Residencies
Pro Helvetia’s residency programme enables artists from Switzerland and from the regions of its liaison offices to spend up to three months immersed in a different daily context. The residencies offer possibilities for artistic exchange, reflection, and the emergence of new work, collaborations, and ideas — grounded in the essential conditions of time and space. Some may culminate in public presentations or open studios, while others are more open-ended, prioritising research and reflection.
The call for residencies in Switzerland and the regions of the liaison offices is open once a year, from 1 January to 1 March. The selection process is finalised by July. The residencies take place the following year.
Support for residencies
Who are our residencies directed to?
Artists and cultural practitioners (individuals and artist duos) based in Switzerland who are active in any of the disciplines supported by Pro Helvetia may apply for a three-month residency in the regions of Pro Helvetia’s liaison offices.
Artists and cultural practitioners (individuals and artist duos) based in the regions covered by Pro Helvetia’s liaison offices and active in any of the disciplines supported by the foundation may apply for a three-month residency in Switzerland. A list of eligible countries can be found here.
What are our funding activities?
The residency programme support includes accommodation, travel expenses, daily allowances, and professional guidance. Artists with childcare responsibilities may also apply for support to help with childcare expenses. Upon request, artists may also receive access to a dedicated workspace and contributions toward production and material costs. However, the residency programme is primarily designed to support exchange, research, and artistic process rather than production.
Artists with connection to Switzerland may apply for a residency in the regions of the liaison offices:
- Residency in the Arab region
- Residency in East Asia
- Residency in South America
- Residency in South Asia and Vietnam
- Residency in West, Central, East and Southern Africa
Artists based in the regions of the liaison offices may apply for a residency in Switzerland:
Online info events
Various online info events will be held for artists interested in a residency. Depending on your location, please register for the corresponding session.
For artists based in Switzerland:
Monday, 2 February 2026, 12.30-14.00 CET
Deadline for registration: 28 January 2026
More information and registration
For artists based in the Arab region:
Wednesday 4 February 2026, 16:00 UTC+2 (in Arabic)
Registration
For artists based in West, Central, East and Southern Africa:
Thursday 5 February 2026, 12:00-13:00 SAST
More information
For artists based in East Asia (Pro Helvetia Shanghai), South Asia and Vietnam (Pro Helvetia New Delhi) or South America (Pro Helvetia South America), there won’t be specific events, but you’re welcome to get in touch with the liaison offices directly.
Our residency partner network across the world
Pro Helvetia’s residency programme operates in close collaboration with a network of partners acting in various fields and formats. This residency network is diverse and dynamic, adapting to the unique contexts of each region. Located in urban centres and rural settings, our partners work across a variety of disciplines and formats in fixed spaces or as open platforms. While artists are invited to indicate preferred partners in their application, final placements may vary depending on availability. The Pro Helvetia residency team works closely with applicants to ensure a meaningful match between their intentions and the residency context. Applicants may also indicate partners that are not listed in Pro Helvetia’s network.
The residency guides bring together practical information and descriptions of the artistic residency programmes and spaces in each region. Rather than a catalogue to select from, they serve as a source of orientation and inspiration to help artists explore possibilities and identify environments that resonate with their artistic goals.
Residency partners accross the world
Partners in the Arab region
| Residency | Location | Description | Discipline(s) | Website |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 32Bis | Tunis, Tunisia | The 32bis is a hybrid and alternative place for research, creation, exhibition and knowledge sharing. 2 buildings, 4 levels, 4,000 m²: the 32bis is located within the walls of the former Philips headquarters, built in 1953 in the heart of Tunis. | Visual arts | instagram.com/le32bis |
| ARD contemporary art institution | Cairo, Egypt | ARD is an art institution founded by Hana El-Beblawy in 2022 and specialized in the field of contemporary art practices within the local and international art scene. It presents a diversified program that includes many artistic activities stemming from the surrounding affairs and is open to the world. The program includes; artistic residencies, exhibitions, workshops, and other art alternatives which ARD is seeking to provide as services that would contribute to effective artistic patterns in the society. It also strives for a fruitful art scene that is not constrained by the traditional standards of the art market. | Visual art | ard-art.org |
| B’sarya for Arts | Alexandria, Egypt | B’sarya is an independent art space located in the heart of Alexandria, Egypt. It is dedicated to the development of the contemporary art scene in the disciplines of music and photography, through the organization of artistic residencies and photography exhibitions, as well as the release of music productions. It commissions performances that tackle issues related to ecology and climate change, such as the audio-visual performances titled “The Sea Around Us” and “Waking The Giants”. | Multiple (Music, Visual Arts) among others | facebook.com/pg/bsarya.arts |
| Bayt Yakan | Cairo, Egypt | Bayt Yakan is a 17th century building located in al-Darb al-Ahmar district in the heart of Historic Cairo. It entails and exhibits historic elements that interprets the historic of Cairo during that span of time. It is situated in Suq al-Silah St, just 5 minutes’ walk from midan al-Qalaa’ and al-Rifa’ mosque, and 10 minutes from al-Azhar Park. Saved from demolition, it was restored and rehabilitated to accommodate several activities, residencies, lecture halls for community engagement and academic programs, a library and a gallery where exhibitions of various nature are held. | Multiple (Litreature/Architecture/Design), among others | facebook.com/baytyakan |
| Elbirou Art Gallery | Sousse, Tunisia | Inaugurated in December 2015, Elbirou Art Gallery is an independent cultural platform for international exchanges and support for young emerging artists. The work in favor of contemporary art of the master of the place is inseparable from his love for photography which spontaneously led him to divert an old family wool warehouse dating from the 1960s into a very recent art gallery benefiting from a strategic location in the heart of the city of Sousse. Elbirou is a platform intended to host artistic manifestations of all forms as well as various cultural events: exhibitions, installations, meetings (talks, presentation of works, concerts, performances, etc.). | Visual arts | elbirou.com |
| Jordan National Gallery for Fine Arts | Amman, Jordan | The Jordan National Gallery of Fine Arts is the region’s leading art museum with its unique Permanent Collection that comprises over 3000 works including drawings, paintings, sculptures, ceramics, video art, installations, graphic art, and photography, by artists from the Islamic and Developing Worlds, mainly from Asia, Africa, Europe, Latin America, and Australia. | Multiple (Visual art, Performing arts, among others) | nationalgallery.org |
| Kamel Lazaar Foundation | Tunis, Tunisia | Since its founding in 2005, the Kamel Lazaar Foundation for Art and Culture has launched several actions and projects whose local and regional effects highlight the vitality and diversity of the cultural scene in the MENA region. The Foundation supports research, publication, and exhibition initiatives, and regularly organizes debates, symposiums, and seminars. It supports the production and accompaniment of artists through residencies and artists’ workshops, and develops partnerships and exchanges with international cultural actors, in order to promote Tunisia as a hub for contemporary art. | Visual arts | kamellazaarfoundation.org |
| KULTE | Rabat, Morocco | KULTE is a contemporary art centre of general interest whose civic function and role on the visual arts and book scene are essential to the social and economic development of Moroccan society. Accessible to all, but with a particular focus on young people, the art centre aims to promote the development of culture as an essential as an essential driver of economic, social and identity. KULTE’s mission is to support the democratisation of culture, the professionalisation of its professions and the development of its economy. Located in the heart of Rabat’s medina, the eighteenth-century building where the art centre will soon be deploying its activities was made available activities was made available by the Ministry of Culture. A unique model of partnership with the Moroccan government to promote access to culture, social social mix, inclusion and ‘better living together’. KULTE is an open space where the public can come together to to work and acquire knowledge and skills. a ‘third place’ whose objective is to support the labelling of the art centre designation in Morocco. The art centre is built around several essential components complementary to each other: books, contemporary art, ecology and training. | Contemporary art, art work productions and exhibitions, publishing, risography, editorial training workshops, ecological practices | artkulte.com |
| La Chambre Claire | Alger, Algeria | La Chambre Claire is an independent enterprise that brings together several distinct yet interconnected entities: an artist residency, a publishing house specializing in imagery, an artisanal stationery shop, a film production company, and a learning space. La Chambre Claire aims to create an ecosystem where imagery and photography are celebrated and preserved, serving as catalysts for creativity and innovation. It seeks to enrich the artistic landscape in Algeria and beyond by showcasing works that inspire thought and evoke emotion | Arts | lachambreclaire.net |
| La Parallel | Casablanca, Morocco | La Parallèle is a space for art, learning and openness, where everyone can progress at their own pace. Workshops and courses in theatre, dance, music and well-being. La Parallèle has three workspaces with parquet flooring, a co-working space and a large roof terrace, ideal for relaxing after activities. The teaching team is made up entirely of artists from renowned Moroccan companies such as IRTIJAL, COI’JAM and La Cabane à films. Co-directed by Fanny Dalmau and Ghassan El, this new space is all about professionalism and a passion for sharing. | Music, Performing arts | facebook.com/laparallelecasablanca |
| L’Art Rue | Tunis, Tunisia | L’Art Rue is a shared and transversal space, in the heart of the city of Tunis but intimately linked to what’s around, where artists from here and there meet and connect with citizens, activists and experts of the city and the Tunis life. With the hope of creating, poeticizing and transforming a territory collectively, with the urgency of making city and society together, L’Art Rue puts openness, proximity and the legacy of creation at the centre of its effort to reach out to and include diverse stakeholders, united by a free imagination of a common future. | Performing arts, music | lartrue.org |
| LE CUBE | Rabat, Morocco | The Cube – independent art room is an exhibition, residence and research space focused on contemporary artistic practices. Its approach revolves around projects raising contextualized social, cultural, and political questions, and encourages proposals that question History and narratives. In this dynamic, Le Cube designs and develops a vast program of exhibitions that link artistic issues to other dimensions of research, in order to conduct a constantly evolving reflection on our environment. A place of analysis and experimentation, Le Cube defends an approach where the reflections and points of view of artists and audiences are expressed. | Visual arts | lecube-art.com |
| Medrar for contemporary art | Cairo, Egypt | Medrar for Contemporary Art is a non-profit art space based in Cairo, Egypt, offering an open platform for conversations and collaborations between artists, as well as institutions, critics, curators, programmers and techies both locally and internationally. Started as a collective in 2005, Medrar has since been acting as a base for emerging and mid-career artists and diffusing experimentations at the intersection of new and diverse practices, media, and technologies. Through experimental and collaborative programs, it facilitates opportunities for mobility, exposure and the development of an independent and dynamic movement of local artists. Alongside multiple activities, Medrar is committed to expanding its five key projects: the Cairo Video Festival, Roznama Competition and Exhibition, Roznama Studio Program, Medrar TV, Medrar Studio and MedRX Portal. | Video art, interactive media, digital art | facebook.com/medrar.org |
| Megawra-BEC | Cairo, Egypt | Megawra-BEC is a platform for debate and action in the built environment with a focus on theory, praxis, art and linking cultural heritage to sustainability and social responsibility. A partnership between Egyptian NGO, the Built Environment Collective and its professional arm, Megawra, it runs a program of cultural events in addition to Athar Lina Initiative in al-Khalifa. | Multiple (Architecture, urbanism, design, among others) | megawra.com |
| MMAG Foundation | Amman, Jordan | MMAG is a contemporary art foundation that strives to contribute to the future of art practice and pedagogy in its region by drawing on historical encounters and contextual issues alike. Through art, it works to facilitate opportunities to shape responsible approaches to learning, knowledge-making, sharing, and modes of dialogue. Its campus includes multifunctional areas for creating and living, and shared studios such as an art library, a screening room, a dark room, a glass studio and a sound studio. By offering a space for residencies, workshops, public programs and exhibitions, it has established itself as an essential gathering place for artists and art practitioners from the city and beyond. | Multidisciplinary: visual art, photography, research, writing, performance, digital art… | instagram.com/mmagfoundation |
| Rhizome gallery | Alger, Algeria | Rhizome’s initiative aims to support the professionalization of local emerging artists; restructure Rhizome through strategic planning, legal structure, team set-up and financial sustainability; and strengthen Rhizome’s social dimension by developing its audience engagement programs. | Visual arts, music | instagram.com/___rhizome___/ |
| Studio 8 | Amman, Jordan | “Since 2014, Studio 8 has collaborated with more than 450 people of 38 nationalities in creating 10 original dance productions, giving more than 40 performances, and organizing more than 120 classes and workshops. Studio 8 has also made more than 100 dance videos, co-created artist residencies, exhibitions, dance discussions, community art walks and a street art fair.” | Performing arts | studio8jo.com |
| TASSAROUT | Rabat, Morocco | The Tassarout “third space” is situated at the heart of Rabat’s old Medina, within the Fondouk Ben Aicha—a former caravanserai repurposed in the 1950s for craftsmanship. It is located on the renowned Consuls’ Street. Tassarout occupies two workshops within the caravanserai, initially designated for traditional artisan activities but transformed into a cultural hub, seamlessly integrating into the ecosystem alongside approximately thirty contemporary artisans working with leather, raffia, wood, and copper. The name “Tassarout”, signifying “key” in the Amazigh language, aims to unlock a space for gathering and convergence, intersecting culture, art, and craftsmanship. Rooted strongly in the local context, the objective is to dissolve the boundaries between artists, artisans, diverse creators, and the local community, fostering a dynamic synergy. In terms of programming, Tassarout aligns itself with a threefold approach encompassing research, transmission, and diffusion, spanning both artistic and cultural dimensions. | Crafts, Visual arts, Performing arts, Design, Writing | instagram.com/tassaroutrabat |
| Think Tanger | Tangier, Morocco | Think Tanger is a cultural platform dedicated to the exploration of urban challenges arising in the city of Tangier. It serves as a platform to concretely address and highlight social and spatial impacts of urban matters, through projects operating at the crossroads of visual arts, design, participatory research and urban practices. | Multiple (Visual arts, design, urbanism, among others) | think-tanger.com |
Partners in East Asia
| Residency | Location | Description | Discipline(s) | Website |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1a Space | Hong Kong, Hong Kong | 1a space, founded in 1998, is an independent, non-profit making contemporary visual arts organisation and exhibition venue founded by a collective of Hong Kong artworkers. Over the past two decades, 1a space has presented and organised various exhibitions and activities. 1a space has played a vital role in developing new frontiers for the visual arts culture in Hong Kong and its representation abroad. | Visual Arts | oneaspace.org.hk |
| A4 Residency Art Center | Chengdu, Mainland China | Located in Chengdu, China, A4 Residency Art Center is a multidisciplinary international platform integrating creation, networking, and resource-sharing. They are committed to fostering global creative collisions and innovation through residency programs while bridging creative culture with business and community engagement. Since 2011, they have collaborated with 335 creators from over 45 countries and regions, spanning diverse fields such as artists, scientists, writers, poets, scholars, musicians, architects, designers, and brand founders. A4 Residency provides professional cross-disciplinary support, empowering creators to push boundaries.Leveraging extensive industry expertise and a robust global network, we facilitate meaningful connections and resource transformation across industries. | Visual Arts | a4am.cn |
| ACENTRICSPACE | Shanghai, Mainland China | ACENTRICSPACE is an artist-run space and residency based in Zhujiajiao, Shanghai. Strive to provide a creation, exhibition space, and exchange platform for contemporary artists without restrictions. Dedicated to showcasing contemporary art exhibitions, running an ongoing artists-in-residence program, and offering art-related workshops for the community. | Visual arts, Performing arts, Music, Literature | acentricspace.com |
