Nida Art Colony Individual Residency

NAC is seeking applications for its international residency programme in 2025 from participants from a diverse range of practices.

Application deadline: 20 April 2024 midnight EET (Helsinki)

The Individual Residency programme at Nida Art Colony of Vilnius Academy of Arts (NAC) offers selected participants the opportunity to live and work in Nida, Lithuania, for a period of two to five months.

The goal of the residency programme at NAC is to provide participants with time, space and focus, and the opportunity to gain insight into the practices of fellow residency participants and diversify their own outlook through this exchange.

NAC regularly works with artists and researchers with an interest in the fields of history, ecology, politics, social sciences, visual culture and cross-disciplinarity. The programme is also open to designers, architects, researchers, theoreticians and curators, as well as practitioners working with performing arts, sound, material research/craft, and film. This list is not exhaustive and proposals for a residency by professionals from other fields are always welcome.

While the residency programme doesn’t have predefined outcomes, the participants are expected to organise one public individual activity in relation to their practice, enriching the NAC environment of exchange and collaboration. The residency does not offer or facilitate exhibitions or studio visits on a regular basis. Since the premises are shared with students, NAC programme participants, and other guests, residents may have the opportunity to participate in study courses, workshops, or other events regularly organised and/or hosted by NAC.

The residency programme can host up to five participants at a time. It is not open to BA or MA students.

NAC is situated within the particular and distinct landscape of the Curonian Spit, a 98 km-long sand dune shared by Lithuania and Russia, overgrown with forests, separating the Curonian Lagoon from the Baltic Sea. It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site where forests planted over the last 200 years have formed an environment dedicated to managing natural eolian processes.

NAC is a subdivision of Vilnius Academy of Arts and in addition to the international residency programme, NAC organises and commissions art and research projects, events and exhibitions, and hosts study courses for BA, MA students and PhD fellows. NAC is a hybrid organisation: a site for art education, production, gatherings, leisure, and focused individual and group work – open to everyone but specifically aimed at the cultural community.

Living and working conditions
Each resident is provided with a 65m2 live/work space equipped with basic kitchen facilities, a bathroom, and workspace. Depending on availability, residents have 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. NAC does not provide materials for residents’ individual work and projects. Depending on availability, residents are invited to work with naturally seasoned, Neringa-sourced timber logged over the past four winters and stored on-site at NAC as part of the ongoing Neringa Forest Architecture project.

Children / Partners / Guests / Pets
All are welcome to stay at NAC during the residency period. Guests and partners pay a pillow fee of 12€ / night.

Duration
Two to five months: December 2024 – February 2026.

Each residency begins on the 2nd of the month you start and finishes on the final day of your last month. Residents should not be absent from the residency for a period longer than 5 days/month.

Based on individual circumstances and workflow, it is possible for the duration of the residency to be divided over several time periods.

Costs
Accommodation costs are 580 Eur/month.

If necessary, selected candidates are issued a letter of support for individual grant-seeking.

Application requirements
(1) Completed application form;
(2) Portfolio including examples of work, or publications (please select 3–5 relevant projects);
(3) Current CV (max. 2 A4 pages);
(4) Submit all documents in a single file PDF (max. size 5MB), in the order listed above using the following title: ‘Full Name_ R2025’.

Selection criteria and process
Applications are assessed by the NAC team, and external practitioners with an extended knowledge of NAC, such as former residents or participants in previous artistic programmes of NAC.

Shortlisted applicants will be informed prior to 28 June 2024.

Applications will be evaluated according to the following criteria:

Professional artistic practice – relevant experience in presenting and discussing work in public;
Evidence of need and understanding of context – why individual time and conducting work at a solitary space such as Nida would be suitable and a demonstrable understanding of NAC as an institution and organisation;
Impact on practice – how spending time in Nida will benefit and develop the practice of the applicant.

If you have any other enquiries please do not hesitate to contact us at residency@nidacolony.lt