Pro Helvetia
South America
Established in 2021, the South America liaison office of Pro Helvetia is committed to cultural exchange and artistic collaboration between Switzerland and South America. Working in a decentralised manner, our employees are based in Bogotá, Buenos Aires, La Paz, São Paulo, and Santiago (where the Head Office is based).
Our team of local experts facilitates and supports professional encounters between artistic scenes in the disciplines supported by Pro Helvetia. We forge ties with event organisers and nurture long-term partnerships with relevant platforms to support the promotion and dissemination of Swiss arts in the region. Our grants enable residencies and research trips in both directions to foster cultural exchange.
About us
Whom do we address?
- Artists and creators in Switzerland and the region
- Curators and cultural event organisers and programmers in Switzerland and the region
- Organisations, platforms and institutions supporting exchange and presentation of work to audiences in the region
Where we operate
We work throughout South America, supporting projects in Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay, and Venezuela.
Our funding activities
- We support the presentation of Swiss contemporary work in the region through participation in festivals, tours, exhibitions and events.
- We support professional exchange and networking among artists, cultural practitioners and partners from Switzerland and the region, in both geographical contexts.
- We run a residency programme and support research trips for individual artists and cultural practitioners from Switzerland and the region.
- We select projects on the basis of their outstanding qualities and their relevance in the regional context.
What’s on
-
Sticky post: Fungi Cosmology: dialogue between art and science
-
Co-creation: a glimpse into projects between Switzerland and South America
-
Swiss presence in South America: a recap of events in 2024
-
‘Inspiration, connection, and empowerment for women in gaming’: Apply for She Got Game
-
Season two of the podcast ‘Art meets…’: Collaborations at the intersection of art, science and technology
-
A ‘broke writer’ reflecting on art, queerness and livelihood
-
South America: Selected artists-in-residence 2025
-
Notes on the Art, Science & Technology scene in South America
Our residency partners
Below is a selection of our project and residency partners in the region. This network is varied and in flux, responding to the dynamic contexts of the 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. Artists applying for a residency may specify which partner best fits their proposal. Please note that in case of selection, the partner institution may change depending on availability.
Residency guide:
List of residency partners as a table
| 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 sustainability projects. 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. | Design, Interactive media, Literature, Multidisciplinarity, Music, Performing arts, Visual arts | 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 Academy. | Design, Digital art, Interactive media, Intersection between art, science, and technology, Multidisciplinarity, Music, Performing arts, Visual arts | artlabpro.net |
| CAB – Casa-Museo Alberto Baeriswyl | Puerto Yartou, Tierra del Fuego, Chile | The house-museum is located in the main building of the old wood factory Puerto Yartou, in Chilean Patagonia. It is a 320-m² single-storey 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 – since 2017, CAB has been inviting artists and researchers to reflect on the southern territory from multidisciplinary perspectives. The residency programme includes participant presentations, walks, excursions, and visits to museums and partner institutions. | Literature, Live arts, Media Arts, Multidisciplinarity, Sound arts, Visual arts | cab-patagonia.cl |
| Casa Taller El Boga | Mompox, Colombia | Located in a renovated colonial house in Santa Cruz de Mompox, the foundation was created in 2019, with the aim of contributing to the preservation and dissemination of the cultural heritage of the northern Colombian town, on the banks of the Magdalena River. The space aims to investigate local knowledge (music, cuisine, flora, fauna) while offering room for artistic creation and exchange between the community and visitors. The call for residencies is always open. El Boga can accommodate between 2 and 5 residents at a time, who are assisted in carrying out their agenda in the region. During their stay, the participants also commit themselves to developing 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, Multidisciplinarity, Music, Performing arts, Sociology, Visual arts | elbogamompox.com |
| Centro Cultural Bienal das Amazônias | Belém, Brazil | The project was launched in 2023, born from the demand for a space dedicated to contemporary art coming from and targeting Amazon territories. The Centro Cultural Bienal das Amazônias is a space for the production and promotion of contemporary art from the region, located at a renovated building in the Comércio neighbourhood in central Belém. It has studios, a library, exhibition spaces, and rest areas, to provide an environment for 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, Multidisciplinarity, Music, Performing arts, Visual arts | 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, Multidisciplinarity, 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. | Multidisciplinarity, Performing arts, Visual arts | espacioodeon.com |