| BY ART MATTERS | Hangzhou, Mainland China | BY ART MATTERS is a contemporary art museum located in the OōEli campus, designed and built by Renzo Piano Workshop. BY ART MATTERS RESIDENCY is launched in 2021. It is a non-profit artist residency centre, a residency programme under BY ART MATTERS museum. It offers residencies to emerging contemporary artists and researchers around the world and provides them with a dynamic space for living, working, showing and sharing, in order to encourage and support the growth of local and international contemporary art. An experienced academic committee from the museum will provide professional, objective support for the residents and help them develop their practice. | Various disciplines | BY ART MATTERS RESIDENCY.pdf |
| Chinese European Art Center (CEAC) | Xiamen, Mainland China | The Chinese European Art Center (CEAC) is distinguished by its pioneering role in China, its strong international orientation, and its long-standing commitment to artistic research and exchange. Founded in 1999 and launching its residency in 2001, CEAC is one of the first and longest-running artist-in-residence programmes in the country, having hosted over 400 international artists across visual arts, architecture, design, curation, writing, and music. As a non-commercial art space, CEAC provides residents with a supportive environment for experimentation, idea development, and cross-disciplinary exploration, free from commercial constraints. The programme emphasises cross-cultural dialogue and actively facilitates connections between visiting artists and local communities, offering opportunities for collaboration, public engagement, and institutional exchange. Initiated by Mrs. Ineke Gudmundsson in cooperation with Prof. Qin Jian of Xiamen University Art College, the residency benefits from strong academic and professional guidance, creating a platform where innovative practices, research-based projects, and international perspectives can meaningfully interact with the local context. | Visual arts, Architecture, Design, Music, Literature | ceac99.org |
| DRC No.12 Foundation x Yasheng Artist Residence Program | Fuzhou, Mainland China | This residency program is jointly initiated and operated by the DRC No.12 Foundation and the Yasheng Art Center in Fuzhou, China. It seeks to foster cross-cultural artistic practices and discussions by engaging deeply with the cultural, historical, and social contexts of Fuzhou and its surrounding regions. The program aims to encourage dialogue between international artists and the contemporary art environment in China, providing both the physical infrastructure and intellectual support for artistic creation. It promotes interdisciplinary research, transregional dialogue, and experimental artistic production. | Visual arts, Performing arts, Sound | drc12.org |
| Enchanted Reverie | Shanghai, Mainland China | Enchanted Reverie is a unique artist residency, where imagination germinates between the breaths of plants. The studio comes fully equipped, where ancient crafts meet contemporary technology: computers, electric piano, 3D printers, sewing machines, woodworking tools, laser engraver, and a small electric kiln prepared for ceramic artists. The residency host accompanies artists in wandering through the vibrant local art community, visiting nearby cultural sites, galleries, and artist studios. Enchanted Reverie offers what no institutional space can provide: the warmth and character of a creative home truly steeped in life, a portal to inner landscapes. Artists here don’t merely create but inhabit a space brimming with vitality, surrounded by true kindred spirits, finding their own language between pages and leaves. | Visual arts, Music, Performing arts, Design, Literature | enchantedreverie.art |
| HERmit Space | Beijing, Mainland China | HERmit Space is located in the MAHA Beijing, adjacent to Chaoyang Park and the798 Art District. It inherits and integrates the historical connection between culture and nature. HERmit Space, created by a female team, is actively engaged in constructing a unique perspective collection system. Simultaneously, it participates in the sharing and development of contemporary art through exhibitions, commissioned projects, academic activities, and more. Emphasizing the flexible power of perception and inclusivity, it gently guards every subtle or crisp imprint and sound, cherishing each moment. | Visual arts | instagram.com/hermit_space_ |
| Huaqianwu Ceramic Art Studio | Jingdezhen, Mainland China | A ceramic residency program in Jingdezhen, the ‘Porcelain Capital of the World.’ This residency aims to foster cross-cultural dialogue through ceramic arts, exploring the fusion of Jingdezhen’s historic techniques with contemporary creativity. Located in the Sanlei Factory, an old factory with new and traditional pottery craftsman and artists living there. Nearby there are pottery shops selling pottery materials and tools, pottery technique places where one could meet mold-makers, wheel-throwing masters, slip-casting masters, slab-building masters etc. | Visual arts | N/A |
| Inside-Out Art Museum (IOAM) | Beijing, Mainland China | Founded in Beijing in 2008, Inside-Out Art Museum (IOAM) is dedicated to contextualizing China’s groundbreaking art since 1949 within global narratives. Through experimental exhibitions, bilingual publications, and deep artistic research, IOAM platforms underrepresented voices and fosters dialogue between Chinese and international art scenes. With residency programs, a growing archive, and collaborations worldwide, we aim to build a leading institution where daring art meets rigorous scholarship—inspiring local and global audiences alike. | Visual arts, Literature | ioam.org.cn |
| Making Space | Guangzhou, Mainland China | Founded in 2017, Making Space is located in Panyu, Guangzhou, near a neighborhood that has been going through a major transformation. Making Space is open to all who have the desire to express themselves in an honest and concrete way, and want to extend the boundaries of perception and knowledge via conversation and collaboration. | Visual Arts | collectives.notion.site |
| Organhaus | Chongqing, Mainland China | An independent art organisation made up of artists and curators in cooperation. Started in 2007 in Chongqing, with nearly 200 square metres studio residency and exhibition space. Organhaus is dedicated to the exploration of experimental and multi-media art focused on the progress of urbanisation and globalisation. | Visual arts, Performing arts, Music | site.douban.com/organhaus |
| Ox Warehouse | Macau, Macau | Ox Warehouse began planning activities in 2001, was established in 2002, and moved to the Former Municipal Cattle Stable in 2003. From 2018 to 2021, it relocated to No. 15 Rua do Volong, named ‘Post-Ox Warehouse Experimental Site,’ engaging in exchanges beyond Macau and hosting artist residencies. Since 2022, it has held exhibitions in various spaces, focusing on cross-media, experimental contemporary art, and promoting individual creativity and experimental spirit. | Visual arts, Performing arts | facebook.com/oxwarehouse |
| Positive Art Research Centre (PARC) | Hangzhou, Mainland China | ‘Is “Shan Shui” Useful Today?’ is the programme by PARC Hangzhou, a three-year artist-led project, featuring a unique apartment adjacent to the West Lake. ‘Shan’ (mountain) and ‘Shui’ (water) is an important motif in various genres of Chinese art and literature, and also embodies a specific spiritual state and lifestyle. The project consists of two main components: ‘Curate·Act’ and ‘Residence·Space’. ‘Curate·Act’ takes place approximately every three months, focusing on the events, actions, and performances that occur between the curators and artists within the outdoor landscapes of West Lake in Hangzhou. ‘Residence·Space’ provides a guest room within ‘PARC Hangzhou’ for individuals from the cultural and artistic community who are interested in or related to the project to reside in. All cultural and artistic workers related to topics ‘Shan Shui’, such as nature, scenery, and the environment are welcome. This includes artists, designers, writers, musicians, performers, architects, environmentalists, gardeners, historians, cross-cultural comparison, anthropologists, and more. | Visual arts, Performing arts, Design, Literature, Music, Architecture | positiveartresearch.com |
| Po Leung Kuk V54 | Hong Kong, Hong Kong | Young Artist in Residence at V54 from Po Leung Kuk has provided short-term residence to local and international young artists aged 18 to 40 and supported their cultural exchange, to promote diverse arts experiences in the community. By integrating history and living areas, it offers young artists a broad creative platform to continue their creation or research. The residency project emphasizes the connection between arts and community. We encourage resident artists to deepen public engagement with diverse cultural experience and empower young people by arranging inspiring arts activities and creative education. | Visual arts, Performing arts, Design, Multidisciplinary art, Literature | poleungkuk.org.hk/yad/v54 |
| Shanghai Museum of Glass | Shanghai, Mainland China | Hosts studios of leading artists in China practicing with video, installation, etc. Opened in 2011, the Shanghai Museum of Glass is listed as one of the three must-visit museums in China. This museum has presented impressive exhibitions over the past several years, from the academic glass art exhibition by domestic and international artists, the ancient glass themed exhibition, to ‘Keep It Glassy’ series exhibition, and the cross-border ‘Annealing’ series exhibition, started in 2015, fusing glass and contemporary art together mutually. In this museum, glass art and design crosses the border between time, space, culture and language, and is presented to the public audience in different cross-type forms. | Visual Arts | shmog.org |
| Studio Gallery | Shanghai, Mainland China | The Studio Gallery takes the artists’ actual work experience and real thoughts as its core value, supports the artist residency projects and topical exhibition programmes. By means of long-term exchanges and dialogue with international artists and curators, studio gallery continues to initiate various topical exhibitions, research-based educational programmes and publications. | Visual arts, Literature | studiogallery.cn |
| Surplus Space | Wuhan, Mainland China | Surplus Space is an international non-profit contemporary art institution dedicated to showcasing and promoting the latest and most cutting-edge art experiments both domestically and internationally. It provides professional and diverse contemporary art exhibitions and public art education programs to bring contemporary art culture closer to public life. Since its establishment in November 2015, the remaining space has held over 60 exhibitions, more than 30 public artistic projects, and collaborated with over 150 artists, building a platform for positive interaction between art and culture in Central China, even China and the whole international community. The remaining space will soon be moved to the Hankou Historical Area in Wuhan, with a new space area of 600 square meters. While continuing to conduct cutting-edge contemporary art experiments, the new space will also combine the geographical and cultural characteristics of Wuhan’s subculture to carry out rich and diverse cultural activities and exchanges. | Performing arts, Visual arts, Music | surplusspace.cn |
| Three Shadows Photography Art Centre | Xiamen, Mainland China | Three Shadows Photography Art Centre, founded in 2007, is China’s first independent organization dedicated to contemporary photography. It was jointly established by the influential Chinese photographer RongRong and the renowned Japanese photographer Inri. Three Shadows Xiamen comprises exhibition spaces, a library, a digital output center, an education department, a bookstore, and a café. In order to further expand China’s photography community and foster exchanges with international institutions, we continue to operate the Artist-in-Residence (AIR) Program. The residency is based in Xiamen, a distinctive coastal city where tradition and modernity converge. | Visual arts, Multidisciplinary art | threeshadows.cn |
| Times 101 | Guangzhou, Mainland China | Times 101 and Huangbian Information Station are micro ‘art + community’ spaces embedded in Guangzhou’s Huangbian urban village. With coexistence as our core principle, we invite artists and initiatives to reside and engage in cultivation-based, site-specific practices. Together, we model a ‘community museum’ at the smallest possible scale. We foster vivid exchanges between artistic creation and everyday life. Recently, a new shared space with a neighboring resident has been added, extending the rhythm of this practice into the evolving fabric of the village. | Various disciplines | Times 101 |
| YINZI Theater | Chongqing, Mainland China | YINZI theater, hailing from Chongqing – the cyber city of western China – is creating fluid theaters across urban public spaces, from graffiti streets to art galleries, museums, traditional building and music festivals. They are dedicated to advancing contemporary performing arts: music, physical theatre, dance, sound, installations, video and immersive live experiences. YINZI offers diverse formats including residency project, co-productions, cultural exchanges, and producer visits. It encourages artists to boldly create new works through domestic and international collaborations. YINZI also actively develops independent performing arts networks across mainland China, Hong Kong and Macau. | Performing Arts | cqyinzi.com |
Partners in South America
| Residency | Location | Description | Discipline(s) | Website |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ALTO Art Residency | Alto Paraíso de Goiás, Brazil | Located in a primary forest next to the Chapada dos Veadeiros National Park, an ecological sanctuary in the Brazilian Cerrado, ALTO functions as a platform for self-directed artists who wish to work in dialogue with nature and with sustainability proposals, such as a project for the rehabilitation and release of wildlife. In addition to the biodiverse environment, the space is connected to the multiple contexts of Alto Paraíso de Goiás, a municipality pervaded by esotericism and spirituality – and surrounded by agribusiness. The residency aims to offer a space for critical, conceptual, and technical observation of artistic production in harmony with the environment. It is based in the Mariri Jungle Lodge, a creative house and permaculture project space, where you can work in gardens, agroforests, and the site’s recycling and bioconstruction projects. | Dance, Design, Interactive media, Literature, Multi-disciplinarity, Music, Performing arts, Visual arts | www.altoartresidency.com |
| Artlab | Buenos Aires, Argentina | This laboratory and cultural centre located in the Audiovisual District of Buenos Aires explores new technologies and digital creativity to develop art projects. Artlab works in the intersection between art, music, and technology, aiming at a collaborative spirit. While the project has been around since 2014, the cultural centre first opened its doors in 2021 and, since then, it has been a meeting point for the contemporary art scene and the local community. It is also part of the network organising the MUTEK international festival of digital creativity. The residency program is structured around each project and offers artists a fully-equipped lab for them to develop audiovisual pieces. The results can be presented at events and exhibitions in the space. Artists-in-residence are expected to contribute to the local community by offering lectures, panels, or open workshops through the educational wing of the project, Artlab Pro. | Design, Digital art, Interactive media, Art + Science + Technology, Multi-disciplinarity, Music, Performing arts, Visual arts | artlabpro.net |
| CAB – Casa-Museo Alberto Baeriswyl | Puerto Yartou, Tierra del Fuego, Chile | CAB is a house-museum located in the main house of the old wood factory Puerto Yartou, at the southern tip of Chilean Patagonia. It is a 320-m² singlestorey wooden construction dating from the early 20th century, located 80 metres from the Whiteside Channel in the Strait of Magellan and surrounded by subantarctic sclerophyll forests. Its residency programme began in 2018, with the support of Pro Helvetia and the Ministry of Culture, Arts, and Heritage of Chile. It aims to foster a critical interpretation of the local territory through contemporary production and inter- and transdisciplinary dialogue with a focus on art, science, and humanities. The program invites artists and researchers to reflect on the southern territory through multidisciplinary perspectives, and residencies include presentations by participants, research walks, excursions, and visits to museums and partner institutions. | Literature, Live arts, Media Arts, Multi-disciplinarity, Sound art, Visual arts | www.cab-patagonia.cl |
| Capacete | Rio de Janeiro, Brazil | Since 1998, it promotes public programmes and cultural exchanges, incorporating participatory and collaborative forms of action as a fundamental part of its management. The programmes offer an environment in which residents, guests, and the public come together to carry out activities related to contemporary critical and artistic thought. The current programme, called xow.rumi, is characterised by the art of encounter and communication. Within it, materiality becomes the embodiment of gestures, actions, and collaborations that take place across a network. Four practical pillars unfold within the programme: immersions, individual and collective conversations and mentorships; guided visits to exhibitions, collections, and studios; exchanges through open seminars; and a showcase of experiments. Calls for Brazilian applicants residing in Rio de Janeiro open annually in the first half of the year. Artists from outside Brazil may participate through recommendations or open calls issued by partner funding institutions. | Multi-disciplinarity | instagram.com/capacete_capacete |
