

• Single department, up to 15 staff committed to the process

Tier 1

• $100K–150K

• up to 2 months

• Single department, 15–20 staff committed to the process

Tier 2

• $150K–250K

• up to 3 months

• Cross-departmental, 25–40 staff committed to the process

Tier 3

• $250K+

• up to 6 months

• Multi-site/systems, Organization-wide

All tiers include facilitation, documentation, and evaluation support via UKAI Projects.

Engagement Conditions

• Artists retain full creative ownership over the intellectual, relational, and methodological dimensions of their work throughout the engagement.

• Both parties commit to honest reflection when approaches don't achieve intended results

• UKAI facilitates learning from stuck moments, not just successful ones

• Documentation includes what we tried, what shifted, what remained unchanged in the form of interviews

• Organizations may implement process insights internally, but artistic methodologies—such as frameworks, scores, or conceptual models—may not be replicated or commercialized without consent.

• If artistic approaches are adapted into products, training modules, or other commercial applications, artists are entitled to 50% of derived value in perpetuity.
  Value may include IP licensing, derivative frameworks, organizational tools, or systems embedded directly from the artist’s contribution.

• Either party may pause the engagement to recalibrate, with UKAI facilitation available at a rate of $1,450/day

• All partnerships contribute to public learning through anonymized case studies

• No predetermined success metrics; evaluation is based on integrity of process, mutual learning, and conditions for transformation

Ready to Apply?

Confirm your organization can commit to:

• A willingness to enter an artist-led process with integrity and openness

• Active engagement in unfamiliar, experimental modes of inquiry

• Commitment to making internal practices visible, even when uncertain or incomplete

Questions? Contact [partnerships@ukaiprojects.com]

UKAI Projects embeds creative practitioners within institutions to navigate cultural complexity and structural possibility. We believe artists are essential collaborators in organizational transformation.