| Galería Metropolitana | Santiago, Chile | The programme is linked to a private space for the exhibition and dissemination of contemporary art, situated in a peripheral community of Santiago de Chile, with the purpose of engaging a marginalised social sector around new art expressions. It also has a place in Laguna San Pedro, which engages with the art scene of the Bío Bío region. During certain times of the year, this can serve as a complementary base to the space in Santiago. The project is conceived from a territorial perspective and is committed to working within the social fabric by building collaborative networks. Residencies are held annually through open calls. The idea is that residents develop their research by establishing dialogues with the local neighbourhood, as well as organising a showcase of their work at the end of their stay, which can take different formats, such as an exhibition, conference, or workshop. | Archive, Interactive media, Multidisciplinarity, 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, Multidisciplinarity, Music, Social projects, Visual arts | 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, gender, minorities, and periphery, as well as investigations into artistic innovation and new narratives. | Multidisciplinarity, 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 from the art course of the Gabriel René Moreno Autonomous University, and showing their processes in the residency or their completed work on an open studio day. | Curatorship, Multidisciplinarity, Performance, Research, 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, Multidisciplinarity, 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 instruments and practices from the region, like the llanero craft (related to livestock breeding, shepherd practices, 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. | Multidisciplinarity | 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, Multidisciplinarity, 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. | Design, Interactive media, Literature, Multidisciplinarity, Music, Performing arts, Visual arts | 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 two-floor house with a spacious yard 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, Multidisciplinarity, Photography, Textile art, Visual arts | instagram.com/maleza.casaestudio |
| mARTadero | Cochabamba, Bolivia | It is an extensive and multidisciplinary project for artistic exchange. 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. The residency programme PRANA, Programa de Residencias Artísticas del Nodo Asociativo, 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 the team of mARTadero project, with the place and its resources, and with its core symbolic and political principles. There are different modalities for carrying out residencies in the space: inter-institutional agreements, independent accommodations for artists, self-managed residencies, open calls for residencies by the project, and residencies by reciprocity. | Design, Interactive media, Literature, Multidisciplinarity, Music, Performing artis, Visual arts | martadero.org |
| Mater | Moray, Maras, Peru | It began in 2013 focused on the understanding of Peruvian biodiversity and food, their origins, and social and natural context. It initially aimed to feed the restaurant Central, in Lima, with knowledge. Two years later, it became a centre for the articulation of knowledge, understanding that gastronomy builds bridges between territories and people. In 2018, the Mater Art and Culture area was created as a channel for research and creative practice, especially in the MIL Centre, that faces the archaeological site of Moray, in the surroundings of Cusco. This space hosts residents from different areas of expertise to conceptualise and execute collaborative and exchange projects with the neighbouring communities. Residencies can also take place in Lima, sharing the space with the restaurants Central and Kjolle and the pub Mayo. The team looks to host no more than 2 residents simultaneously and asks participants to share their research and experience with the community. | Design, Interactive media, Literature, Multidisciplinarity, 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. | Multidisciplinarity | 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 | This is a platform for activism through art, environmental preservation, and reflective research, considering the real estate speculation, the exploitation of natural resources, and forest clearing harming the environment. 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, settling the path 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, Multidisciplinarity, Music, Performance, Sound Art, Visual Arts | 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 residency is part of the Nido de Águilas project, 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, and the rural community. The open calls happen twice a year and the residency is linked with other projects and institutions to expand the network and boost investigations. | Design, Interactive media, Literature, Multidisciplinarity, Music, Performing arts, Visual arts | 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. 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 co-production in contemporary dance. Also, it became a management platform for territorial and community projects, as well as for training. | Interactive media, Living arts, Multidisciplinarity, Performing arts, Visual arts | nave.io |
| Organizmo | Tenjo, Cundinamarca, Colombia | Located in the vicinity of Bogotá, Organizmo Foundation is a training centre that conducts processes of knowledge exchange and experimentation for social, cultural, and ecosystem conversion. It works in the teaching of low-impact construction techniques, alternative technologies, ecological recovery, knowledge transfer scenarios, and the promotion of intercultural exchange. Through the platform of artistic residencies Cuerpo, Tejido y Territorio, it stimulates and assists processes of co-creation and learning, seeking a community approach based on respect for the origins and horizontality of the relationships between human and non-human environments. The programme proposes an immersion in knowledge management narratives through the exploration of new presences, artistic experiments, new rituals, and production of open knowledge to explore and problematise nature-culture relationships. | Design, Interactive media, Literature, Multidisciplinarity, Music, Performing arts, Visual arts | organizmo.org |
