Free Socially Engaged Art Residencies

Dar Meso

Tunis, Tunisia

Dar Meso is an artist residency located in the heart of the Medina of Tunis, Tunisia, offering a unique environment that fosters creativity and cultural exchange. The residency is on an ongoing open call and hosts a variety of programs, including Writing Residencies and Babbasawt Sound Lab, which cater to different artistic disciplines such as writing, music, and sound art. The residency provides private workspaces, communal areas, and access to specialized workshops like ceramics and sound labs. Dar Meso emphasizes collaboration, intercultural exchange, and the development of innovative artistic projects. The residency helps artists get fundings but is generally working with artists contributions. Dar Meso supports artists by offering a tranquil space to focus on their work while encouraging cultural interaction within a vibrant, historic setting.

AiR Celeia

Celje, Slovenia

AiR Celeia is a two-month artist-in-residence program active since at the Centre for Contemporary Arts in Celje, Slovenia, welcoming international artists and curators. Residents receive free studio accommodation, a monthly stipend of up to 600 Euro, and opportunities to exhibit or present their work in public spaces throughout the city.

AIR Wro

Wrocław, Poland

AIR Wro is one of Poland's longest-running artist mobility programmes, developed as a legacy of Wrocław's European Capital of Culture designation. It supports Polish and international artists, curators, researchers, journalists, activists and animators through residencies and study visits, focusing on contemporary culture, urban issues, and international cultural exchange.

AiR zusa

Berlin, Germany

AiR zusa is a non-product-oriented residency program in Berlin designed to provide artists, cultural managers, curators, and arts and culture activists from Ukraine and other countries at risk with a safer space for rest, mental health support, and professional resilience-building. The program emphasizes process, self-reflection, and personal growth rather than artistic output, offering participants time to heal and reconnect with local and international cultural networks.

Allianz Foundation Hubs

Prizren, Kosovo

The Allianz Foundation Hubs is a network supporting innovative organizations in arts, culture, civil society, and climate action across Europe, with Autostrada Biennale in Prizren, Kosovo, as its hub focused on contemporary art, community empowerment, and sustainable futures. It facilitates cross-border collaborations including multilateral residencies like 'Residency on the Road: Decolonizing Food,' involving one-week stays in participating hubs such as Prizren, followed by optional production phases. The program emphasizes knowledge exchange, artist-led workshops, and projects on topics like food practices, biodiversity, and social resilience without discipline restrictions.

Botkyrka Konsthall

Tumba, Sweden

Residence Botkyrka is a context-based interdisciplinary residency program hosted by Botkyrka Konsthall for internationally active artists, curators, architects, researchers, art educators, and cultural workers interested in site-specific work in Botkyrka. It provides a two-bedroom apartment in Fittja as a temporary home for researching and exploring new forms of art in public spaces, supporting projects that require longer stays and local participation. Residencies typically last one to two months, with stipends, housing, travel support, and production budgets offered in certain programs.

Caritas Wien/Stadtteilarbeit

Vienna, Austria

The Caritas Wien/Stadtteilarbeit artist residency is part of the 'Kooperativ Ternitz' project, organizing three 10-week Artists-in-Residence programs in spring/summer in the former workers' settlement Dreiersiedlung in Ternitz, Niederösterreich. It invites artists from various disciplines to explore, cooperate, and develop projects supporting the settlement's transformation process, with support from the Caritas Stadtteilarbeit team and local community. Participants receive a net stipend of €2,300, housing, and access to local infrastructure like the Volkshaus.

Casa Taller El Boga Mompox

Mompox, Colombia

Cultural foundation and artist residency in a restored colonial house, offering accommodation, community exchange, workshops, and access to shared creative spaces.

Casa Tres Patios

Medellín, Colombia

Contemporary art center and residency focused on research, pedagogy, social justice, and collaborative artistic practices.

The Cheng Long Wetlands International Environmental Art Project is an annual artist residency in a rural village on Taiwan's southwestern coast where international artists create site-specific environmental sculpture installations focused on ecological and food production issues, working collaboratively with local elementary school children and community residents. Artists use recycled and natural materials to produce large-scale artworks displayed in village public spaces, abandoned buildings, and the wetlands nature preserve.

Culture Moves Europe Residency

O Savinao, Spain

Culture Moves Europe residency support in Spain for legal entities hosting artists and cultural professionals; projects can include accommodation, workspaces, mentoring, and cross-border collaboration.