| Casa Biche | Cali, Colombia | Casa Biche is a cultural infrastructure that combines housing, workshops, and collaborative workspaces dedicated to artistic creation, intercultural dialogue, and music production. Located on Colombia’s Pacific coast, the residency offers a space for exchange and creation among artists, researchers, and cultural managers from different places, to promote interaction between local knowledge and contemporary practices. The project is conceived as a living residency, where cooking, sound, and the spoken word serve as means for building relationships, learning, and creation. Rather than finished results, the program values open and collaborative processes. The residencies develop through artistic creation, focused on producing works in dialogue with the sounds of the Pacific; knowledge exchange and management models, centred on sharing methodologies and collaborative structures; and the Living Laboratory, a space for investigating connections between art, food, and territory. At the end of the cycle, artists are expected to share their processes through workshops, conversations, or open exhibitions, strengthening networks of creation, circulation, and learning among creators and local communities. | Culinary Culture, Gastronomy, Music | www.biche.com.co/casa-biche |
| Casa do Rio Tupana | Tupana River, Amazonas, Brazil | The project began in 2009, when three artists moved to the banks of the Tupana River, 170-km south of Manaus. There, they renovated a riverside house and created a space that connects the local community with artists interested in immersive experiences in the Amazon. Casa do Rio Tupana is grounded in building epistemological bridges between the arts, sciences, and community, seeking to test concepts and methodologies that spark encounters and experiences. Daily life in the territory invites residents to live alongside the forest and its more-than-human presences, encouraging new ways of perceiving, relating, and creating. Today, the project is divided into two hubs: the NGO Careiro River House (Casa do Rio Careiro), focused on education, agroecology, and artisanal practices, and Casa do Rio Tupana, which hosts the artistic residency programs. Residents may move between the two hubs, located about 70 km apart. Participants are expected to develop artistic, cultural, or territory-based research projects that directly engage with the Amazonian context, the local community, and the existing practices of care and reciprocity at Casa do Rio. Activities may include individual or collective creative processes, field laboratories, discussion circles, workshops, studies on Amazonian cosmologies, sensitive documentation of the territory, and experiments that connect arts, ecology, and ways of life. | Design, Multi-disciplinarity, Music, Performing Arts, Visual Arts | www.casadorio.org.br |
| Casa Taller El Boga | Mompox, Colombia | The foundation is located in Santa Cruz de Mompox, in a restored 18th-century house on the banks of the Magdalena River. Created in 2019 with the aim of contributing to the preservation and dissemination of the cultural heritage of the city of Mompox, the space seeks to promote creations among national and international artists, artisans and local experts representing music, blacksmithing, ceramics, carpentry, weaving, gastronomy, cuisine, flora and fauna of Mompox. El Boga offers a space to stimulate and promote the exchange between the community and visitors. The call for applications for self-managed residencies is open continuously. The project welcomes between 2 and 6 residents at a time, who are supported by a cultural manager. During their stay, participants are invited to develop free activities aimed at the Momposina community, in the form of workshops, conferences, recitals, exhibitions, performances, or talks (which can be complemented with online activities). | Archaeology, Design, History, Interactive media, Literature, Multi-disciplinarity, Music, Performing arts, Sociology, Visual arts. | elbogamompox.com |
| Centro Cultural Bienal das Amazônias | Belém, Brazil | Opened in 2023, the project was born from the demand for a space dedicated to contemporary art focused on the Pan-Amazonian territories. The Centro Cultural Bienal das Amazônias is housed in a revitalized building in the Comércio neighborhood, in downtown Belém, and seeks to offer an environment suitable for the creation and exchange of knowledge. The recently created residency aims to foster cultural, pedagogical, artistic, and curatorial creation, as well as exchange of experiences and the development of projects. Participants are selected through a public open call, and residents must develop a final project to be shown at an open studio. They are also expected to carry out an activity integrated to the programme of Bienal das Amazônias, a project that looks to promote the arts in the region. | Design, Literature, Multi-disciplinarity, Music, Performing arts, Visual arts | www.bienalamazonias.org.br |
| CHÃO SLZ | São Luís do Maranhão, Brazil | The space was created in 2015 with the aim of expanding environments for dialogue and the exchange of knowledge between artists, the audience, and the surrounding area. It is located in an 18th century building in the historic centre of São Luís, a city characterised as a river and seaport, where it strives to prepare the ground for critical work based on collective coexistence and research in the artistic and cultural field. The programme offers a variety of formats, promoting different activities such as conferences, courses, exhibitions, music and dance performances, food encounters, parties, residencies, and political and social actions. The residency programme varies according to the needs of each work. CHÃO works to organise and bring residents closer to the community and the context, both in São Luís and in neighbouring towns such as Alcântara, a multiple municipality with a space base and a large number of Quilombola communities. | Curatorship, Interactive media, Literature, Multi-disciplinarity, Music, Performance, Performing arts, Visual arts | instagram.com/chaoslz |
| Espacio Odeón | Bogotá, Colombia | The space is focused on promoting experimental and interdisciplinary processes in artistic practice. It has an annual programme including exhibitions and a public programme to go along with these processes. Concurrently, it runs the Communal Space, a project created in 2022 aiming to stablish dialogue between different forms of knowledge, which includes classes, participatory creation labs, parties, community kitchens, meetings, and workshops. Odeón also works with organisations, collectives, and cultural agents whose practices have an impact outside the art circle, to create a collaborative program centred around the processes of the body, food, and their relationship with the artistic practice. In this context, residencies are considered a process of research, fieldwork, and networking. The idea is to allow residents to connect with the processes of the space, sharing experiences. | Multi-disciplinarity, Performing arts, Visual arts | espacioodeon.com |
| Fundación La Tintorera | San Pedro de Atacama, Chile | An initiative founded in 2019 by Verónica Moreno Fernández and a group of friends and collaborators interested in art and culture, Fundación La Tintorera is located on the ancestral territory of the Lickanantay Indigenous people, in the Salar de Atacama basin, an oasis in the commune of San Pedro de Atacama. The project welcomes artists and therapists interested in the desert, its inhabitants, and its cultures, as well as in the social, economic, and environmental issues present in the region. There is no annual programme or open call: the residency is activated based on the initiatives and projects of those interested in developing research and artistic creation there. Residents may participate in activities such as workshops, exhibitions, debates, and presentations of their work, if they wish, in addition to agricultural tasks, festivities, and other collective practices. Throughout the immersion, participants receive guidance related to the territory and to building relationships with the local community. | Architecture, Performing arts, Design, Cultural Management, Gastronomy, Literature, Interactive Media, Multi-disciplinarity, Music, Visual arts | instagram.com/fundacionlatintorera |
| Fundación Organizmo | Tenjo, Cundinamarca, Colombia | Organizmo is both a regenerating forest and a training and research centre located near Bogotá, dedicated to weaving together intercultural processes and pedagogies to reconnect body, territory and community, based on the convergence of ancestral knowledge and contemporary practices. The residency programme proposes to explore various possibilities for creation and learning, starting from a basis of respect for a territory and its multi-species inhabitants and recognition of the dynamic and interdependent relationships that connect us to all manifestations of life on the planet. The infrastructures look for caring in the relationships between local bodies and the planet. These spaces function as architectures of care, symbolic and restorative environments where practices of deep listening are exercised, interdependence is experienced, and processes of collective harmonisation are generated. | Architecture, Cultural management, Curation, Crafts, Design, Ecology, Education, Interactive media, Performing Arts, Visual arts, Writing | www.organizmo.org |
| Galería Metropolitana | Santiago, Chile | The program is linked to a private space for exhibiting and promoting contemporary art, located in a peripheral community of Santiago, Chile. It was founded in 1998 by Ana María Saavedra and Luis Alarcón as an extension of their home. The residency offers accommodation in the city of Santiago and in Laguna San Pedro, in the Biobío region, at certain times of the year, as a complementary base to the space in Santiago. The project is conceived from a territorial perspective and aims to establish links with different local communities through collaborative networks facilitated by the gallery. Residencies are organised annually through open calls. Residents must propose a presentation of their work at the end of their stay, which may take the form of a lecture, workshop, or exhibition. | Archive, Interactive media, Multi-disciplinarity, Visual arts | galeriametropolitana.org |
| JA.CA — Centro de Arte e Tecnologia | Nova Lima, Minas Gerais, Brazil | The organisation was founded in 2010 as an international artistic residency programme and has since been developing activities in the Jardim Canadá neighbourhood of Nova Lima, in the metropolitan area of Belo Horizonte, and in partner locations. It carries out and fosters research, projects, and experiments in the field of arts, in dialogue with education, architecture, urbanism, and design. Built gradually, partly using scrap materials from local manufacturers, the headquarters has living and working spaces. Its projects focus on the local reality and on issues such as mobility, sustainability, networking, and the management of autonomous spaces. Since 2018, JA.CA has also run an administrative office in Belo Horizonte, where it organises talks and reading groups, besides developing the desbiblioteca project, which offers the population access to a bibliographic collection. A few blocks away, it runs the Arrudas – Pesquisa em Arte project, an atelier where workshops and residencies take place. | Curatorship, Design, Education, Environment, Interactive media, Multi-disciplinarity, Music, Social projects, Visual arts | www.jaca.center |
| JUNTA Festival — Dança e Contemporaneidade | Teresina, Brazil | Created in 2015 by artists Datan Izaká, Jacob Alves, and Janaína Lobo, the festival is a gathering of artistic and educational activities that, through dance and contemporary thinking, seeks to open up possibilities for new aesthetics. It has hosted residencies since its first edition and, in 2021, the programme unfolded to JUNTA EXPANDIDO, focusing on residencies and local coproductions. The characteristics of each project vary according to the context, whether it is a partnership with another institution or the festival’s own initiative. Artists are usually selected via open call to work collaboratively with other professionals, in small groups. Theme choices consider the dialogue with the curatorial focus of each edition and important values for the festival, such as the relationship with the city, diversity issues, minority groups, and the periphery, as well as investigations into new narratives and innovations in the field of the performing arts. | Multi-disciplinarity, Performing arts. | juntafestival.com.br |
| KIOSKO Galería | Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia | A contemporary, alternative, and independent art space created in 2006 as a result of collaborative projects and managed by artists from Santa Cruz de la Sierra. Its residency programme began in 2007, with the purpose of building a space for encounters in Bolivia and offering exchange opportunities for national and foreign artists. It launches open calls focused on specific topics defined according to the local and international context of the moment, alternating programmes financed by the space and those with external support. The main activities carried out by the selected artists include delivering a public opening talk about their work, proposing a theoretical and/ or practical workshop aimed at artists and art students, and showing their processes in the residency or their completed work on an open studio day. | Curatorship, Multi-disciplinarity, Visual arts | kioskogaleria.com |
| La Ira de Dios | Buenos Aires, Argentina | Founded in 2010 as a gallery space for emerging artists and a seminar programme, La Ira de Dios has taken on a more experimental character over time and since 2015 has offered a residency programme. It now focuses on facilitating artistic exchange and developing contemporary art practice through residencies, collaborations with other institutions and public activities. Since 2022, it has had its headquarters in the centre of Buenos Aires, an office floor that, like so many other spaces in the micro-centre of the city, has been converted to house art projects. The space now has studios and exhibition rooms. The residencies are open all year round and the programmes and agenda of activities are designed according to the needs, research, and projects of each artist-in-residence. Public presentations and open studio events are organised during their stay. | Literature, Multi-disciplinarity, Visual arts | lairadedios.com.ar |
| La Palmita | Trinidad, Casanare, Colombia | A natural reserve located in the Llanos Orientales, a region with an ecosystem of flooding savannahs, it is composed of a research centre where science, art, and sustainable production converge. The intention here is to generate knowledge and promote the creation and exchange between contemporary productions and ancestral knowledge. The residency programme aims to involve participants with the local community, reclaiming traditional practices from the region, like the llanero craft (related to livestock breeding, arts and crafts, and what derives from that). Visitors can also explore ecological trails in a 650-hectare area. By the end of the process, residents are expected to develop a workshop for the community about their art and prepare a reflective exercise about their creative process. | Multi-disciplinarity | www.lapalmita.com.co |
| LABVA – Laboratorio de Biomateriales de Valdivia | Valdivia, Chile | Located in the Los Ríos Region in Chile, the space was founded in 2017 as an independent and self-managed laboratory to question the materialities that surround us and the culture associated with them. Through a transdisciplinary structure, it promotes research, experimentation, and prototyping of new materialities as tools for environmental dissemination and citizen empowerment with a territorial focus. The residencies take place throughout the year as long as the projects of the space allow it. The programme focuses on experimentation, and the idea is to produce a synergy between the explorations that the artists carry out and the knowledge that can be drawn from working with biomaterials (designed from biological raw materials, such as plants, fungi, and bacteria). Each resident must close their stay with an open laboratory where they share their experiences with the Valdivian community. | Design, Interactive media, Literature, Multi-disciplinarity, Visual arts | labva.org |
| LabVerde | Forest reserves in the State of Amazonas, Brazil | Created in 2013, LabVerde is a transdisciplinary platform with no permanent headquarters based in the Brazilian Amazon. Focused on the development of artistic languages around the environment, it works in the production and democratisation of knowledge, by organising residencies, lectures, exhibitions, festivals, workshops, and publications. The platform was founded by Amazonas-born curator Lilian Fraiji, who saw in the local context the potential for experimentation and creation of artistic languages in the forest, in dialogue with local communities. The project promotes a gathering between artists, Indigenous communities, scientists, and other knowledge players to recognise and narrate nature on-site in the Amazon. Each year, residency programmes are developed with different partners and themes. The Speculative Ecologies international program provides an overview of the Amazon and Amazon Sonora context for experimentation and research in the field of music. | Design, Interactive media, Literature, Multi-disciplinarity, Music, Performing arts, Visual arts. | www.labverde.com |
| Maleza Casa Estudio | Urubamba, Cusco, Peru | A cultural centre located in the Peruvian Sacred Valley, Maleza was created as a meeting place for the local art community. The house, located opposite a public square, opened its doors in 2022 and has since been offering activities including exhibitions, lectures, and book presentations. It also has a community library specialising in Latin American photography. The activities and residencies are defined according to collaboration possibilities and adjust to each artist’s process. The goal is to allow residents to become closer to the art community, whether they are contemporary art professionals or artists working with traditional techniques in the Andes, so that this exchange can lead to potential collaborations. Also, during the residency the artist present their creative process, hold workshops, open studio, or the final exhibition of works. | Interactive media, Multi-disciplinarity, Photography, Textile art, Visual arts | instagram.com/maleza.casaestudio |
| mARTadero | Cochabamba, Bolivia | It is an extensive and multidisciplinary project for artistic creation. Since 2004, it has focused on responsible impact through artistic and cultural mechanisms. It has the potential to be original, a radiating focus of creativity and community improvement, as has been considered an example of cultural management.The residency programme PRANA, Programa de Residencias Artísticas del Nodo Asociativo, is part of this initiative and is open to artists of all disciplines and nationalities. It hosts conscious projects that are integrated into the context and are challenged by it. Thus, artists-in-residence connect with mARTadero as a team, a place, and a resource, as well as with its core symbolic and political principles. There are different modalities for carrying out residencies in the space: exchanges between institutions, artist accommodation, self-managed residencies, specific calls for applications, and reciprocal residencies. | Design, Interactive media, Literature, Multi-disciplinarity, Performing arts, Visual arts, Sound art | martadero.org/residencias-para-artistas |
