Residency
About
Public studio visit with Ai Sugiuru at her NAC studio. Photo by Andrej Vasilenko.
The residency programme at Nida Art Colony of Vilnius Academy of Arts (NAC) grants selected artists the opportunity to live and work in Nida, Lithuania for a period between two and six months. NAC is located in a remote UNESCO World Heritage Site, surrounded by the unique landscape of the Curonian spit: forest, sand dunes, a freshwater lagoon, and the sea. NAC is a subdivision of Vilnius Academy of Arts and in addition to the international artist-in-residency programme, it organises educational projects and exhibitions.
The goal of the programme at NAC is to provide participants with time, space and focus, and the opportunity to gain insight into other practices and diversify their own outlook through exchange with others. The programme engages residents in discussions with fellow practitioners, participants in the NAC artistic programme, and the Nida Doctoral School. NAC is collaborating with local cultural institutions and offers the possibility to organise presentations and engage with the educational programme of NAC by conducting artist talks or workshops at Vilnius Academy of Arts or local public elementary and secondary schools.
Residency Types
The NAC Residency programme is often linked to the ongoing longer and shorter term projects, research, commissions, education that have dedicated funding structures and include specific project-related open calls for participation. These are announced on the website, newsletter and social media. While these calls are irregular and sporadic, NAC Self-funded and Collaborative Residencies reoccur on a regular basis.
● Self-funded
Annual Open Call: March–April
The individual residency programme at Nida Art Colony of Vilnius Academy of Arts (NAC) grants selected participants the opportunity to live and work in Nida, Lithuania for a period of between one and six months.
The programme is open to artists and researchers working within the fields of history, ecology and politics, social sciences, visual culture and interdisciplinarity, designers, architects, researchers, theoreticians and curators, as well as practitioners working with performing arts, sound, material research/craft, and film.
Selected candidates are issued a letter of support for individual grant-seeking.
● Collaborative and Supportive
Neringa Municipality Scholarship
Annual Open Call: February–April
NIDA Photography Symposium
Annual Open Call: February–April
AIR – ARTIST IN RESIDENCE Niederösterreich
Annual Open Call: September–November
● Thematic Residencies
2023 — Bodies as Lands – Sociotechnical Imaginaries and Spatial Arrangements in Eastern Europe
2016 — Hybrid(…)scapes
2016 — Curatron
2015 — Climbing Invisible Structures. Ritualised Disciplinary Practices in Social Life
2014 — Writers Residency
2014 — Counterhegemony: Art in a Social Context
2012-2014 — Techno-ecologies
2012-2013 — On Hosting and Displacing
2011-2012 — T.R.A.C.E.S.
Living and working conditions
NAC can host up to five residents at any time. Each resident is provided with a 65m2 live/work space equipped with basic kitchen facilities, a bathroom, and work space. Residents have full access to communal spaces such as the reading room and workshops with weaving looms, laser cutting, basic wood and metalworking tools, basic photo, video and sound equipment, silkscreen, and a hand printing press.
The atmosphere and life intensity in Nida depend on the season and programme of NAC. There are between 7 and 70 people staying at NAC at all times. For most of the year, from September through May, one enjoys solitude, occasionally accented by art professionals or art, architecture and design students of VAA and their professors arriving for workshops or other activities. During July and August, Nida becomes a busy (although not overcrowded) summer holiday resort.
Work Retreat
Besides the residency programme, from November – March, NAC offers possibility to spend 2–4 weeks at NAC for a work retreat. Work retreats are meant for those seeking a calm and focussed work environment to focus on developing new work, research, studying, or PhD writing. Rooms are assigned based on availability. As there are more requests than available rooms, access is granted via an application process with focus on giving space to professionals actively working in the field of culture and academia.
Applications for work retreats start as from September and are assessed continuously. Applications are reviewed upon submission by NAC team. Response given within 5 days to 2 weeks. Fill out the work retreat form here.
Costs November-April
1 Person: 2 weeks: 242€; 3 weeks: 363€; 4 weeks: 484€
2 Persons: 2 weeks: 339€; 3 weeks: 508€; 4 weeks: 678€
Costs include: accommodation, sheets and towels, WiFi, use of common kitchens and the library. Further costs apply for using the workshops, NAC equipment, exhibition and conference rooms.
Payment and cancellation
You are required to pay for your work retreat no later than two weeks before your arrival. If you have paid and your plans change, you will receive a full refund minus bank charges if you warn us two weeks prior to the reserved start of your work retreat. If you fail to cancel in time or don’t pay in time, we won’t be able to fully refund you and we won’t be able to keep the room reserved for you.
Contacts
For further information about the residency, please reach out to residency@nidacolony.lt