Dekoloniale Berlin

Berlin, Germany

Dekoloniale Berlin Residency, organized by Dekoloniale Memory Culture in the City, invites artists, architects, designers, directors, photographers, fashion designers, and urban practitioners to create interventions addressing colonial histories in Berlin's public spaces, culminating in presentations at the Dekoloniale Festival. Residents receive access to a project space, curatorial guidance, production support, travel costs, accommodation, per diem, production budget, and a fee, with mandatory participation in workshops. The program typically spans about 6 months, from mid-May to mid-November, focusing on collaborative and interdisciplinary decolonial practices.

Emmanuel College

Boston, United States

The Emmanuel College Artist-in-Residence Program (ECAR) offers a six-week summer residency to four artists annually, one each in Ceramics, Photography, Printmaking, and Social Practice. It provides studio space, housing, a stipend, and access to college facilities, while artists engage with the community through lectures, workshops, and donate a work to the college's collection.

Finnish Society of Bioart

Helsinki, Finland

The Finnish Society of Bioart, based in Helsinki, Finland, organizes the Ars Bioarctica residency program at the Kilpisjärvi Biological Station in sub-Arctic Lapland, emphasizing art-science collaborations focused on the Arctic environment. It offers residencies typically lasting 2-4 weeks or one month, open to artists, scientists, and interdisciplinary teams from various disciplines and career stages, with access to labs, field equipment, and living facilities. Additional initiatives include the biannual Field_Notes field lab and partnerships in programs like Learning Materials in Helsinki.

Fire Station Artists' Studios

Dublin, Ireland

Fire Station Artists' Studios (FSAS) is a Dublin-based residency center offering subsidized combined living and working studios for Irish and international visual artists. The organization provides short-term (1-3 months) and long-term residencies with access to large-scale sculpture workshop facilities, communal spaces, and self-directed research opportunities in the city center.

Grand Central Art Center

Santa Ana, United States

The Grand Central Art Center Artist-in-Residence program in Santa Ana provides dedicated apartments, studios, and support for creative individuals, with a current focus on artists working in social practice and community-engaged projects. Residencies emphasize discovery, collaboration, and relationships rather than fixed outcomes, with durations varying from weeks to years based on project needs, and may include housing, stipends, and budgets through specific grants. Past residents have developed community-based works like oral histories and garden projects involving Santa Ana's diverse populations.

Granite Falls City Artist-in-Residence

Granite Falls, United States

The Granite Falls City Artist-in-Residence (CAIR) program is a pioneering small-town initiative in Granite Falls, Minnesota, where artists embed in the community for 6-12 months to design and implement arts and cultural strategies aimed at boosting civic participation and engagement. Hosted by the Granite Area Arts Council, it emphasizes collaboration with locals, includes support staff, and produces a replicable resource guide for other communities. The program intersects civic, social, and artistic work, marking it as the first of its kind in the country.

IATRUS Residency

Veliko Tarnovo, Bulgaria

The IATRUS Residency Program, founded in by the Foundation for Contemporary Art and Media, is an artist residency located in Veliko Tarnovo, Bulgaria's former capital. The program invites artists, curators, designers, and creative practitioners to engage with the vibrant art scenes of both Veliko Tarnovo and Sofia, offering uninterrupted self-managed work time, mentorship, and opportunities to present work through exhibitions, performances, and artist talks. Season III focuses on 'A Good Neighbour,' exploring collaborative work and community engagement rooted in everyday proximity.

Institut français Cité Arts Residency

Paris, France

Organizer Information This programme is jointly run by the Institut français and the Cité internationale des arts. The Institut français supports French culture internationally, helping to promote the French language, the circulation of works and ideas, and the mobility of artists throughout the world, while working to promote cultural diversity and contribute to the hosting

Invisible Flock

West Bretton, United Kingdom

Invisible Flock is an award-winning interactive arts studio based at Yorkshire Sculpture Park in West Bretton, UK, offering a rolling artist residency program that emphasizes collaboration, experimentation, and art at the intersection of technology and environmental themes. Residencies provide access to high-quality facilities including a workshop, tech lab, and creation space, along with mentoring, peer feedback, and networking, as seen in past ten-day programs for local artists. The program supports national and international artists, often with a focus on socially engaged and environmental art, without pressure for set outputs.

Kinono Tinos Art Gathering

Tinos, Greece

Kinono Tinos Art Gathering is a multidimensional cultural organization in Tinos, Greece, since , running the 'Four-plus one- Elements' residency program that integrates the landscape, seasons, and elements (earth, water, air, fire, plus time) into artistic creations. It hosts interdisciplinary artists for site-specific works including visual arts, performing arts, sound, film, workshops, and research projects in non-urban island locations, fostering collaboration with locals and producing content for a digital artistic map of Tinos. The program emphasizes reflection on nature, tradition, history, and metaphysics, with past editions like the residency involving around 45 participants across five landmarks.