| Mater | Lima, Moray – Cusco, Peru | Mater was founded in 2013 as an initiative by chef Virgilio Martínez and his sister, researcher Malena Martínez, with the aim of understanding Peru’s biodiversity and its relationship with food, territories and cultures. What began as a quest to nourish Central restaurant with knowledge soon turned into an interdisciplinary centre that articulates scientific and traditional knowledge, understanding gastronomy as a bridge between ecosystems, practices and people. Mater develops collaborative research in multiple formats, from edible and non-edible products to concepts, publications, and exhibitions, in view of innovating, communicating, and strengthening practices that sustain both ecosystems and the cultures that inhabit them. The residency programme is structured and located according to each project, and can be carried out at the Moray headquarters in Cusco, at 3550 metres above sea level, in a high Andean environment, or in an urban context in the cultural district of Barranco, in Lima. In either case, an immersive space for exchange is provided in the natural and sociocultural context, mediated by the Mater team. For residencies in Moray, proposals are expected to consider collaborative processes with the local community and focus on the traditional materials, knowledge and techniques of the place. In Lima, they look for proposals in the areas of gastronomic design. | Design, Interactive media, Sound art, Visual arts | materiniciativa.com |
| Materia Gris | La Paz, Bolivia | Located at Casa Matony, a building housing a hostel and photographer Tony Suárez’s studio and archive, Materia Gris was created in 2014 as an artist residency and autonomous space. It is dedicated to promoting contemporary art and conceived as a laboratory for research, reflection, and creation, where activities are organised including exhibitions, lectures, workshops, and street art sessions on its façade, as well as social events. During the residency, the goal is to create a connection between participants and the Bolivian scene, sparking multiple possibilities of work and exchange. Artists-in-residence are expected to close their process by preparing a public presentation that can contribute to local knowledge at the Materia Gris gallery. | Multi-disciplinarity | instagram.com/materia.gris_arte |
| matik-matik | Bogotá, Colombia | An independent concert venue and cultural centre, matik-matik was born in 2008 as a space dedicated to experimental music. Over the years, it became a point of reference in Bogotá’s alternative scene, featuring genres including free jazz, free improvisation, electroacoustic music, and folk music. While it is mainly dedicated to live music, it also invests in music promotion and production – so much so that it launched its own music label in 2012. For its residency programme, the goal is for artists to create and establish connections with the local music scene. By the end of the process, residents are expected to create original sound material, collaborating with local artists whenever possible. | Music | instagram.com/matikbogota |
| MONTE | Chaco, Argentina | The residency is located in the Grand Chaco Americano, a large forest ecoregion, and is dedicated to artists, curators, and researchers whose projects are linked to nature, acoustic ecology, the study of landscape, and the implications of environmental impact in all its dimensions. MONTE is a platform for activism through art, environmental preservation, and reflective research. The space, directed by sound artist Juan Sorrentino, was formed in 2015, when MONTE bought 3 hectares of native woodland in Colonia Benítez, the botanical capital of the Chaco, with the aim of conserving them through cultural actions that derive from residencies and articulations with the territory. There, arts professionals develop their project in the native forest, inhabiting the territory in dialogue with the works installed by previous residents. In this way, they integrate a stratified set of actions, in dialogue with the territory and its transformations. MONTE carries out open calls for creation, curatorship and research, workshops and studies open to the community and sessions in partnership with the Universidad Nacional del Nordeste. | Interactive media, Multi-disciplinarity, Music, Performance, Sound Art, Visual Arts | www.monteresidencia.com |
| NARA | Villa de Leyva, Boyacá, Colombia | It started in 2017 to open a space of connection with nature through creative processes. It is an environment to get to know the rural life of Villa de Leyva and connect with the habits and traditions of its community. The residence is part of the Nido de Águilas agroecological macro project, a botanical garden located in the Iguaque flora and fauna sanctuary buffer zone, the birthplace of the Muisca and ancestral peasant culture. Both projects work together and feed into each other to promote the exchange of knowledge between art and nature. The ties with the context are the main pillar of the programme, which focuses on the artistic process, besides field and body work. In addition to easing the development of the projects of its artists-in-residence, it offers activities and interaction with the space, the local artists, professionals from different disciplines, and the rural community. The open calls happen three times a year and the residency is linked with other projects and institutions to expand the network and boost investigations. | Design, Interactive media, Literature, Multi-disciplinarity, Music, Performing arts, Visual arts. | www.residenciasnara.com |
| NAVE – Centro de Creación y Residencia Artística | Santiago, Chile | Created in 2015, in a context devoid of public infrastructure for residency and artistic research projects, NAVE was a pioneer in offering a space that is not only limited to the dissemination of works but is also dedicated to research processes. The centre is located in the Yungay neighbourhood, in Santiago de Chile, in a heritage house renovated by the architect Smiljan Radic. It offers infrastructure and professional spaces for the creation and production of living art, through technical and creative residencies. There are annual open calls for residencies, as well as calls for proposals based on specific curatorial cycles, which include the intersection between art and technology, exchanges with artists from the global south, and actions involving the communities that inhabit the territory. Presentations of works in progress, laboratories, performances, and activities focused on the territory are all part of the programmes. Today, it is one of the main spaces for artistic creation, training, and experimentation in Latin America. | Interactive media, Live arts, Multi-disciplinarity, Performing arts, Visual arts | nave.io |
| Persona | Medellín, Colombia | This combination of pub and music room that first opened its doors in central Medellín in 2024 is centred around sound experimentation and new sound materialities. Its editorial line is mostly focused on contemporary productions or current approaches to older music. The venue’s programme includes live music for silent films, listening sessions, concerts, master classes, and workshops about topics ranging from the execution of a traditional instrument to the use of technological tools in environments of composition and interpretation. The aim of its residency programme is for participants to connect with the city’s scene and explore new creations that can be executed with local artists in connection with the venue’s activities. | Music | personasala.com |
| Pivô | São Paulo, Brazil | The association works as a platform for exchange and artistic experimentation and promotes the artistic residency programme Pivô Pesquisa. Originally aimed at visual artists, the programme exists since 2013 and, over the years, it has provided critical monitoring to projects. It soon began to focus on a more transdisciplinary and porous format of residency, and is now open to the participation of artists, curators, researchers, educators, critics, writers, managers, editors, and other art agents. This way, it expands modalities and proposes a set of public and educational activities permeating the whole programme: inaugural class, visits to museums and artists’ studios, talks, workshops, and presentation of works in progress, in addition to curatorial guidance. Since 2023, Pivô has also run a space in Salvador (Bahia), at the historic Boulevard Suisso, where it promotes a transdisciplinary programme of residencies and public activities. | Interactive media, Literature, Multi-disciplinarity, Music, Visual arts | pivo.org.br |
| Plataforma Caníbal | Barranquilla, Colombia | Since 2013, the space has fostered contemporary art and community-based creative practices in the context of the Colombian Caribbean. It is located in the historic Barrio Abajo neighbourhood, a cultural corridor along the Magdalena River that keeps the region’s traditional cultural expressions alive, such as the Barranquilla Carnival. Bringing together curatorship, art education, and community life, the platform operates through participatory engagement with the territory, the body, and Caribbean historical memory. Its annual programme hosts pre-planned projects as well as emerging initiatives, often connected to open calls, grants, prizes, and fellowships. The residency organises socialization processes, along with exhibitions, publications, screenings, open studios, and other activities shaped by the nature of each project and the life of the surrounding territory. | Visual Arts, Interactive Media, Multi-disciplinarity | plataformacanibal.org |
| Programa Artistas en Residencia – PAR | Montevideo, Uruguay | The residency programme was conceived by a group of dance and visual artists and has been developed in Montevideo since 2010. Its goal is to support and promote research and creation in contemporary performing arts. The programme does not have a fixed venue and conceives the residency as an open place, investing in the creation of a network linking artists and national and foreign institutions to boost the local environment and strengthen the development of culture in Uruguay. Aiming at a collaborative line of work, the platform promotes and generates partnerships with cultural organizations and projects with common aims to promote mutual development and sustainability. The programme has different open calls throughout the year and organizes presentations of works in progress developed during the residency. | Performing arts | cargocollective.com/residenciaspar |
| Proyecto RAMTH | Quebrada Valencia, Santa Marta, Colombia | Created in 1997 based on the performer María Teresa Hincapié’s experience in the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, Proyecto RAMTH emerged from a creative life process that unites art, nature, and spirituality. Later, together with the artist’s son, Santiago Zuluaga, this legacy expanded at the La Fruta farm, becoming a contemporary platform for creation, research, and residency that integrates artistic practice with a conscious, community-centred way of life. The project was conceived as a comprehensive art workshop and residency that weaves together art, nature, and collective life into a living laboratory, offering artists, researchers, and thinkers a space to explore contemporary practices through an integral, spiritual, and ecological lens. Without a fixed annual programme, it functions as an open space that hosts residencies according to the nature of each proposal. During their stay, participants are invited to engage in exchange, creation, and reflection in dialogue with the local community, develop a journal documenting their processes, and carry out activities with young people in Buritaca and Quebrada Valencia, as well as workshops, interventions, and reciprocity-based exercises in collaboration with the Community Action Boards. | Performing Arts, Live Arts, Literature, Multi-disciplinarity, Music | Contact: fincalafruta@gmail.com |
| proyectoamil | Lima, Peru | A contemporary art platform established in 2010 with headquarters in Lima, Peru and Ardez, Switzerland. It focuses on being a bridge between the Peruvian and international art scenes, hosting large exhibitions, interventions, and a number of events. Its artist residency programmes are focused on promoting interdisciplinary exchange and creation, aiming to offer artists a space for them to realise their work in a collaborative and experimental environment. The programme is conceived according to the residents’ projects, which may or may not result in public performances. During artists’ stay, their integration is also encouraged through events including lectures, projections, portfolio presentations, and meetings with different cultural agents. | Design, Interactive Media, Literature, Multi-disciplinarity, Music, Performing arts, Visual arts | proyectoamil.org |
| Redes Fractales Interespecie | Mitú, Vaupés, Colombia | Created in 2025, after years of collaboration between the elder Reynel Ortega, bCreated in 2025, after years of collaboration between the Barasano elder Reynel Ortega and artist Bárbara Santos, this residency was born in the Colombian Amazon as a space for encounters between diverse forms of knowledge and sensibilities. Held twice a year, with open calls published two months in advance, the residency fosters exchanges based on transdisciplinary and intercultural perspectives that activate pathways of listening, reflection, and interspecies co-creation in the forest, as a practice that supports the continuity of life. Aimed at artists from different fields and cultures, as well as professionals from various disciplinas intrested in art, the initiative invites participants to rethink the relationship between forest and city, through perspectives that bring together cosmogonies, science, and ancestry. More than an artistic immersion, it is an exercise in shared responsibility and reciprocity with the territory and its community. Activities include a creative programme, visits to sacred sites, listening and transcultural dialogue sessions, as well as the viewing of archival materials and audiovisual works with Amazonian, scientific, and artistic viewpoints. | Multi-disciplinarity | quiasma.co/residencia-selva |
| Residencia Kai | Arín, Cusco, Peru | Located in the Arín village, in the Sacred Valley of the Incas, the space emerged in 2013 as an initiative to generate art and science projects and exchange of knowledge in the Andean region. It maintains Quechua as its language, as well as traditional techniques and customs, including Andean textile art, ceramics, work with rocks, goldsmithery, engineering, architecture, and crop growing. The residency programme therefore aims to allow participants to delve into this context, connecting them with artists and the local community and fostering research and the exchange of different forms of knowledge. By the end of the process, residents are invited to hold exhibitions or public talks about their project. | Design, Literature, Multi-disciplinarity, Music, Performing arts, Visual arts | www.residenciakai.org |
| Residencia la Rural | Raco, Tucumán, Argentina | In this space, artists are invited to immerse themselves in creative practices connected to the nature of the Tucumán yunga – a humid subtropical forest region located in northwestern Argentina. Directed by visual artist and cultural manager Marisa Rossini, the residency has been part of the neo-rural context of Los Planchones since 2017, in a location situated 50 minutes from the city of San Miguel de Tucumán. The project, affiliated with the QUINCHO Network of Argentine Residencies and the Network of Independent Spaces of Tucumán, is designed for artists from various disciplines seeking an environment that encourages creation and research. The residency helps coordinate specific actions and activities for each project – such as workshops, interviews with specialists, and visits to places of interest to researchers – and promotes classes, exhibitions, and other free activities for the Tucumán community. All initiatives are grounded in reciprocal exchange, sustainability, and the appreciation of art. | Multi-disciplinarity, Visual Arts | residencialarural.com |
| Residência São João | São José do Vale do Rio Preto, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil | Founded by artist Antonio Sobral, it began in 2012 on an old coffee estate in the mountainous region of Rio de Janeiro. The multidisciplinary project favours partnerships, exchanges of knowledge, and community experiences. In each edition, other artists and curators are invited to collaborate in the organisation of the residencies, focusing on the contact with the local territory, whether with the estate’s agroecological coffee and banana production, or with the surrounding area and its inhabitants. The project encourages the development of creative processes, collaborations between participants, and interactions with the surrounding, as well as the valorisation of local knowledge and production. They receive residents throughout the year at Casa Figueira, a space suited to longer immersions and to getting to know the local context, which includes a community of ecological farmers and visual and sound artists. They also offer residencies at the farm’s headquarters, a large house dating from 1852 that has a library, sound equipment, an art collection and gardens. This is the case of the Verãozão residence, which counts on a guest chef and a daily active meditation session. | Design, Interactive media, Literature, Multi-disciplinarity, Music, Visual arts | |
| Sacatar | Itaparica, Bahia, Brazil | First established in 2001 by US-born Mitch Loch and Taylor Van Horne, the Sacatar Institute sits on a 9,000-m² property on the island of Itaparica, near Salvador, Bahia. A narrow strip of native mangrove vegetation separates the property from a white sandy beach. The main house was built in 1950 as a spiritual retreat for the Instituto Feminino (Female Institute), a vocational school for girls. The space then became Sacatar – named after a remote location high in California’s Sierra Nevada mountains – and has been adapted for various artists to live and work on research and the creation of new material. With a transdisciplinary programme, the space encourages experimentation and process-oriented projects, and requires no final products. Residents are also invited to connect with the history, culture and community of Itaparica, as well as having access to the cultural scene in Salvador. The team helps connect residents’ research with the locality and, at the end, artists can participate in an open studio. | All creative disciplines. | sacatar.org |
