Spaces for Creation: 10 Artist Residencies Around the World

In this challenging and turbulent year, art has repeatedly proven to be a lifeline for people, something to connect us, offer reflection, insight and healing. People looked to artists for advice on how to find a creative outlet for their emotions and fears, and a lot of new projects and artists were born. And although travel is still greatly impeded, advised against, or even restricted in most parts of the world, we take a look at an eclectic mix of artist residencies that are each finding ways to welcome artists. From short-lived, conceptual walking residencies to well-established residencies in the homes of famous artists, these spaces are made for creation, inspiration and production.

1. Black Rock

Black Rock is a multidisciplinary artist-in-residence program in Dakar, Senegal that was founded in 2019 by artist Kehinde Wiley. The residency program stems from Wiley’s wish to engage with Africa in a more personal way. He first visited Dakar in 1997, during his first visit to Africa, and fell in love with the Senegalese language, culture and tradition. Years later, Wiley felt a strong desire to create a space for creative work in West Africa, in order to work outside of the western context and create work within the context of his own lineage. For the residency program, Wiley invites international artists to live and work in Dakar for a period of 1-3 months. Dakar is situated on the westernmost point of continental Africa and is surrounded on three sides by the Atlantic Ocean. The residency is located 20 minutes northwest of the city centre, right by the ocean. Black Rock takes its name from the shoreline, which is covered in black, volcanic rocks.

2. De Ateliers

De Ateliers is an artist residency in the centre of Amsterdam, focused on talented artists at the start of their professional careers. The residency offers 20 international and Dutch artists at a time a two-year working period at De Ateliers, including their own studio and weekly individual studio visits by tutor artists. In addition to the studio visits, De Ateliers offers seminars and field trips to exhibitions and other relevant places. Every artist participating at De Ateliers receives a yearly stipend of €13.800 to cover living expenses, as well as a yearly production grant of €2000. At the end of the two-year residency, De Ateliers organises an exhibition of all the resident artists. The program supports artists in the development of their artistic practice as well as in creating a solid network.

3. Caribic Residency

Caribic Residency is one of those elusive artist residency programs that keep you guessing, but its highly original take on the artist residency makes it worth exploring. Not much information is shared other than the fact that Caribic Residency is a “two-day emergent artist residency model based on immediacy and encounter in various locations.” The artist is taken outside, and the host and artist walk together with a goal of around 50 km, staying overnight along the way. The idea is to meet in a city of choice and wander without a specific aim for two days, creating space for conversations, activating the physical body, and getting lost in thought. The project has taken place in cities including Berlin, Lisbon, Athens, London, Paris, Las Vegas, Rome, Porto, Cyprus and New York. For enquiries, contact Caribic Residency here.

4. Dora Maar House

The Dora Maar House is an established artist residency program located in the house that Dora Maar bought in 1944 following her breakup with Picasso. The 19th-century townhouse is situated in Ménerbes, Provence in France. Maar spent each summer in solitude in Ménerbes. When she passed away in 1997, an American arts patron, Nancy Brown Negley, bought and renovated the house and created an artist residency for artists, writers and academics. Since 2007, the Brown Foundation Fellowship Program offers artist residencies of 1-2 months for mid-career artists, writers or academics. This is not a residency for people at the start of their career; the residents are already established professionals in their field of expertise. Resident artists are provided with a stipend of $50 a day and a travel allowance to travel to and from the house.

5. Noldor Artist Residency

Noldor Artist Residency opened in November 2020 in Accra, Ghana, is the first independent artist residency in Ghana. Noldor was founded by contemporary African art specialist, social entrepreneur and philanthropist Joseph Awuah-Darko. The residency program offers a space for contemporary African artists to extend and deepen their practice, and to exchange with others in a growing artistic commune. In addition to its annual four-week artist residency which ends with an exhibition, there will be a year-long program for senior and junior fellows in Noldor’s newly renovated 700-square-meter warehouse spaces, formerly a pharmaceutical factory. The aim is to encourage artistic experimentation in a continually expanding creative community existing of both emerging and mid-career artists with artist studios, cultural centres and galleries.