| 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, Multidisciplinarity, Music, Visual arts | pivo.org.br |
| 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 organisations and projects with common aims to promote mutual development and sustainability. The programme has different open calls throughout the year and organises presentations of works in progress developed during the residency. | Performing arts | par.org.uy |
| 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, Multidisciplinarity, Music, Performing arts, Visual arts | proyectoamil.org |
| 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, Multidisciplinarity, Music, Performing arts, Visual arts | instagram.com/residenciakai |
| 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, which focus 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 organise short-term residencies at Casa Sede. | Design, Interactive media, Literature, Multidisciplinarity, Music, Visual arts | residenciasaojoao.com |
| 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 alongside other residents and the local community. The first week of the residency programme is dedicated to an introduction to Bahia’s culture, with tours of Itaparica and Salvador for participants to integrate with the region’s art scene. Afterwards, the institute’s staff help residents connect their research to the area. In the end, artists can take part in an open studio afternoon session. | 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 in 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 annual open calls for residencies, but artists can contact the team directly to learn about other possibilities. | Multidisciplinarity, Performance, Photography, 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, Multidisciplinarity, Music, Performing arts, Visual arts | silo.org.br |
| Solar dos Abacaxis | Rio de Janeiro, Brazil | Solar dos Abacaxis is an autonomous non-profit 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. | Multidisciplinarity, 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 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 | tallerdepapeldebarichara.com |
| 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. | Multidisciplinarity, Sound art | tsonami.cl |
| Zona Imaginaria | Buenos Aires, Argentina | Founded in 2008, the space is located a few metres from Uruguay Street, which divides La Horqueta (in San Isidro), a wealthy area of the Greater Buenos Aires, and San Fernando, a low-income, working-class neighbourhood. The disparities that have been present in the area for years gained visibility in 2009, when the mayor of San Isidro built a wall that sparked a backlash and was quickly torn down. In this context of conflicts and borders, Zona Imaginaria seeks to open doors and create multiple cultural spaces and centres for reflection, aimed at the experiential encounter between different sectors of the population, 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. | Interactive media, Multidisciplinarity, Music, Visual arts | zonaimaginaria.com.ar |
Frequently asked questions
I am an artist from South America. What funding opportunities does Pro Helvetia offer?
Please find the relevant formats under Find support. Make sure to select the parameters that suit you.
How can I apply for a residency/research trip to Switzerland or South America?
The call for our residency programme opens once a year, from January to 1 March. Applications for research trips, however, may be submitted on an ongoing basis. Cultural practitioners from Switzerland (meaning either a Swiss citizen or a permanent resident in Switzerland) may apply for residencies in South America. Likewise, cultural practitioners from South America may apply for projects in Switzerland.
Can I apply for a residency with a partner not yet listed among your residency partners?
Yes. We work with a network of organisations that can host residencies, and we look to customise each project according to the needs of the individual arts professional as far as possible. Applicants are invited to consider, but are not limited to, the organisations listed as our partners.
I am an artist from South America and I want to present my work in Switzerland. Can Pro Helvetia fund me?
No. We do not normally support the presentation of work through, for example, exhibitions and tours in Switzerland. Please refer to artlink for funding opportunities relating to presenting work in Switzerland.
I am an artist from South America and I want to apply for funding for a project in another country within the region. Can Pro Helvetia fund me?
No. We only support projects that have a clear Swiss dimension or connection, involving Swiss arts professionals.
Can I apply for a project in a country not yet covered in your region?
No. Our office’s mandate is limited to South America.
I would like to translate a book from Switzerland into a language from South America. Can Pro Helvetia fund me?
Yes. Pro Helvetia supports the translation of Swiss authors’ works in other countries. Find all relevant support measure under Find Support.
I am a Swiss citizen based in South America and would like support for an exhibition/ event in the region. Can Pro Helvetia support me?
No. In order to apply for support for exhibitions or events in the liaison office regions, Swiss cultural practitioners must present a convincing artistic track record in Switzerland: artistic activity with a national/cross-regional reach.
Do you have a question and would like to speak with a team member?
The team at a glance