| SACO | Antofagasta, Chile | SACO Cultural Corporation was founded in 2012 as a Week of Contemporary Art, turning five years later into an international festival and, since 2021, into a Biennial of Contemporary Art. Since 2016, it runs the Artistic Residencies Centre ISLA. Its location on the coast of the Atacama Desert has allowed it to develop projects integrating art with science or other fields of knowledge. Its priority is to establish horizontal meeting points to generate circulation between art and the community, diving into creative processes as tools for informal education. ISLA aims to bring guests closer to the Antofagasta region’s economic context and environment. Every year, the space provides workshops, conferences, conversations open to the community, among others. SACO has biannual open calls for residencies, but artists can contact the team throughout the year to submit their projects. | Multi-disciplinarity, New media, Performance, Photography, Sound art, Visual arts | bienalsaco.com |
| SILO – Arte e Latitude Rural | Serrinha do Alambari, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil | This civil society organisation is focused on the exchange and democratisation of knowledge based on art, science, technology, and agroecology. The programme Resilience: Artistic Residency, created in 2017, is an immersive experience in both nature and the countryside, with expeditions through the Atlantic Forest biomes, in Serra da Mantiqueira, in the Environmental Protection Area of Serrinha do Alambari, and in the Itatiaia National Park Plateau, at an altitude of 2,791 metres. In addition, it promotes the encounter of artists with communities and different professionals in areas such as science and agriculture. The residencies take place annually (participants are selected via open call) and offer artists and curators space and inputs for creation and experiment, scholarships for the development of art works, a final exhibition, and the publication of a book. | Design, Interactive media, Literature, Multi-disciplinarity, Music, Performing arts, Visual arts | silo.org.br |
| Solanas Art Experience | Punta Ballena, Uruguay | This cultural platform brings contemporary art into dialogue with a region traditionally known as a tourist destination, fostering encounters among culture, nature, and community. Created and directed by Natasha Ygel in 2023, SAE is located within the Solanas Complex, set in a 140-hectare forest just a few blocks from Portezuelo Beach in the Punta Ballena region. The goal is to encourage interdisciplinary artistic production and research, offering a space for experimentation and inspiration rooted in the surrounding environment. The Residencias Latinoamericanas program annually selects eight artists through an open call, supporting the development of projects that intersect art, architecture, nature, technology, and design. The Links programme promotes exchanges among artists, curators, and researchers, strengthening the circulation of ideas and practices on a global scale. The project also fosters the creation of a community-accessible art collection and hosts public activities such as exhibitions and open studios, integrated into the cultural landscape of nearby Punta del Este. | Visual Arts, Design, Multi-disciplinarity | |
| Solar dos Abacaxis | Rio de Janeiro, Brazil | Solar dos Abacaxis is an autonomous nonprofit organisation that has been running in Rio de Janeiro since 2015. It is currently based in an old 300-m² three-storey factory in the city centre, carrying out a series of actions anchored in experimentation in art and education, bringing together individuals, artists, and collectives who wish to contribute to social transformation. In 2023, it organised the first edition of its visual arts residency project, Oficina Solar. Looking to nurture spaces for research and free experimentation, the programme has a public call for studio occupation, fostering the production, training, and cultural dissemination of independent artists at the beginning of their careers. During the residency, each artist presents a public programme and, at the end, a group exhibition is held. The participants receive support from the Solar team and exchange with guest curators. | Multi-disciplinarity, Visual arts | solardosabacaxis.art.br |
| Taller de Papel | Barichara, Santander, Colombia | The old warehouses of the Colombian Tobacco Company house the project, which emerged in 2001, as a continuation of a natural fibre workshop offered by Juan Manuel de la Rosa, the Mexican master of paper. Taller de Papel, part of San Lorenzo de Barichara Foundation, works with the Barichara community to explore local materials and protect traditions and knowledge from Santander. A group of women develop their work in this space around the topic of natural fibres and colourants to make paper products, caring for the ecological trail where the raw material for their production is found. The space welcomes residents to develop activities around paper: papermaking, natural dyes, engraving, and experimentation with different fibres. The idea is to work with the community and papermakers and have the possibility to share creations. | Visual arts | |
| Toda la Teoría del Universo | Concepcion, Biobío, Chile | The residency programme was born in 2018 during the second edition of the International Festival of Arts and Technologies, with three simultaneous experiences across the Biobío territory. Since then, it has become a space for creation and research in dialogue with local contexts, exploring the intersection of media arts, situated technologies, territorial thought, and collective learning. Experimental in nature and in constant methodological reformulation, the programme promotes annual residencies in both fixed and itinerant formats, coordinated with the festival and its partners. The residencies include public process-sharing sessions, which may take the form of workshops, walks, labs, and interventions. With an emphasis on research development – rather than on final results – and on exchange with the community, Toda la Teoría del Universo (TTU) seeks to strengthen affective and methodological bonds, encouraging the exchange of knowledge and the collaborative construction of situated practices with the territory. | Interactive Media, Literature, Multi-disciplinarity, Visual Arts | todalateoriadeluniverso.org |
| Tsonami Arte Sonoro | Valparaíso, Chile | An organisation that promotes and develops sound art in Chile, Tsonami carries out the B.A.S.E Tsonami residency programme. It is a form of research and artistic creation focused on the search for connections between art, sound, territory, and community, aiming at generating flexible works-processes that are fed back with the city’s rationale. This residency space is understood as a fertile moment of creation, based on open methodologies. Moreover, the platform seeks projects that are developed in Valparaíso, where artists get involved with the local context based on various forms of interaction, from observation to action. The programme has annual open calls, and the selected projects include process exhibitions, radio programmes, and materials to be published online. | Multi-disciplinarity, Sound art | www.tsonami.cl |
| Zona Imaginaria | Buenos Aires, Argentina | Founded in 2008, the space is located in the Great Buenos Aires, a few metres from Uruguay Street, which divides San Isidro, a wealthy residential area, and San Fernando, a low-income, working-class neighbourhood. The disparities that have been present in the area for years gained visibility in 2010, when the mayor of San Isidro built a wall to divide both regions, sparking a backlash – and the tearing down of the wall. In this context of close doors, conflicts and borders, Zona Imaginaria created the residency, seeksing to open doors and create multiple cultural spaces and centres for reflection, aimed at the experiential encounter, while inviting artists and participants from different countries to live together and build networks and bonds. The residency project, titled Who can live in this house?, looks to set up a dialogue between local artists and visitors through the intervention of the house. It also proposes the creation of an alternative space and critical reflection on contemporary art. | Art + Science + Technology, Multi-disciplinarity, Visual arts | zonaimaginaria.com.ar |
Partners in South Asia and Vietnam
| Residency | Location | Description | Discipline(s) | Website |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1Shanthiroad Studio/Gallery | Bengaluru, India | 1Shanthiroad, Bengaluru, is an art space founded by Suresh Jayaram that nurtures creativity and cutting-edge art practice, situated in the centre of the city. The Studio/Gallery at 1Shanthiroad provides space for slide lectures, small conferences, installations, performances, screenings, and informal gatherings. It is administered by a not- for- profit trust VAC –Visual Art Collective. Since its inception in 2003 1Shanthiroad has grown to house artists from diverse countries in its residency programs. | Multidiscipline | 1shanthiroad.com/residencies |
| Adishakti Theatre Arts Laboratory For Theatre Art Research | Puducherry, India | Adishakti is a contemporary theatre research and repertory company founded by thespian the late Veenapani Chawla in Mumbai in 1981. After developing and performing our first five productions in Mumbai we are now operating from our three-and-a-half-acre campus near Auroville, Pondicherry. | Visual arts, Performance, Theatre, Research, Traditional arts | adishaktitheatrearts.com |
| Arthshila Santiniketan | West Bengal, India | The space is designed for interaction that aims to initiate dialogue, both between individuals as well as with the multiple resources available at the centre— its collection of books, films, digital media and educational content in the many fields of Visual Art and Art history. The centre intends to engage different audiences through its exhibitions, lectures, workshops, interactive dialogues, film screenings, children’s art engagements and more. The different spaces available within the centre seek to invite curious minds to participate in the curated programs as well as with the space itself. The centre aspires to carry forward the local ethos of Santiniketan—of knowledge exchange and cultural transmission. | Visual arts | arthshila.org/santiniketan |
| Attakkalari Centre for Movement Arts | Bengaluru, India | Attakkalari Centre for Movement Arts is India’s leading institution for contemporary movement arts, research, education, choreography, and stage technologies. Guided by the motto ‘Traditional Physical Wisdom, Innovation and Technology,’ it connects classical performance traditions with contemporary practices. The Centre hosts national and international artists, supports residencies, and produces innovative performances, workshops, and festivals. It also leads major initiatives including the Attakkalari India Biennial, the Nagarika digital archive, and Culture Port, a hybrid arts and digital performance hub in Bangalore today. | Dance, choreography, digital arts, performance design, new media, and interdisciplinary arts. | attakkalari.org |
| Bikalpa | Kathmandu, Nepal | Bikalpa Art Foundation offers seasonal residency programs throughout the year. The residency consists of six weeks of studio work and a week-long open studio/ exhibition at the end. The type of exhibition will depend on the nature/ form of artwork produced by the artist during the residency period. The artist will also be given an opportunity to engage in different sociocultural activities, interactions, workshops, presentations, networking, and artist gatherings during the residency. | Multidiscipline including performance art, multimedia, film/ video, installation, sound, photography, experimental music, and any other forms of visual arts, also literature and curation. | bikalpaartfoundation.org |
| Britto Arts Trust | Dhaka, Bangladesh | “Britto Residency Program often focuses on a larger ecosystem that benefits both the local and international artists developing networks and sharing knowledge. As Britto does not have any more regular funding for the residency program over the last few years, we have been organizing the residency loosely. The residency now depends on projects and available grants/ funding that can be raised using various resources. We have a studio space adjacent to a social kitchen as well as a small work station. We are also in the process of developing an online as well as offline archive, a physical space that can provide knowledge about Britto’s 21 years journey . Britto is situated in the middle of Dhaka city. The cultural institutions such as Alliance Francaise, Goethe Institut, British Council, Bengal Foundation, Drik Picture Library and all the galleries are within walking/ rickshaw riding distances. The residencies are process based rather than final products. However, since Britto space is used for multiple purposes, there are possibilities for the participants to use it in various ways. We often end the residency with a public event though.” | Visual arts, Curation, Research | brittoartstrust.org |
| HH Art Spaces | Aldona, Goa | Our residency programme is primarily designed to cultivate different voices in Live & Performance Art from South Asia and beyond. We believe in building a long-standing relationship with artists and work with them consistently. We have a long-standing relationship with Britto Arts Trust and Theertha International Artists Collective from South Asia and many individual/collective practices from around the globe. The residencies at HH Art Spaces are curated while also inviting applications from artists who are exploring the ‘live’ and the ‘body’ in their work and process. Artists are invited for a residency of four to twelve weeks at the end of which there is an open studio to showcase work developed during the residency period. We are a space that is interested in the process of a practice rather than the end product. Our programming entails organising studio, gallery, museum, and archaeological site visits in and around Goa. We also run a project space/gallery that can be utilised for Open days, stand alone performances, performance festivals, exhibitions, screenings, presentations, and talks. | Live/Performance Art, Visual Arts, Music/Sonic Arts, Literature | hhartspacesfoundation.org |
| Himalayan Writing Retreat | Satkhol, Uttarakhand, India | The Himalayan Writing Retreat, co-founded in 2016 by authors Chetan Mahajan and Vandita Dubey, is a residential retreat in India’s Kumaon region, popular among writers, poets, and creators seeking learning and inspiration. Consistently rated five stars, it hosts eminent faculty including Annie Zaidi, Arundhathi Subramaniam, Devdutt Pattanaik, Manav Kaul, Ranjit Hoskote, and Shekhar Kapur, alongside international faculty from the USA, UK, and Australia. The retreat offers a supportive, immersive environment for developing writing practice, creative exploration, and engagement with diverse literary perspectives. | Writing: creative fiction, non-fiction, screenwriting, poetry, short story and article writing, podcasting and storytelling. | himalayanwritingretreat.com |
| Indian Music Experience Museum | Bengaluru, India | “We encourage artists and musicians interested in doing a residency with us in the following directions: Digital archive of Indian music – There is ample material in the museum to spark inspiration and encourage artists in residence to work on project ideas with materials in the museum and also form collaborations with local musicians for study, research or performances. Creating an expression (performance, visual or digital) – IME provides an enriching and conducive environment for artists to immerse themselves in a musical heritage that is many centuries old and has influences from around the world. This is ideal for artists seeking inspiration from the different forms of Indian music, and to exploring local forms of music traditions and practices. Interpreting our collection – IME invites musicologists, historians, artists and professionals working in the field of music to interpret the museum’s collection through different lenses to offer new perspectives that may broaden the scope of scholarship around the museum’s collection. Music across borders – Music knows no borders. There are countless accounts of several path-breaking Indian musicians who’ve travelled the world and collaborated with international artists to produce seminal works of fusion in the museum. There is ample scope to research and unravel interesting stories on fusion music, the socio-political contexts in which they evolved, the influences they imbibed along the way, and its significance today that could make for a great exhibition, documentary or a paper. We also encourage artists to go through our website and develop their own residency ideas based on their areas of interest in music and their artistic practice.” | Music | indianmusicexperience.org |
| Kaalo 101 | Kathmandu, Nepal | “At Kaalo.101, we aim to create a socially conscious, completely independent creative space that uses art to uplift emerging Nepali artists while engaging with our surrounding physical, social and cultural environment through an accessible, communicative and collaborative exchange. Kaalo.101 is not only a physical space but also a safe and comfortable home for our diverse and transcultural family of versatile artists and activists. We support people with questions and aim to offer a safe environment to present any kind of contemporary art and express criticism by providing solidarity and empowerment. We value the vibe of an accepting and supporting family and don’t try to fit anybody’s ideas about art and society but explore our own possibilities, values, beliefs and non-hierarchical coexistence. We encourage individuality and empower people to go beyond what they expect is possible — we aren’t just an art space but a living, breathing house. Our space, the art in it and the connected community try to relate Nepal’s cultures, histories and heritage with contemporary perspectives to share experimental works and thoughts that connect to both contexts. This juxtaposition of our physical and cultural setting with contemporary, critical and progressive approaches, alongside our majorly Nepali (but as well international) community, gives us fertile ground to continually learn, unlearn and relearn from each other and the space around us.” | Visual Arts, Music & Sound, Literature, Performance, Research | kaalo101.org |
