The Funding for artist residencies module received 84 applications in 2023 of which 15 were granted support. The share of granted applications was 18 % as in 2022. The total granted amount was EUR 616 000 and total applied amount was EUR 3 383 805. The share of granted amount of the total applied amount was 18 %. The number of applications and applied total in euro kept rising as in previous years. 

With Funding for artist residencies, residency centers cover direct costs connected to invited artists and or curators/other arts professionals from other Nordic and Baltic countries than the center is located at. The programme requires that the residency centers invite at least 2 artists from two different countries and encourages longer working periods of approximately 2–4 months. This year’s grants will cover 98 artists’ residency stays in the Nordic and Baltic countries in the years 2023–2025.

Of 15 residencies that received support as many as eight have selected cross-disciplinary as the main field of art they are working with. As in previous years, visual art remains the most popular single discipline, also among the residencies that work cross disciplinary. Dance, literature and comics were also represented among the supported residency centers.

In 2023, there were three supported residency centers in Estonia, Finland, Lithuania and Sweden. Two residency organisations in Norway and one in Denmark were also granted funding. In 2023, there were no applications from Faroe Islands, Greenland nor Åland Islands. The share of first-time applicants in 2023 was 38 % of the total number of applications. Five of the granted 15 organisations were first-time applicants.

Expert group concluded that there were many new applications, with a large variety. The geographical spread between Nordic and Baltic countries was experienced as more balanced than during previous application rounds. Many applications described participatory methods, networking, and research collaboration in their applications. Partipatory methods were also connected with social sustainability, which was appreciated by experts. Ecological sustainability has become a natural part of residency activities and organisations, not so much of a trend. As a larger trend the group articulated the change of artistic residency developing from being a place for doing something to collaboration, growth, development and sharing of knowledge. 

From 15 granted funding applications expert group chose following four to describe the diversity in content, themes, fields of art and geography. 

Mustarinda will be welcoming eight artists from a large range of art fields to Hyrynsalmi, Finland, for its ecologically sustainable residency, which promotes ecological reconstructions of society, a diversity of naturecultures, and connection between arts and sciences. http://www.mustarinda.fi

Small projects in Tromsø, Norway, will be hosting eight visual artists within an artist-run broadly networked initiative with origins in Manila, Philippines, and collaboration with Norwegian Sámi Reindeer Herding Association. Every selected artist will be during residency be partnered with a local artist for immediate dialogue and for networking. https://www.smallprojects.net/

Eesti Noore Arhitektuuri Selts (Estonian Society of Young Architecture) is organising an open call for collaborating with ten artists for Valga Architecture Residency, in Valga, Estonia. This is an international multidisciplinary residency for spatial practice, with the aim to seek, find and create alternative spatial practices that are not dictated by market logic. This residency is part of the Tartu 2024 Culture Capital of Europe program “Arts of Survival” that deals with the human impact on the escalating climate crisis, aggravated social divisions and the struggle of small cities and rural communities for persistence and renewal. https://vares.space/

VšĮ Priespauda in Kaunas, Lithuania, focuses on small editions of printed matter with risography printing, basic screen printing, relief printing, bookbinding facilities and selfpublishing in general. Funding for its Hands on Press residency will enable two artists to work, network and share competencies in their facilities. http://www.handsonpress.lt

Submitted reports from this programme period (2021-2023) present so far residency periods of 55 artists of a total of planned 376. Quantitative results at this stage would therefore not be sufficiently reliable. That’s why following presentation of results and effects illuminates two qualitative aspects of realised activities, the aspect of networking and aspect of sustainability.

As previously presented, expert group pointed out that during their programme period, artistic residencies have developed from being places for doing something to bases for collaboration, growth, development and sharing of knowledge. This can be clearly seen in planned residency activities and reported results. There is, however, interesting variation in ways of enabling the networking and sharing of knowledge-aspect of artistic residency.

SÍM - Samband íslenskra myndlistarmanna / The Association of Icelandic Visual Artists hosted a group of seven artists during January 23, with an intensive programme for knowledge-sharing and networking. The programme included online and introduction meetings with the group, Artists Talk and meetings with international artists, two educational lectures with local artists as well as two local artist and curator studio visits. The group visited local museums, and art centres: The Nordic House, Living Art Museum, artist-run space - Kling And Bang. There were research trips to geothermal exhibition Hellisheiði Power Plant and Crystal Ice Cave Tour and an exhibition opening at the end of their stay.

KORDON LAB on Food and Energy on Hiiumaa island in Estonia also works with a group of artists, but more focused and long-term with three international artists from Finland, Norway and Lithuania, and one from Estonia during three periods, one in late summer 2023, another during upcoming winter and the last for productions in July 2024. The sustainability in this form of residency comes from longer collaborations with fewer artists to nurture and deepen the relationship. During the first research residency the group has been focusing on the research aspect of the residency project, as well as familiarising themselves with the inhabitants, ecosystems and climate of the season.

