So you’ve found the perfect artist residency or opportunity, but how can you get there? Making ends meet as an artist can be difficult enough without the added challenge of trying to travel half way across the world. However, travelling as part of a creative practice can provide amazing opportunities and inspiration, even if it takes years to come into fruition in your work.
Here we outline a few places to look if you’re seeking funding to travel to an artist residency. This is not an exhaustive list, but rather a place to get a few ideas of where to start.
Look out for useful resources
Every country has a distinct context and capacity to support artists who travel for their creative practice, however there are a few organisations that focus specifically on the importance of artist mobility.
One such European-based organisation is On the Move, a cultural mobility information network that provides extensive resources about the available funding for artists to travel. They have many publically accessible guides for artists looking for support, including guides for Europe, Asia, Arab countries, USA, Africa and the Latin American and Caribbean region. Culture360.org, a platform that stimulates cultural engagement between Asia and Europe, is also a good resource for opportunities for artists and cultural workers in the two regions.
In Africa there are a few organisations that support regional mobility, such as Art Moves Africa, that aims to facilitate cultural and artistic exchanges within the African continent, and Africa Art Lines, that funds artists and cultural workers for projects between Morocco and other African countries. In Asia, initiatives such as Arts Network Asia or Asian Cultural Council (ACC) encourage exchange between Asia (and in the case of ACC, also with the USA). The Fonds Roberto Cimetta has a similar mission within the Mediterranean region.
Investigate country-specific initiatives
On a county-level, a good place to start is the arts councils or local government. This could be at a national, regional or city level. The city level could have smaller grants for local artists, which are often less competitive with shorter processing times. Ask around at your local council to see what opportunities are available. For bigger projects, some national and regional bodies offer grants for larger artistic projects, which might include travel or professional development opportunities.
Another approach could be to research what national initiatives there are for the promotion of culture overseas. For example, the Catalonian Ramon Llull Institute promotes Catalan culture abroad and includes funding for touring and promotion activities. A similar organisation is the British Council, with offices all over the world, promoting cultural relations as well as education. Other such organisations include the Japan Foundation, the Confucius Institute, Alliance Française, Goethe Institute and the Creative Force by the Swedish Institute. In some countries there are also initiatives organised by departments of foreign affairs. These include once-off funding rounds that celebrate connections between countries (such as Japonismes 2018, that celebrated 160 years of diplomatic relations between Japan and France through a cultural programme in more than 100 venues across an 8-month period). You can look at the foreign affairs department of your country to see if there is a specific country focus (and grants) for any given year. For example, Wales Arts International has a current geographical focus of Europe, China, Canada and India, and in 2018 the Australian Cultural Diplomacy Grants Program focused on Japan.
Consider opportunities related to professional development and education
Others areas to look could be peak bodies for a particular art form, for example author, visual arts or performing arts associations. These peak bodies often collate opportunities for artists or they might even provide funding opportunities of their own.
Alternatively, art schools and art departments at universities might offer travel scholarships, either as part of a degree or as an award to their alumni at the end of the degree. There might also be institutes within a university that focus on a particular geographic area. For example the University of Sydney’s Southeast Asia Centre has a grant scheme that supports research, mobility and language study while Asialink, based within the University of Melbourne, offers grants for artist residencies.
Think outside the box
There are also private organisations and foundations that fund cultural activities as part of their philanthropic programme. For example, the Toyota Foundation supports artistic projects, mainly in Japan, South and Southeast Asia.
Is there an organisation that you can approach about your creative idea? Do they have business with the country where you’re doing your residency? It could be worth approaching them with a pitch for your next creative project.
Some grants to keep an eye on
Here are a few interesting funding opportunities that support the cross-cultural exchange of artists:
- The Asia-Europe Foundation, an organisation that connects Asia and Europe, has the Mobility First! funding programme, a travel grant for artists and cultural professionals for travel between the two regions (with four funding rounds a year, the next ones close on 15 March and 30 April)
- Arts Network Asia supports projects by artists, cultural workers, arts activists and arts communities, with a particular interest in Southeast Asia
- Prince Claus Fund’s Mobility Fund, open throughout the year and targeted at cultural practitioners living in, and travelling from, countries on the DAC list
- Nordic Culture Point, for travel of professional artists or cultural workers within Nordic and/or Baltic countries
- Artists’ Contact programme of the Institut für Auslandsbeziehungen (ifa) that support projects in the fields of contemporary art, architecture, design, photography and media art, focusing on the exchange between Germany and developing countries
- Fonds Roberto Cimetta provides travel bursaries to artists and cultural managers living in countries of the Mediterranean in order to encourage the development of networks, the exchange of experiences and information to diverse projects
If you are accepted to Studio 88 Artist Residency we are more than happy to provide a letter of support for your funding application. But in the meanwhile, happy grant hunting!