La chambre d’eau

Le Favril, France

La chambre d’eau is a multidisciplinary artist residency program established in in Le Favril, Hauts-de-France, France, supporting research, creation, production, and diffusion of contemporary artistic practices, particularly those engaging with territorial issues like landscape, environment, and rural development. It offers 2-3 residencies per year, typically lasting around three weeks (which can be split), with housing, travel support, stipends of 1500- euros, production assistance, and workspaces provided. Residencies emphasize immersion in rural territories, collaborations with locals, and public encounters, often linked to events for visibility.

Laznia Center for Contemporary Art

Gdansk, Poland

The Artists and Curators in Residence Program at Łaźnia Centre for Contemporary Art in Gdańsk, Poland, is dedicated to Polish and international artists, curators, and researchers across various disciplines, focusing on art in public space, art & science, international exchange, and education. Since , over 100 participants have engaged in residencies held in the converted top floor of the Łaźnia 2 building in Nowy Port, which includes living spaces, gallery, workshops, studio cinema, and library. The program features bilateral exchanges, an AIR Incubator for young artists, and open calls like those offering long-term research residencies with housing, per diems, and fees.

LIBITUM

Brussels, Belgium

A Belgian non-profit residency network supporting research, experimentation, and artistic creation across disciplines, including writing residencies in Brussels.

Martin Roth Initiative Temporary relocation for Artists and cultural actors at risk

Berlin, Germany

Organizer Information The Martin Roth-Initiative is a joint project of ifa – Institut für Auslandsbeziehungen and the Goethe-Institut, founded in response to the global shrinking of civic spaces. It was established in in response to the global decline in pre-political freedoms, named after Martin Roth, the museum director and cultural scientist who served as

Nantes Institute of Advanced Studies

Nantes, France

The Nantes Institute for Advanced Studies offers an international artistic and research residency in 'Arts, Societies and Contemporary Mutations' to professional artists from the Global South. The residency runs for 6 months and supports artists whose work dialogues with humanities and social sciences to explore contemporary societal and environmental changes.

NGO Cultural Traffic

Staryi Merchyk village, Ukraine

Kharkiv-based NGO supporting artistic/research practices via residencies, exhibitions, projects in eastern Ukraine. Runs Slow River House rural residency for focused work, nature engagement, recovery.

Nutrimenti_Habitat Creativo

Terni, Italy

Organizer Information Demetra APS is a cultural association based in Terni, Umbria, active for more than 18 years in supporting creativity across artistic disciplines and in developing innovative formats for community-based cultural work. Demetra is one of five founding members of C.U.R.A. – Centro Umbro di Residenze Artistiche, a network established in by five

OASis Art Residency

Naples, Italy

During autumn , Fondazione Campania Welfare (FCW) is launching the first round of art residency as part of the OASis project. The residency will take place at Parco San Laise , a former NATO base in Naples being transformed into a public cultural hub, hosting dozens of NGOs working in music, theatre, cinema,

Organizer Information Platform Dalí is a new international art-and-science programme launched by the Gala-Salvador Dalí Foundation, based in Barcelona and anchored in the city's scientific ecosystem, established through collaborations with five leading science centers: the Barcelona Supercomputing Center (BSC), the Institute of Photonic Sciences (ICFO), the Institute of Marine Sciences (ICM-CSIC), the Institute for High

Prairie Residency

Vicksburg, United States

Organizer Information Prairie is an artist‑centered residency program based in rural Advance, North Carolina (USA), designed to support creative development through focused, uninterrupted studio time close to nature. Set on one acre of land and housed within a historic 1870 country home surrounded by oak trees, Prairie fosters a slow, contemplative environment that encourages sustained

Project COAL

Belval-Bois-des-Dames, France

Project COAL offers an artist residency at Domaine de Belval in Belval-Bois-des-Dames, France, as part of the COAL Art and Environment Prize awarded by the COAL association in partnership with the François Sommer Foundation. The residency supports artists exploring the relationship between humans and nature, providing accommodation on the estate—an observatory of rural life and wildlife—but no dedicated workshop or production tools, making it suitable for short stays of a few days to weeks.

Rejmyre Art Lab Center for Peripheral Studies

Rejmyre, Sweden

Rejmyre Art Lab Center for Peripheral Studies is an artist-run organization in Rejmyre, Sweden, founded in by artists Daniel Peltz and Sissi Westerberg, focusing on long-term, place-based artistic research exploring rural, industrial, ecological, and social contexts through ensemble residencies and embedded practices. It offers funded international residency programs like Tropism and Refuging, providing stipends, housing, production support, and access to spaces such as the Refuging Pavilion, with emphasis on collective reflection, community engagement, and site-specific installations. Activities include post-MFA fellowships, experimental glass projects, seminars, exhibitions, and pedagogical programs in the village.