| Khoj International Artists Association | New Delhi, India | Khoj is an autonomous not-for-profit contemporary arts organization created in 1997. Through international, on-site, off-site and often hyper local programmes and residencies Khoj supports and incubates emerging, experimental and transdisciplinary creative practices and pedagogies that look at art and its various intersections with other disciplines such as gender, urbanisms, ecology, technology and social practice. The residency at Khoj provides time and space to the artists to engage, respond and present their work in a historical socio-economic context, allowing for inclusivity, participation, and artistic interventions, in small but palpable ways. The residency acts as a platform for dialogue, experimentation, and exchange, supporting the development of their artistic practice while building a forum and a network of interdisciplinary artists. | Visual Arts, Sonic Art, Installation, Sculpture, Digital Art | khojstudios.org |
| Matca Space for Photography | Ha Noi, Vietnam | “Matca’s residency space is on the 6th floor of the creative complex at 48 Ngoc Ha, Ba Dinh, Hanoi, on top of Sóng Sánh Café, Matca Space for Photography, and our studio. Located at the political center of Vietnam, it is immediately surrounded by sights of historical significance including the Ho Chi Minh Museum, B-52 Lake, and Lenin Park where skateboarders hang out every afternoon. The quaint neighborhood will also provide artists with fascinating insights into local life as well as the city’s booming art scene. Supermarkets, public transport, and many well-known food and drink establishments are within walking distance. The residency is intended for lens-based practitioners and will suit those seeking a space to pursue their personal endeavors. Artists in residence will also have access to our photobook collection and frequent rotation of activities such as exhibitions, talks and book showcases often attended by young, intellectually curious audiences. “ | Visual arts, Photography | matca.vn |
| New Delhi Residency and Studios | New Delhi, India | New Delhi Residency and Studios offers furnished studio-accommodation to artists and researchers from diverse disciplines during their stay in New Delhi. Initiated in 2005, the residency located in the southeast part of Delhi, is designed for residents to have a work and stay studio, with access to a common hall, kitchen, basement and terrace. The shared areas allow for screenings, open studios, performances and gatherings in accordance to project requirements. | Multidiscipline | newdelhiresidencyandstudios.in |
| Palay House | Leh, Union Territory of Ladakh, India | Positioned at the intersection of art, conservation, and ecology, Palay House is a space for action-based research and development of critical approaches to Himalayan material culture & local ecologies. | Art, design, architecture, with a focus on textiles | achiassociationindia.org |
| Parivartan, Bihar | Siwan, Bihar, India | Parivartan leverages local resources and values across various initiatives to expand the idea of freedom through capacity building. Its programs include education and empowerment for underprivileged communities, complemented by theatre, sports, agriculture, and livelihood projects. Art residencies support artists whose practices align with Parivartan’s mission, enabling engagement with its initiatives or studio-based work. These residencies foster creative collaboration, dialogue, and exploration, allowing artists to contribute to community development while advancing their own practice, strengthening the intersection of art, social impact, and local engagement. Please Note: Bihar has a prohibition on alcohol and Parivartan Campus is vegetarian where smoking is prohibited. | Printmaking, ceramics, visual arts, theatre, and weaving | parivartanbihar.org |
| Sangam House | Bengaluru, India | The intention of Sangam House is to bring together writers from around the world to live and work in a safe, peaceful setting, a space made necessary on many levels by the world we now live in. Sangam House seeks to give writers a chance to build a solid and influential network of personal and professional relationships that can deepen their own work, in effect, expanding and diversifying literature. We believe that literature can and must remain a thriving force of illumination for our times.Our program also facilitates interaction between the visiting writers and local communities. Cultivating such an intersection infuses local communities with inspirations and new ideas, while allowing each participating writer to deepen their understanding of the diverse emotional and social climates in which literature is conceived and received. | Literature | sangamhouse.org |
| Space A Nepal | Kathmandu, Nepal | Space A, founded in 2008 in Kathmandu, Nepal, is an interdisciplinary, non-profit artist initiative supporting visual artists, designers, musicians, and writers. Its KIAR program offers immersive residencies across disciplines, fostering collaboration, dialogue, and experimentation. Residencies last 30 or 60 days, with a maximum of four artists per session. Set in Kathmandu’s vibrant cultural hub, the residency provides space for research, reflection, and creative growth. Participants may opt for a seven-day trekking experience during the residency, covering their own expenses. | Visual Arts, Performing Arts, Music, Literature, New Media, Curation. | spaceanepal.org |
| Srihatta – the Samdani Art Centre | Sylhet , Bangladesh | A unique combination of sculpture park, exhibition, residency, and education programme, Srihatta imagines what an experimental artist-centric institution can be in the 21st Century, beyond of western-centric paradigms. A 10,000-square-foot residency space houses eleven brick-dyed, cast-concrete apartments, with windows facing Srihatta’s landscape. Created as a meditative space to inspire creativity and mesmerize the senses, these apartments have 11-foot ceilings – each with a different species of local scented tree growing inside. Srihatta encourages artists to collaborate with the environment and the local community for long term, growing projects, where creativity, the weather, time, ritual and maintenance come together to weave our relationship with nature and each other closer together. | Multidiscipline, including visual arts, curation, literature, design, performing arts, architecture | srihatta.com.bd |
| Sunaparanta Goa Centre for the Arts | Goa, India | “Our Artist-In-Residence Lab (AIR-L) is designed to nurture creativity, research and experimentation. It offers a space for artists and cultural operators to critically examine existing practices through exchange and dialogue, forging new connections among practitioners across disciplines. An immersive residency programme, AIR-L offers an experiential opportunity of interdisciplinary research and exchange. It encourages projects that address new approaches related to our contemporary context and that can offer new understandings and perspectives of our society. AIR-L provides the space and resource for artists and creatives to develop concepts dedicated to the interaction of the local social, cultural and economic morphology & contemporary art practices. It encourages socially innovative art processes and provides a framework in which various strategies and challenges can be shared and critically assessed. AIR-L seeks to deepen conversations around sustainability where artists from different geographies can collaboratively and collectively reflect and deepen conversations around sustainability through ongoing practice and research.” | Visual arts and creatives combining drawing, performance, sound, with generative processes or code-based practices. | sgcfa.org |
| The Alice Boner Institute | Varanasi, India | “The Alice Boner Institute (ABI) residency programme is open to artists in the broadest sense of the word. This includes visual artists, writers, curators and scholars. Located at Assi Ghat on the banks of the river Ganga, the ABI is an old house with heritage architecture. It was once the home of the Swiss artist and scholar, Padma Bhushan Dr. Alice Boner, from 1935 to 1978. Today the Institute is a residency space for artistic and academic research. Residencies are typically offered for a minimum of one month and a maximum of three months. During the course of their stay, residents are expected to engage with other institutional networks as well as hold presentations, readings, and workshops for a public audience. Residents at the Institute are provided with comfortable living, and studio facilities, and meals from the in-house kitchen. Wi-fi, laundry and research assistance are also provided. The interior of the Institute can host intimate exhibitions, and a modest venue on the terrace can be used for short performances and screenings. Short stays of less than 3 weeks or weekend visits do not fulfill the criteria of the residency programme. The programme will be most beneficial to individuals whose research deals with the arts of India, or for whom the cultural context of Varanasi is integral.” | Multidiscipline. Visual Arts, Literature, Music, Theatre, Film & Photography, Urbanism, Architecture, Curatorial Studies | greenbarbet.org/abi-residency |
| The Indian Sonic Research Organisation | Bengaluru, India | The Indian Sonic Research Organisation (TheISRO) is a Bangalore-based collective of instrument builders and artists focused on promoting experimental music and sound art. They operate an open community sound studio, welcoming the public to explore instrument building, DIY electronics, deep listening, and sound art through workshops, performances, and collaborations. TheISRO offers four annual artist residencies for both Indian and international participants, providing accommodation, studio access, and support for travel and project realisation. Swiss artists and researchers can explore opportunities through the Swiss Indian Network of Electronic Music and Sound (SINEMS) at TheISRO’s SINEMS page: https://www.theisro.org/sinems | Sound art, experimental music, music technology, visual arts, video art, immersive media, social sciences and writing on sound | theisro.org/sinems |
| Unbox Labs, Goa | Merces, Goa, India | Unbox Labs, Goa is a year-round interdisciplinary ecosystem and cultural venue by Unbox Cultural Futures and Sadhana Dell’Arte. Located about 15 minutes from Goa’s capital city, the space invites artists, designers, performers, media practitioners, researchers, and cultural thinkers to engage in creation, reflection, and dialogue at the intersection of art, design, technology, new media, and social practice. The venue supports a variety of practices through its infrastructure: a co-working studio, makers lab, conference room, bar, dining room, garden amphitheatre, balcaõ stage, and exhibition spaces. Unbox’s broader programming includes talks, screenings, publications, workshops, and community events focused on media, art, music, food, and immersive experiences. Unbox Labs offers an intimate yet expansive context for artists and cultural practitioners to develop ideas that are exploratory, transdisciplinary, and rooted in collaboration, cultural inquiry, and social imagination. | Visual arts, new media, film, design, performance, immersive experience, sculpture, literature, music, cultural research, social practice, community arts, intermedia, transdisciplinary practices | instagram.com/unboxlabsgoa |
Partners in West, Central, East and Southern Africa
| Residency | Location | Description | Discipline(s) | Website |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 16Net0 | Maputo, Mozambique | 16NetO is a cultural ‘third-space’ based in the centre of Maputo. Launched in 2016, it has evolved organically with the involvement of artists to become a unique hybrid creative space. Its dynamic cultural programme combines exhibitions, concerts, dance, literature, theatre, cinema and two regular online talks. The venue also offers coworking spaces, a restaurant and a boutique-workshop. 16NetO has become a reference for discovering young talent and a platform for visibility, innovation and creativity for Mozambique’s emerging artists. In 2021, 16NetO took over the initiative Maputo Fast Forward, a biennial festival focusing on technology and creativity across disciplines, launched in 2016. After two editions implemented by 16Neto, the platform has evolved to include a year-round residency and research academy programme coupled with a critical discourse publication. Visiting artists are accommodated off-site and workspace can be arranged with partners based on the needs of the artist. | Multidiscipline | 16neto.com/ |
| 1949: The library of women’s writings from Africa and the black world | Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire | 1949: the library of women’s writings from Africa and the black world was founded in 2020 by the writer, literary translator and literary activist Edwige Renée Dro. The overall mission of the library is to unearth and amplify the contributions of African and black women to inspire present and future generations. Located in a quiet residential neighbourhood in the densely populated Yopougon area of Abidjan, the library hosts regular book readings, creative writing masterclasses and book chats with writers. The library has writings, mainly fiction, by African and black women writers in French and English, and seeks to be the reference centre for literary productions by African and black women. The library opened its residency in 2022 and a bookstore the following year. The space welcomes in residence writers at any stage in their career. | Literature | 1949books.com/ |
| 32° East Ugandan Arts Trust | Kampala, Uganda | Founded in 2011 and located in Kabalagala, 32° East is an independent non-profit organisation and home for the visual arts community in Uganda. 32° East produces the city’s public art festival, KLA ART and is committed to raising awareness and understanding of contemporary art in Uganda. Each year approximately 10 Ugandan artists are selected to take part in the residency programme with the objective of providing meaningful interactions with the artistic community through collaboration, discussion and innovative programming. Visiting artists are encouraged to engage with the community of member artists and broader Ugandan arts scene. Resources include studios, accommodation for artists in residence, an African art library, exhibition space, equipment and support for documenting work and outdoor workshop space. The programme offers artists drop-in sessions for critique and professional development, workshops for practical skills and the opportunity to take part in the regular discussion series, Artachat. Residencies normally conclude with an open studio and/or artist talk. | Visual art, multidiscipline | ugandanartstrust.org/ |
| Afropocene | Kampala, Uganda | Launched in 2021 and located in the central suburb of Kabalagala, Afropocene is a ‘Co-Arts’ space for artists, researchers, thinkers, experimenters, developers and doers. Afropocene provides space and community for any and all explorers of African futures. In 2023 Afropocene launched The Capsule, a micro gallery dedicated to exploring experimental, immersive and alternative exhibition formats. Afrofuturists, Afropocene is interested in exploring the cultural aesthetics, philosophies of science and history that are borne of the developing intersection of African diaspora culture with technology. Spread over two floors in an industrial building, the studio lab space flexibly accommodates various configurations based on the needs of the project. | Visual art, Multidiscipline | afropocene.com/ |
| Angels and Muse Foundation for Contemporary Art | Lagos, Nigeria | Angels and Muse is a non-profit arts and creative incubator founded by internationally acclaimed artist Victor Ehikhamenor. Styled as a ‘thought laboratory,’ the foundation’s goal is to democratise creative knowledge, curate resources and enhance the skillsets of African creative professionals. Since 2018, Angels and Muse has organised a range of workshops, lectures, exhibitions, residencies, and trainings in its Lagos space. In 2025, Angels and Muse expanded to Benin City, the epicentre of the historic Benin Kingdom and a developing creative ecosystem for culture and contemporary African art. In Benin, the institution spans three properties and includes a sculpture park, a green zone, and an ultra-modern boutique residence for artists. It also offers a programme of immersive educational tours. The residency programme accommodates two residents and aims to schedule a curator/writer and artist during each cycle. At the end of each residency, residents are expected to give a presentation of their work in a format that suits their project. | Visual art | angelsandmuse.org/ |
| Bag Factory Artists’ Studios | Johannesburg, South Africa | The Bag Factory Artists’ Studios is a non-profit contemporary visual art organisation located in the ungentrified downtown area of Newtown in Johannesburg. One of the original partners in the global Triangle Network, the Bag Factory has a pioneering 33-year history of providing a supportive infrastructure to artists. The Bag Factory provides studios to a cross-generational community of Johannesburg based artists, presents exhibitions showcasing new work by emerging artists to the wider public, and hosts an international artist and curator residency programme. Residencies are self-directed and focus on enabling artists to research and develop new work in a supportive environment. Through public events, outreach, and Open Studios, these opportunities encourage interaction and dialogue between the visiting artists and local audiences. | Visual art | bagfactoryart.org.za/ |
| Black Girls Glow | Accra, Ghana | Black Girls Glow aims to increase the participation and presence of women and non-binary artists in their communities. The platform brings visibility to women’s issues and explores ways to address these through art, by providing programmes that foster collaboration, innovation and leadership development. Founded in 2017 as a residency to encourage cooperation among artists, Black Girls Glow has grown into a cluster of programmes dedicated to exploring ways in which art can be used to build community and thriving ecosystems. The annual month-long Koshka sound and music residency leverages the collective gathering of women and the power of collaboration to empower women artists to overcome barriers in the male-dominated music industry. Black Girls Glow is a roving platform that takes up residence in a different location each year. Alongside the residency, Black Girls Glow programmes discussions, skills development and community-building activities throughout the year that engage with topics of artist career development, inclusivity and personal growth. | Music | blackgirlsglow.org/ |