FAIR is a research residency programme at FABRIKKEN that welcomes early-career visual artists from the Nordic and Baltic countries. FAIR is aimed at developing sustainable artistic practices and careers through support and mentoring as well as through network, internationalization, and opportunities. At FABRIKKEN, being Denmark’s largest studio community, the networking opportunities are excellent. A central part of the Copenhagen art scene is present at FABRIKKEN, and residents enter a community where everything is about artistic practice. Within this programme artists are selected to participate individually, not as groups, but since their residencies coincide with other residents, they get invited to connections, networking, mentoring and events together with Danish and international curators as well as artists with international careers.

Besides the aspects of artistic sustainability and sharing of competencies, most residencies were in the forefront of ecological sustainability, with self-evident organisational solutions for materials, such as recycling and upcycling, smart energy solutions and encouragement to ecological travel. Inviting artists from nearby regions also can be regarded as reducing CO2 emissions in comparison to inviting international artists from far-away distances. Some residencies have own gardening, others pursue ethical and economical consumption, preferably in collaboration with local producers.

There is an element of social sustainability in collaborations with surrounding audiences, especially in rural areas with a lack of cultural and artistic exposure. Art and cultural organisations are not isolated from surrounding society, but instead incubators for new forms of interaction and perspective. Armands Siliņš from Sansusī (LV) presents it as:

“The continuous need for art and cultural organizations to search for new ways to relate to society and search for new ways of sustaining. With this project, we supported the community by granting them access to art and a multicultural environment and promoting cultural decentralization, encouraging the sense of belonging to a national and international community.”

Search for new ways to deal with sustainability or addressing the topic has for several artist residency organisations been key to selection of artists and projects for residency periods. Content and ideas are shared with a broader public in conversations during Artist Talks, Open Studios, and other events, where research sharings by the artists have been taking place.

Chair for the Expert Group, Kati Laakso, concluded, that:

“These funding opportunities are immensely important, especially in the extremely fragmented global landscape we live in these days. All cuts on culture and especially international collaboration are extremely shortsighted considering the political landscape Europe is in right now. […] I absolutely loved working together with you all and do believe that having international networks, contacts, and friends is the only way forward.”

The Ministers for Nordic Co-operation (MR-SAM) decided in June 2022 to allocate additional funding for artist residencies to support Ukraine’s cultural scene. The war in Ukraine has meant that increasing numbers of Ukrainian artists and cultural creators need a residency placement outside of the country’s borders. The purpose of the initiative was to enable a safe and secure space for Ukrainian artists and cultural creators to explore their fields and to promote their professional networks in the Nordic and Baltic region and beyond. The funding will also help to facilitate dialogue between Ukrainians and those living in the Nordic and Baltic countries.

All six organisations granted funding for artist residencies to support Ukrainian artists are still ongoing in December 2023. Four of them have submitted status reports. We are awaiting end reporting from Ventspils House (LV) and Rikstolvan Konst (SE), which are not required status reporting due to lower amount of granted funding.

All four larger programmes have been organising residencies for Ukrainian artists in larger collaborations, which seems to have been successful both for residency organisations and participating artists. Shared experiences, contacts and competencies have supported the activities for all parts.

Both SWAN (SE) and Perpetuum Mobile (FI) collaborate closely with Artists in Risk Network for finding suitable matches of participating residencies and artists. More than a place to stay and work, the organisations have provided for support for more long-term artistic careers in their countries.

As an example, SWAN has offered the Ukrainian artist regular online meets as an opportunity to make contact through the community of Ukrainian artists now being in Sweden in residencies and an opportunity to learn more about how to integrate in the Swedish culture life. SWAN has made a How To- guide, explaining everything one needs to know about living and working in Sweden as an artist. SWAN has also arranged several online meetings with invited expert organizations, as Arbetsförmedlingen Kultur, Frilans Finans and Konstnärsnämnden, to help Ukrainian artists to navigate in Sweden. https://www.swanresidencynetwork.com/emergency-residencies

Helsinki International Artist Programme (FIN) has with its partners organised physical meetings for networking and knowledge sharing, with study visits to funding, housing and international artists’ organisations, galleries, and museums in Finland. Their programme has included Artist Talks, education workshops, Open Studios, an exhibition and a charity concert of Ukrainian music. https://www.hiap.fi/ukrainian-aid/

Activities reported by Eesti Loomeresidentuurid MTÜ (EE) for LOORE network are primarily within literature, crafts and multidisciplinary, creating contacts and awareness through exhibitions, installations, performances of translated poems and networking with local artists. https://www.loore.ee/ukraine-residency

Until now reported activities have covered 23 Ukrainian artists, some of them residing with partner or mother and children.  Applicants have been grateful for the flexibility to use funding from Nordic Council of Ministers throughout 2023 and 2024, when primary fast sources of emergency funding are no longer available.

The 2022 Icelandic Visual Arts Award winners,
Bryndís Snæbjörnsdóttir and Mark Wilson, were part
of the SÌM Residency lecture series in 2023.
Credit: SÌM Residency