Residency Skagen AiR - (Denmark)

Skagen, Denmark

Organizer Information: Skagen’s Museum focuses on the Scandinavian artists’ colony, the Skagen painters, active since the late 19th century. Skagen AiR revitalizes the historical studios located in the museum's beautiful gardens, aiming to build new relations between resident artists and the cultural history, community, and people of Skagen. Title & Description: Applications are open for

Sarai Media Lab

Delhi, India

Sarai Media Lab is a prominent new media initiative at CSDS in Delhi that hosts artist residencies, fellowships, and collaborative projects focused on urban space, media culture, and contemporary practices. The program invites artists, scholars, and practitioners from South Asia and internationally to engage in creative and experimental work across various media forms including video, audio, digital, and installation art.

Skidmore College

Saratoga Springs, United States

The Work + Space Residency is hosted by the Department of Art at Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs, New York, offering an immersive experience for emerging artists. Designed to foster artistic creation, exhibition, and student engagement, the residency provides a dedicated studio, lodging, meals, and a stipend. Artists in residence present their work in a solo exhibition at the Schick Gallery, typically scheduled at the end of their stay. The program emphasizes diversity and inclusion, welcoming applicants with recent MFAs, non-traditional backgrounds, or underrepresented identities. Residents are encouraged to contribute to the academic community through workshops, lectures, or student studio visits. Access to specialized tools and facilities is available upon approval and is project-dependent. The residency prioritizes contemporary practices across all visual and interdisciplinary art fields. Through this short-term but intensive format, Skidmore College aims to integrate professional artists into its liberal arts environment for mutual inspiration and growth.

Studio Rizoma

Palermo, Italy

Fondazione Studio Rizoma in Palermo, Italy, runs two residency programs: Generative Residencies (2-4 weeks) for artists, collectives, activists, or thinkers to develop project ideas on-site with team support, and Production Residencies for extended production of those projects with dedicated budgets. Residents receive a per diem of €300 per week, plus travel and accommodation, and engage with Palermo's context through local connections.

The Kyoto Retreat

Kyoto, Japan

The Kyoto Retreat is an international residency designed for artists, curators, and writers seeking research and inspiration in Kyoto, Japan. The program offers participants a tranquil environment rooted in Japan’s cultural heritage, ideal for creative reflection rather than production. It emphasizes immersion in local traditions such as tea ceremonies, ikebana, and historical architecture. Participants are selected from all career stages and work across a wide range of artistic disciplines. The residency supports solo creative exploration, providing private accommodation in a shared house and a stipend for meals and local travel. Flights and local transportation are arranged for accepted residents, ensuring a smooth transition to the experience. While structured events are included, the residency encourages rest, cultural engagement, and self-directed discovery. The Kyoto Retreat champions inclusivity and maintains a supportive environment free from discrimination.

The Luminary's Residency

St. Louis, United States

A nationally recognized, research-driven residency supporting emerging and mid-career artists, curators, and critics in developing new work through focused inquiry and engagement with St. Louis's cultural landscape.

The Paseo Project

Taos, United States

The Paseo Project offers two artist residency programs in Taos, New Mexico: the Paseo Project AIR Fellowship, a 2-4 week project-based residency with community engagement and stipend support, and the Paseo @ Hotel Willa Artist in Residence, a four-week self-structured residency for independent creative work. Both programs provide housing, studio space, and opportunities for artists across all disciplines to work within Taos's vibrant cultural and natural landscape.

Tokyo Biennale Social Dive

Tokyo, Japan

Organizer Information Tokyo Biennale is organized by the General Non-Profit Incorporated Organization Tokyo Biennale, led by Masato Nakamura, an artist who founded the art collective Command N in 1997 and established the public-oriented cultural facility Arts Chiyoda 3331 in , managing it until . Nakamura has served as overall director of the Tokyo Biennale in

Unlisted Projects

Austin, United States

Unlisted Projects is an arts and culture residency program based in Austin, TX, supporting local, national, and international artists through interdisciplinary collaborations, community engagement, and public presentations of new work. Operating since at the Museum of Human Achievement (MoHA), it offers various residencies including one-month international exchanges like CopenhAustin and a 24-hour Lock-In for marginalized Central Texas artists facing barriers. The program fosters transborder connections, provides on-site housing in a renovated trailer, and leverages a community of 35 in-house creatives.

Volland Residency

Alma, United States

A rural residency offering quiet time, living and studio space, and exchange for creatives across many disciplines in Kansas’s Flint Hills.

White Buffalo Land Trust's Artist in Residence

Lompoc, United States

Artists live and work at Jalama Canyon Ranch, creating place-based work that engages ecology, regenerative agriculture, and community through educational and participatory offerings.