| Brush Tu Art Studio | Nairobi, Kenya | Founded in 2013 by three young artists, Brush Tu Art Studio is located in Nairobi’s Buruburu estate and today comprises 12 members who work across various visual art mediums. Brush Tu aims to promote public education and interest in visual art. The collective provides affordable artist-led studio workspace for members, and through exhibitions and programme activities, has developed a support network through which members can meet and exchange ideas, skills, knowledge and information. The space is equipped with various tools to support visual arts production and includes a homemade printing press and basic carpentry workshop as well as tech hardware for digital arts projects. Artists in residence are accommodated a short distance away from the studio in a shared house. Brush Tu can provide support with organising workshops, studio and gallery visits, exhibitions or open studio events, artists’ talks, collaborations with local artists, film screenings, and community engagement activities. | Visual art | instagram.com/brushtuartistcollective |
| CC Connecting Cultures & Communities | Nacala, Mozambique | The CC artist residency is located in Naherenque, a fishing neighbourhood in Nacala, Nampula province in the north of Mozambique. Surrounded by the Indian Ocean, the area is rich in marine and land biodiversity. The residency is closely integrated with the local population, who practise ancestral cultural traditions in their daily lives, such as initiation rituals (through songs and dances), fishing, shellfish gathering and agriculture. The residency carries out artistic and community work, specifically with the GPACN (Permanent Group for the Performing Arts of Nacala). CC collaborates with public and private spaces around Mozambique to present the results and/or processes of residencies: in the city of Nacala at House of culture of Nacala, on Mozambique Island (UNESCO World Heritage Site) at Museum of the Island of Mozambique and GACIM Island of Mozambique Conservation Office, in Nampula at House of Culture, in Maputo at MFF Maputo Fast Forward festival and the CCFM French-Mozambican Cultural Centre, in Tete at House of Culture, and in Inhambane at House of Culture, among others. Nacala is a place of refuge for thousands of displaced people from the conflict in Cabo Delgado. As Mozambique’s second largest port, Nacala is protected by the national land, air and sea forces. | Multidiscipline | facebook.com/CCConnectingCultures |
| Donwahi Foundation | Abidjan, Ivory Coast | The Donwahi Foundation is a non-profit institution launched in 2008. The residency programme supports local and international artists in their research, creations and conceptual implementation of projects at all stages of development. The multi-functional space has hosted practitioners from various disciplines including performance art, visual arts, mixed media, script development and script writing. With indoor and outdoor studio spaces, the Donwahi Foundation provides a setting conducive to experimentation, and a base from which visiting artists can explore the various art microcosms of Abidjan and the rest of Côte d’Ivoire. Depending on the needs of the artist, residencies can culminate in an exhibition or benefit from a dissemination campaign through the foundation’s established Pan-African and global art networks. | Multidiscipline | facebook.com/FondationDonwahi |
| Guest Artists Space Foundation | Lagos, Nigeria | Guest Artists Space (G.A.S.) Foundation is a Nigerian non-profit founded in 2019 by Yinka Shonibare CBE RA and an esteemed board of directors. It delivers residency and public programmes across two sites: in an award-winning building in the heart of Lagos and on a rural working farm in Ijebu. The multi-use live/work spaces host multidisciplinary artists, researchers and curators from all over the world in awarded residencies for up to three months. The Foundation’s mission strives to create a platform for knowledge exchange and artistic career development. G.A.S. aims to break down traditional barriers of privilege, wealth and lack of infrastructure and provide opportunities for both participants and the local community. | Visual art, Multidiscipline | guestartistsspace.com/ |
| Kin ArtStudio | Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo | Kin ArtStudio (KAS) is an independent non-profit art organisation that supports creation in the field of visual arts and other forms of contemporary expression. Established in 2011 by visual artist Vitshois Mwilambwe Bondo, KAS is committed to strengthening the capacities of young Congolese artists and positively impacting the development of the contemporary art scene in Kinshasa, Congo and the rest of the continent. This is achieved through providing studio and exhibition space for a community of artists, training and education programming, an international residency programme to promote exchange and knowledge sharing with artists and institutions from around the world and, since 2019, organising the Congo Biennale. The residency is shaped as a laboratory where artists are given space to pursue their projects in a vibrant artistic environment with access to production equipment and an experienced curatorial team. The biennale provides an opportunity for Congolese and visiting artists to showcase their work and engage with an international network of artists and arts professionals. | Visual art, Multidiscipline | congobiennale.art |
| Kòbọmọjẹ́ Artist Residency | Ibadan, Nigeria | Founded in 2022 and located in Ibadan in South-Western Nigeria, Kòbọmọjẹ́ Artist Residency is an international residency programme offering a supportive environment for artists to develop creative projects, and for critics, writers, curators and academics to conduct research connected to art and culture. The live/work residency is housed in Kòbọmọjẹ́ Court, an impressive example of tropical modernist architecture nestled in the hilly Iyaganku landscape. Known for its rich cultural heritage, Ibadan has always been a site of great artistic development and movements. Residents are encouraged to engage with this rich heritage and immerse themselves in various aspects of Yaruba culture. | Visual art, Multidiscipline | kobomoje.org |
| Kokrobitey Institute | Accra, Ghana | The Kokrobitey Institute began in 1994 as a tertiary learning facility providing short-term travel study programmes for American students to discover Ghana through the arts. Today, the Kokrobitey Institute is a multidisciplinary residential learning community for researchers, artists, environmentalists, designers and others committed to sustainable development and traditional knowledge systems as they relate to sustainability, education, creative art, resourceful design and social entrepreneurship. Located in what was a traditional fishing village outside Accra, the Institute is built with local materials with a central courtyard, ocean-facing kitchen and dining space. Set in verdant landscape with an organic garden, the residency can accommodate 32 people in shared double rooms. The campus has a tennis court and health and wellness centre. The Institute provides well-equipped working spaces, studios and workshop facilities suitable for sustainable design, glass, woodwork, metalwork and textiles (batik, printmaking and silk-screening). Access to a sound studio can also be arranged off-site. Kokrobitey Institute works with researchers, provides residencies, internships and workshops. The Institute partners with an international community of like-minded people and organisations across disciplines to exchange, share and develop educational experiences and materials that promote environmental literacy. | Multidiscipline | kokrobiteyinstitute.org/ |
| Library Of Africa and The African Diaspora | Accra, Ghana | The Library Of Africa and The African Diaspora (LOATAD) is a private library, archive, writing residency, and research institute dedicated to the work of African and diaspora writers from the late 19th-century to the present day. Founded in 2017 and located in the suburbs of Accra, LOATAD houses an expansive collection of over 4000 books by writers from 44 of Africa’s 54 countries and Black authors from the Americas, the Caribbean, and Europe. LOATAD makes explicit the historical and contiguous links between the global Black experience by highlighting the connections between Black writers and their work. Since 2021, LOATAD has run several successful writing residencies, bringing together writers from across Africa and the diaspora to the library and providing them with the time, space, resources, and community they need to focus on their work. | Literature | loatad.org/ |
| Maabara Atelier | Malindi, Kenya | Maabara in Kiswahili means ‘chumba cha majaribio’ – a space for experimentation. Maabara Atelier is a performance practice-oriented collaborative laboratory for artistic research and work processes founded by theatre maker Ogutu Muraya in 2021 in Nairobi to support independent theatre artists throughout their individual concept-to-creation processes, providing working space, mentorship and workshop sessions with guest artists. Today, Maabara Atelier is located in Malindi on the coast and provides artists a supportive context in which to work and experiment with genuine interest, curiosity, and playfulness, allowing for failure and vulnerability. Through a rich array of programming and activities for resident artists and guests, Maabara offers immersive experiences that promote artistic growth, cultural exchange, and community engagement. These include workshops and feedback sessions, community and cultural activities, showcases, wellness and movement workshops, and networking events with fellow artists. | Performings arts | instagram.com/maabara_atelier/ |
| Modzi Arts | Lusaka, Zambia | Founded in 2016, Modzi Arts in Lusaka is committed to strengthening the local art scene and championing Zambia’s artistic heritage. It cultivates a dynamic environment for artistic creation, embracing both traditional and contemporary practices. Through exhibitions, performances, workshops, and residencies, Modzi Arts ignites artistic exchange, research, experimentation and collaboration. Modzi welcomes artists and researchers working in all disciplines and encourages the sharing of ideas and collaborative approaches. Visiting artists are accommodated in a shared living home, and have access to galleries, studios, an art archive and library of books and tools. | Multidiscipline | modziarts.com/ |
| Nafasi Art Space | Dar es Salaam, Tanzania | Since it was founded in 2008, Nafasi Art Space in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, has built from the ground-up a thriving arts hub with studio spaces, residencies, workshops, festivals, exhibitions and children’s activities. Nafasi provides opportunities for learning and collaboration between emerging and professional artists in Tanzania and gives audiences a place to experience and appreciate arts and culture. The Nafasi artist collective, which drives the activities of the space, is home to a large network of member artists working in 20 studios. The Nafasi residency programme focuses on exchange, and visiting artists are expected to engage with the resident artist community. Artists in residence are invited to join the monthly Art Talks events and host an open studio exhibition to present their work. | Multidiscipline | nafasiartspace.org/ |
| Nirox Foundation | The Cradle of Humankind, Gauteng, South Africa | Established in 2007, NIROX is an independent non-profit trust run for the benefit of the arts. t is committed to contributing to the global contemporary arts field through its sculpture park, artist residency, workshops and outdoor concert venues. It is located within an extensive private nature reserve in the heart of the Cradle of Humankind World Heritage Site, 45-minutes from the centre of Johannesburg. NIROX provides a comfortable and stimulating environment for residents to research, imagine, experience and produce diverse ideas and works, and to grow personal and creative practice. The residency follows a fluid approach with no prescribed outcome. Given the location in the heart of The Cradle of Humankind World Heritage Site, projects often develop with a site-specific focus, reflecting on humanity’s relationship with itself, the universe, nature, and the meaning of time. Without impeding artistic integrity or productivity, the residency enables resident artists to engage with diverse local artists, communities, institutions and the unique physical environment. | Visual art, Performance, Music | niroxarts.com/residency |
| Nzango Artist Residency | Maputo, Mozambique | The brainchild of Matchume Zango, Nzango Artist Residency was built between 2008 and 2014. The residency includes accommodation for 16+ people, a rehearsal space, instrument construction workshop and a professional recording studio in a semi-rural location on the outskirts of Maputo, Mozambique. The residency is a vibrant exchange platform for artists from Mozambique and neighbouring countries, with projects focused on researching and documenting traditional music and instruments. Nzango Artist Residency offers a creative place and different cultural environment for professional musicians, academics and lovers of music from around the world to work, learn and develop their ideas in music. | Music, Performance | nzangoartistresidency.com |
| Open Arts Space | Kaduna, Nigeria | Open Arts Space, established in 2018, is a hub for arts and culture in Northern Nigeria. The organisation supports contemporary creation and emerging artists through laboratories for experimentation in the intersection of art and technology, and offers a busy calendar of activities ranging from photography exhibitions and performances to literature events and film screenings. Through their programming and projects, such as the Hausa International Book and Arts Festival (HIBAF), Open Arts prioritises marginalised voices and aims to combine digital collaborations with arts and literature to explore new perspectives about the role and meaning of culture during times of crisis. Located in Kaduna north, a quiet residential area with rich cultural history, Open Arts can accommodate up to two artists for residencies at the cultural centre, located in a converted seven-bedroom house. The space provides the peace and tranquillity needed for creative work whilst offering easy access to the city and surrounding arts and culture sites of interest such as the Arewa House archive, Ilmi House, the National Museum and National Gallery of Art, and ancient Zazzau Emirate. | Multidiscipline | openartsworld.org/open-arts-space/ |
| perfocraZe International Artist Residency (pIAR) | Kumasi, Ghana | perfocraZe International Artist Residency (pIAR) is the only openly trans-led space and queer-inclusive arts and cultural organisation of its kind in the history of Ghana. pIAR is founded and directed by a Ghanaian trans-woman, Va-Bene Elikem Fiatsi, a multidisciplinary artivist, curator, philanthropist and mentor working internationally across several countries. The live/work residency is hosted by ‘crazinisT artisT studiO’ in Kumasi, the second largest city in Ghana, and the capital of the Ashanti Kingdom. pIAR is an interdisciplinary artist programme, performance ‘hatchery’, cultural incubator, research laboratory and interactive platform aimed at promoting exchange between international and local artists, activists, researchers, writers, curators and critical thinkers. Since its launch in 2018, pIAR has hosted over 160 artists from more than 25 countries. Artists are supported to develop their projects focusing on processes, collaborations, workshops, community building, critical investigations, research, networking and experimentation. Participants share their projects and experiences through discussions, research-workshops, presentations, art talks and lectures with Ghanaian artists, students, and the local community. | Performance, Activism, Multidiscipline | crazinistartist.com/ |
| Projecto Utopia | Maputo, Mozambique | Projecto Utopia is an initiative aimed at transforming the cultural landscape of the Mafalala neighbourhood in Maputo. Founded in 2022 by long-time friends and professional lighting designers Caldino Perema and Eduardo Abdala, Projecto Utopia seeks to create an inclusive and vibrant space for artistic expression, holistic learning, and deep community engagement for people of all ages. Utopia aims to address the urgent need for local artistic infrastructure by offering a workspace equipped with technical materials, rehearsal rooms, and offices. Focused on artistic experimentation and professional development, Utopia offers residencies, workshops, and public presentations, and hosts various events including open rehearsals, exhibitions, concerts, and community discussions. Project Utopia’s residency programme is open to artists from all backgrounds and working in any artistic field. | Performance, Multidiscipline | projectoutopia.com/ |
| Terra Alta Foundation | Accra, Ghana | Founded by artist and performer Elisabeth Efua Sutherland in 2017, Terra Alta Foundation is an artist-led performing arts space in Dzorwulu, a quiet suburb of Accra. The foundation started as a response to the lack of accessible arts infrastructure in Accra, particularly space for rehearsal, research and development. Characterised by an open-air stage, garden and repurposed shipping containers that provide space for research, classes and rehearsals, Terra Alta offers a year-round programme of performances and events that harness the arts as a tool for development through training for youths, research and development of new models and techniques for the arts, and community engagement. Visiting artists are welcome to engage with the activities at the space and to connect with local artists through off-site studio visits, events, shows and workshops. | Performing arts, Multidiscipline | instagram.com/terraalta_gh |
| The Forgotten Angle Theatre Collaborative | Mpumalanga, South Africa | Established in 1996, The Forgotten Angle Theatre Collaborative (FATC) is a leading dance organisation in South Africa. Based at the Ebhudlweni Arts Centre on a farm in rural Mpumalanga, FATC is strongly committed to mobilising the arts as a vehicle for personal and social transformation. This is realised through activities including in-school arts exposure, tertiary training for emerging artists, the annual My Body My Space international showcase festival with a human-rights focus, and the Agri-Culture project which promotes food security and resilience through organic vegetable gardens. FATC hosts visiting artists who work in all art disciplines in a range of residency formats. Accommodation is provided in simple self-catering cottages powered by solar energy and gas, and residency artists have access to the centre’s facilities and dance studios. | Performance, Multidiscipline | forgottenangle.co.za/ |
