Interdisciplinary Residencies in South Africa

Bag Factory

Johannesburg, South Africa

The Bag Factory Artists' Studios in Johannesburg, South Africa, is a non-profit organization established in 1991 that provides studio spaces, residencies, exhibitions, and workshops for visual artists, fostering experimentation, innovation, and cultural dialogue. It offers residency programs including self-funded AIR residencies and fully funded opportunities through partnerships like the Triangle Network, where artists produce work, engage with locals, and culminate in open studios or exhibitions. Programs like Young/Unframed provide 3-month residencies pairing artists and curators to create new work.

Bodhi Khaya Residency

Stanford, South Africa

Bodhi Khaya Artist Residency is an annual two-week, funded residency created by and for artists, founded in to provide emerging and mid-career South African artists with opportunities to explore their relationship with the environment through creative practice. Artists immerse themselves across three neighboring nature reserves surrounded by Afro-montane forests and fynbos, with the land itself serving as a collaborator in their artistic exploration.

Cape Town Art Residency

Cape Town, South Africa

The Cape Town Art Residency is an invitation-only international program in Woodstock, Cape Town, supporting emerging and established contemporary artists from Africa and worldwide through creative production, cultural exchange, and networking with global art networks. It offers vast open studios, adjoining accommodation with kitchen and terrace, stays typically ranging from 1-3 months, and culminates in exhibitions for broader audience engagement.

Greatmore Studios

Cape Town, South Africa

Greatmore Studios is an artist-led residency program in Woodstock, Cape Town, South Africa, established in 1998 to provide studio spaces and foster collaboration between local and international artists from diverse cultural backgrounds. It offers residencies that encourage creative experimentation, professional development, and community outreach through exhibitions, workshops, and public events. The program supports both sponsored and self-funded artists with facilities including studios, exhibition spaces, and a digital resource center.

Nirox Foundation

Krugersdorp, South Africa

The NIROX Foundation in Krugersdorp, South Africa, is a sculpture park and artist residency program located on a nature reserve in the Cradle of Humankind, offering artists studio spaces, full board and lodging, tools, curatorial guidance, and access to a 30-hectare park with over 50 installations. It hosts artists from diverse fields for residencies typically lasting 1-3 months or 6-8 weeks, encouraging engagement with local communities, institutions, and the landscape while providing opportunities for workshops, exhibitions, and collaborations. Since 2006, NIROX has hosted over 400 artists, fostering contemporary art production in a serene natural setting.

Space Between A-I-R

Cape Town, South Africa

Mini-retreat on the Garden Route offering wellness, movement, and creative space in a glass-and-wood building overlooking the Indian Ocean and Tsitsikamma Mountains.

The Artists House is a residency on the lower slopes of the Constantiaberg mountains in Cape Town, offering a focused creative retreat with studios, grounds and shared space for exchange. Facilities include a traditional printmakers’ press, a potter’s wheel and a creative work area, with a separate exhibition venue on the same grounds. The house sits among mature trees in a largely indigenous garden — a birding hotspot — which also holds a geodesic dome and a natural swimming pool. Residents have the space to develop new work or deepen an existing practice, with mentorship, collaboration and shared learning part of the experience. Practical infrastructure includes uninterrupted power, electronic security, video access control and fibre internet.