ARCUS Project’s artist-in-residence program provides opportunities for emerging artists in the field of contemporary art to cultivate their artistic creativity and vision. Located around an hour from Tokyo, a residency at ARCUS Studio allows participants in the program to come into contact with the contemporary art scene in Japan as well as devote themselves to their creative endeavors in a calm environment while interacting with the local community. Through the support the program offers from its dedicated team of coordinators and regular tutorials with a curator, artists are able to search for and explore approaches in their practices and undertake new challenges in their artistic expression. The program particularly emphasizes research-based practices and presents the initial results of these processes at open studios. It welcomes ideas for artworks and projects that develop out of encounters with people, the land, and culture and aspires to form critical spaces that are open and international.
Please read Program Outline and Application Guidelines carefully before applying.
ARCUS Research Summer (one or two months)
ARCUS Research Winter (one month)
ARCUS Research Short (two weeks) — new!
Duration
Summer 1: June 6 – July 5, 2025 (one-month residency)
Summer 2: July 10 – August 8, 2025 (one-month residency)
Summer 3: June 6 – August 8, 2025 (two-month residency)
Winter: January 15 – February 13, 2026 (one-month residency)
Short: December 5 – 19, 2025 (two weeks residency)
PROGRAM FEE [Paid by participants]
One month residency: JPY270,000
Two month residency: JPY500,000
Two weeks residency: JPY150,000
The fee includes studio space, accommodation, and basic consultation and orientation at the beginning of the residency program. As an option activity, participants are invited to the “Show & Tell” salon to present their work and share projects with the local community at the end of the residency.(*expect two weeks residency)
FUNDING
This is a self-funded residency program. If participants apply for grants from institutions, government agencies, universities in their country/province of origin, ARCUS Project will provide the acceptance letter for grant application once you are selected for the program.
ELIGIBILITY
The applicant must:
- be a practitioner or other professional in a cultural and art-related field, including an artist, curator, researcher, or writer.
- not be enrolled at an educational institution during the program period unless a PhD program.
- have English-language ability proficient enough to communicate with staff.
APPLICATION
The following materials should be compiled in one PDF (A4 size) in a folder named “Last name_First name” (e.g., Smith_David) and compressed into a Zip file. The PDF file must not exceed 6 MB. Email the file to arcus@arcus- project.com with “2025 ARCUS Research Application” in the subject line.
Two references: please include their name, title, institution, and email. Short-listed candidates may be asked to provide letters from their references.
APPLICATION DEADLINE for Summer: December 1, 2025 (23:59:59 JST)
APPLICATION DEADLINE for Winter and Short: February 1, 2026 (23:59:59 JST)
Website link: Open Call | ARCUS Project: Residency for Artists, Experiments for Locals, Moriya, Ibaraki (arcus-project.com)
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