| The Livingstone Office for Contemporary Arts (LoCA) | Livingstone, Zambia | Founded in 2014 as an artist-initiated non-profit library and research centre, the Livingstone Office for Contemporary Art (LoCA) embodies a collective and collaborative platform for reflection, and is also an experimental think-tank. LoCA’s work investigates colonial, social and political histories and their legacies and how they relate to language and contemporary art locally and internationally. LoCA acts as a mediation and education platform through workshops and teaching projects. These programmes critically engage with texts, theories and practices in art history while examining the position of Zambian contemporary art in relation to Western models. This is a community where experimental practices and fresh perspectives are fostered and shared among interdisciplinary artists, curators, writers, scholars, cultural custodians and audiences in the region. | Visual art, Multidiscipline | www.locazm.org |
| Untethered Magic | Nairobi, Kenya | Untethered Magic, established in 2019, is a home and an independent contemporary art residency nestled in nature on the open southern boundary of the Nairobi National Park where migrating wildlife moves freely between the park and the adjacent Kitengela plains. It provides artists and researchers with the necessary resources to reflect on their practice and promotes professional networking by connecting them with contemporaries and institutions, cultivating dialogue around alternative pedagogies and contemporary art practice. The space encourages unlearning and relearning and the advancement of research-based conceptual contemporary arts. Central to Untethered Magic’s ethos is the commitment to providing artists with a break from production and an environment to explore new concepts, even if uncertain, and to connect with like-minded individuals. Untethered Magic has six individual cabins, each with a scenic view, shared workspaces and a library. At the heart of the residency is the communal kitchen, which can accommodate up to 40 people and is often used to host meals with invited guests. | Multidiscipline | untethered-magic.com/ |
Partners in Switzerland
| Residency | Location | Description | Discipline(s) | Website |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Atelier Mondial | Münchenstein, Basel, Switzerland | Atelier Mondial is one of the oldest and largest international artist residency exchange programmes in Switzerland. It offers live-in studios for visual artists and writers and an in-house exhibition space. The residency aims to promote intercultural and interdisciplinary dialogue about art, as well as sustainable networking based on interests and friendships between artists from different countries and cultures. Partnerships with related organisations abroad, which have grown over many years, provide the basis for exchange and dialogue. Atelier Mondial provides its residents with a creative and unhurried period for production. | Literature, Performing Arts, Visual Arts | ateliermondial.com |
| Binz39 | Zürich, Switzerland | For over 40 years, BINZ39 has been a residency and exhibition space in the centre of Zurich. It contains eight artist studios, which are all directly connected to the exhibition space, which hosts six exhibitions annually alongside additional events. Unlike a white cube, BINZ39 retains the character of its historic building, with wooden floors and a pink kitchen. The space is self-organised, with residents sharing responsibilities, and sits within a larger compound that also includes other artist-run spaces, various studios, initiatives and a café. | Visual Arts | Binz39.ch |
| Château de Lavigny | Lavigny, Vaud, Switzerland | The international writer’s residency at Château de Lavigny is managed by the Heinrich Maria and Jane Ledig-Rowohlt Foundation. It offers combined live-in and work rooms for writers along with shared communal indoor out outdoor spaces. This exceptional site, built in 1732, is the former home of the German publisher Heinrich Ledig-Rowohlt (Rowohlt Verlag), who lived there with his wife from 1972 to 1992. Many renowned writers, friends of the Rowohlts, stayed here regularly, including Vladimir Nabokov and Henri Miller. After their deaths, and in accordance with their wishes, the house became an international writers’ residence. | Literature | chateaudelavigny.ch |
| Embassy of Foreign Artists (EOFA) | Petit-Lancy, Geneva, Switzerland | The Embassy of Foreign Artists (EOFA) is a research-based residency programme, offering private living spaces in historic residencies and studios in a cooperative in the city centre of Geneva. EOFA focuses on socially engaged practices and arts & science. Also, it strongly collaborates with international organisations’ archival departments and with the scientific research centre Campus Biotech. Long-term residencies and short-term accommodation for artists and cultural practitioners presenting their work in local institutions are all welcome. This makes EOFA a very dynamic place to meet international artists. | Performing Arts, Visual Arts | eofa.ch |
| Fundaziun Nairs | Scuol, Grisons, Switzerland | Fundaziun Nairs in the Lower Engadine has served as an international residency space since 1988. It is located in a historic former bathhouse on the river Inn and welcomes around 30 artists each year. Surrounded by the alpine landscape, it offers artists a rare combination of concentrated retreat in a rural region and lively exchange through shared dinners and studio visits open to professionals and the public. Deeply rooted in local culture, languages and landscape yet connected to the global art and gallery scene, it also hosts a rich programme of contemporary art exhibitions and events. | Literature, Music, Performing Arts, Visual Arts | nairs.ch |
| Gleis 70 | Zurich, Switzerland | The guest studio Gleis70 is located in Zurich Altstetten in a former factory building in an industrial area. Artists, musicians, designers, inventors, composers, writers, graphic artists, dancers, filmmakers, and many more work in the Gleis70 cooperative building. It is located right beside the tracks of the train Zurich-Bern/Basel and is easily accessible by public transportation. Gleis70 is an artists-run residency. | Design, Visual arts | gastatelier.gleis70.ch |
| Initiative Freie Musikszene Zürich (IFMZ) | Zurich, Switzerland | The Initiative Freie Musikszene Zürich (IFMZ) is an association of freelance professionals active in Zurich’s contemporary and experimental music and sound art scene. It houses seven personal studios, a 280 m² rehearsal space for common use and a residency studio. The place is located in the middle of lively district four, which is known for its diversity, party scene, markets and events. IFMZ is artist-run and operates outside of institutional structures. The space is best suited for artists who are interested in working in a lively environment and do not require constant silence. | Music | ifmz.ch |
| Kaserne Basel | Basel, Switzerland | Kaserne Basel is one of the most important venues for contemporary theatre, dance, performance, and popular music in Switzerland. It partners with local, national, and international scenes and supports the development of new works. The residency offers a shared, self-organised rehearsal space for local artists, Swiss residency artists, and residency artists from the regions covered by Pro Helvetia’s liaison offices. It focuses on social connections rather than production, though many artists use the rehearsal space to experiment and present their research in a final showing. | Music, Performing Arts | kaserne-basel.ch |
| Kulturhaus Villa Sträuli | Winterthur, Zurich, Switzerland | Kulturhaus Villa Sträuli offers tailor made residencies that centre interdisciplinary and intercultural exchange. The historic villa provides calm workspaces, project support and presentation opportunities while guests are integrated into the house’s public programme. Villa Sträuli prioritises diversity, inclusion and community engagement, fostering peer exchange, mentoring and collaborative projects. Our goal is to build sustainable partnerships that support artists’ careers, growth, and future international artistic endeavours. | Design, Literature, Music, Performing Arts, Visual Arts | villastraeuli.ch |
| La Becque | La Tour-de-Peilz, Vaud, Switzerland | Located on the shores of Lake Geneva, in La Tour-de-Peilz, the La Becque residency welcomes artists from all walks of life, inviting its residents to develop their project in an exceptional living and working environment. La Becque’s residency programmes offer its residents time for reflection, rather than a focus on production. Support is provided for transitional stages in the realisation of projects, whether on site through our own infrastructure or with the help of partner institutions. Particular attention is given to projects that explore the interplay between nature, the environment, and technology — notions that are more intertwined than ever and that lie at the heart of contemporary concerns. | Design, Music, Performing Arts, Visual Arts | labecque.ch |
| La Grange, Centre / Arts et Sciences / UNIL | Lausanne, Vaud, Switzerland | La Grange is a theatre and a creative laboratory for artists and researchers, located on the campus of the University of Lausanne. What makes it unique is its privileged access to the academic world, with dozens of research buildings and laboratories spanning a wide range of scientific disciplines. La Grange embodies the possibility of a free and open space where researchers and artists collaborate and imagine together. By intersecting practices, its residency format seeks to reconfigure the relationship between arts and sciences and to support collaborative work. | Performing Arts | grange-unil.ch |
| La Rada – Spazio per l’arte contemporanea | Locarno, Ticino, Switzerland | La Rada is an independent cultural space founded in 1996 in Locarno, specialising in contemporary art. It offers accommodation for artists coming to Locarno, in collaboration with Casa Azul, a historic building located in Gordola, dating back to the late 19th century. Unique in its architecture and the memories it holds, it was reactivated in 2021 as a space for the cultural activities of the Verzasca Foto Association. Its original history is linked to the late 19th century, and its origins are part of the architectural context of the time. It currently hosts photographic exhibitions, screenings, artistic meetings, and social events in an authentic, unrenovated atmosphere. | Music, Performing Arts, Visual Arts | larada.ch |
| L’Abri | Geneva, Switzerland | L’Abri is a cultural institution supporting emerging artists in performing, visual, literary, and sound arts, design and other creative practices. Around twelve associated artists join annually, gaining access to workspaces, a vibrant network, professional encounters, and collaborations with regional and international partners. Residencies include long-term in-house residencies for associated artists and exchanges with partner institutions from abroad. L’Abri fosters experimentation and visibility, helping young artists to develop and share their projects. | Music, Performing Arts, Visual Arts | labrigeneve.ch |
| Musikwohnhaus Basel | Basel, Switzerland | The Musikwohnhaus combines living and working by offering four guest apartments, allowing musicians to enjoy a varied and productive stay at the Musikwohnhaus. It was established as a result of an in-depth investigation into the often challenging conditions that musicians and artists face in terms of work and residence. The project was planned and built by the Stiftung Habitat. Over 100 musicians from diverse genres live and work in the building, creating a vibrant and creative community. | Music | lyseloth.ch |
| Neubad | Lucerne, Switzerland | Neubad is the repurposing of the former Lucerne indoor swimming pool into a space for the creative economy, culture, art, knowledge work, community spirit, inclusion, as well as social and cultural exchange. It is used for events, gastronomy and catering, as a workspace, gallery and neighbourhood garden, and a project space. As a house of open culture, it promotes diversity and mutual inspiration. The rooftop flat with a stunning view hosts residencies for short or long periods, offering both quiet for focused work and the opportunity to open the door and meet the multidisciplinary community. | Design, Literature, Music, Visual Arts | neubad.org |
| PROGR | Berne, Switzerland | PROGR offers a guest apartment located above its art centre in Bern, a historic building that is home to more than 200 artists from diverse disciplines. In addition to the artists’ studios, PROGR also features galleries, a concert hall, and bars, serving as a vibrant cultural hub with a diverse programme of events. Thanks to its central location in Switzerland’s capital, just a short walk from the main train station, it is exceptionally well connected – Zurich, Basel, Lucerne, and Lausanne are all reachable in about an hour. | Visual Arts | residency.ch |
| Rote Fabrik | Zurich, Switzerland | Rote Fabrik is a vibrant cultural hub on the shores of Lake Zurich. It hosts a diverse programme of music, theatre, and visual arts while providing studios where artists work side by side. This coexistence creates constant exchange, inspiration, and networking between local and international practitioners. The residency space therefore offers not only a workplace, but also an entry point into Zurich’s dynamic cultural scene and a place for dialogue across disciplines. | Performing Arts, Visual Arts | rotefabrik.ch |
| Sitterwerk St. Gallen | St.Gallen, Switzerland | The Sitterwerk Foundation, consists of a studio house, a vast public art library as well as a material archive of samples connected with art production. In the Sitter valley, guest residents can pursue their work in seclusion and/or lively exchange. The collections of the art library and the material archive can be used for in-depth research during the stay. Moreover, the proximity to the Kesselhaus Josephsohn, and the Kunstgiesserei St. Gallen also provide an inspiring framework for the artists’ personal work. | Design, Performing Arts, Visual Arts | sitterwerk.ch |
| Swiss Game Hub | Zurich, Switzerland | The Swiss Game Hub is a co-working and event space that hosts over 100 game makers working on their projects and organises a variety of events around the development of games. It is a melting pot of people developing their first game on their own, to established studios with over 15 team members, sharing a space and ideas. Swiss Game Hub has a multitude of events to discuss, test and celebrate games. | Design | swissgamehub.com |
| Utopiana Geneva | Geneva, Switzerland | Utopiana is a residency and creation space in Geneva focused on ecological transition and new cultural paradigms. For over 25 years, it has built international and local networks, sharing artistic experiments, scientific knowledge, and ancestral popular wisdom. Residency artists develop practices rooted in everyday life and in harmony with the living world, exploring methods at the intersection of art, architecture, ecology, and biology to shape new cultural paradigms. The association is based in a house provided by the city of Geneva. Utopiana designs its activities and programme with the perspective that art has an essential role to play in building a new sensitivity towards ecosystems. | Literature, Music, Performing Arts, Visual Arts | utopiana.art |
| Verzasca Foto | Brione Verzasca, Ticino, Switzerland | The residency in Valle Verzasca offers a tranquil retreat in the southern Swiss Alps, surrounded by lush forests, stone villages, and streams. Residency artists stay in a traditional stone house in Frasco, sharing a cozy home with other residents while enjoying a private room and access to shared living spaces, a garden, and modern amenities. The rhythm of life here moves slowly, inviting reflection, creative focus, and connection with both nature and the local community. It is a setting where remoteness transforms into inspiration, and the landscape itself becomes a collaborator in artistic and photographic creation. | Visual Arts | verzascafoto.com |
| Villa Numa | La Chaux-de-Fonds, Neuchâtel, Switzerland | Villa Numa offers an inspiring artistic residency in the heart of La Chaux-de-Fonds, a city renowned for its watchmaking heritage and nestled within the natural beauty of the Jura landscape. Housed in a fully renovated 1926 building, the residency features six spacious 60 m² apartments, each with a private balcony, alongside welcoming common areas and a large, shared garden. Located in a quiet residential district in the west of the city, Villa Numa creates a bridge between artists and local communities, encouraging creative encounters beyond conventional cultural venues. | Design, Literature, Music, Performing Arts, Visual Arts | villanuma.ch |
| Villa Sonnenberg | Lenzburg, Aargau, Switzerland | Villa Sonnenberg is a freshly renovated historic building in the Swiss countryside, offering artists an inspiring retreat surrounded by gardens and nature. The residency combines tranquillity with cultural vibrancy from the nearby town: a place to dive into one’s work while connecting with guesthouse residents, local cultural initiatives and the community. With its unique atmosphere, spacious setting and rich history, the Villa Sonnenberg fosters reflection, intercultural dialogue and the growth of new artistic impulses across disciplines. | Music, Visual Arts | villasonnenberg.ch |
| ZAZ BELLERIVE | Zurich, Switzerland | The ZAZ BELLERIVE, Centre for Architecture Zurich, is an open platform, exhibition venue, and forum for dialogue on questions of building culture. It explores how architecture is perceived through public debates on urban design and spatial planning, while addressing theoretical and historical perspectives on society and urban development. Through its changing exhibitions, talks, and events, ZAZ BELLERIVE engages both a broad public and professional audiences, contributing to contemporary discussions on the built and territorial environment. The residency is specifically intended for architects, offering them a space to deepen their research and engage with these ongoing dialogues. | Visual Arts | zaz-bellerive.ch |
What’s on
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Residencies 2027: information
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New and updated support formats for 2026
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Selected artists in residence 2026
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From Switzerland to Algiers and Tunisia to Winterthur
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Ripple outward—Residencies in East Asia
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Artist in residence Sarafadeen Bello plumbs the futures of blue economies on the shores of Lake Zurich
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‘The forgetting, relearning, and reconnecting is an inspiring process as an artist’: Daniela Brugger reflects on her residency
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A ‘broke writer’ reflecting on art, queerness and livelihood
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