The Rijksakademie is a two-year residency programme that annually offers 50 artists space for research, experimentation and for the production of new work.
Residents are supported with a studio, a work budget and a stipend and can seek advice from leading art professionals from a wide variety of cultural and creative backgrounds. In addition there is a rich research and production infrastructure, consisting of various technical workshops operated by specialists, a library and a historical and contemporary art collection.
Within the interdisciplinary environment of the Rijksakademie there is complete freedom in research and working methods.
The application period for residency year 2025/2026* will be from 1 September until 1 October 2024. From early August, you will find information on this page about the next application period and updated information about the application process.
* Please note that the Rijksakademie has forthcoming maintenance work that may affect the schedule for 2025/2026. This means that the beginning of the residency could be delayed until January 2026. This will be known before the interviews in January 2025.
RESIDENCY 2025/2026
The Rijksakademie welcomes applications from artists to develop their work over one or two-year periods in Amsterdam.
The Rijksakademie houses a highly international, multi-disciplinary, experimental and critically engaged artist community. Residents are supported with a studio, a work budget and a stipend and benefit from an array of opportunities for exchange, including peer to peer dialogue and visits from a wide range of leading art professionals. They have access to technical workshops as well as an extensive library and a historical collection. There is guidance by technical specialists, who foster hands-on, innovative and collaborative approaches to making.
We offer residencies with the goal of providing space for research, reflection, experiment and exchange. Every year we select on average 23 artists for a full residency, and most of the artists stay for two years. Roughly half of the group is from the Netherlands, the other half from all around the world.
As an artist, you are ready to make the most of these resources. You are open to developing and challenging yourself, to working alongside positions that are vastly different from your own, and being part of a community. Spending up to two years in residence, you enter into an open-ended process where you can deepen your practices, and explore new territories, in and beyond the art field.
We are seeking residents for the period September 2025–August 2026*, with the possibility of staying one year more. You can apply by completing the online application form on our website between 1 September [00:00 hours CET] and 1 October [23:59 hours CET], 2024.
*Please note that the Rijksakademie has forthcoming maintenance work that may affect the schedule for 2025/2026. This means that the beginning of the residency could be delayed until January 2026. This will be known before the interviews in January 2025.
JURY PROCESS
Because of the high number of applications, the jury process takes several months and happens in many different rounds. All applications are seen by the jury at least one time.
These are the different steps:
- After the deadline all applications will be checked administratively as to whether they are complete. If the documentation has not been uploaded properly, we will get in touch with the applicant to make sure the application will be complete before the jury process starts. Incomplete applications will not be taken into consideration.
- The Rijksakademie selects on average 23 artists every year: approximately half of them come from the Netherlands (11 places), the other half from all other countries (12 places). Artists from The Netherlands have Dutch nationality or they are (or have been) living and working in the Netherlands for at least two years.
- The process consists of a pre-selection round, a main selection round and interviews as the final stage.
- In the pre-selection round the jury focuses mainly on the visual documentation (uploaded portfolio). Based on the portfolio, the application will go to the next round, or not. In this phase roughly one third of the applicants will be selected to go to the next round.
- In the main selection rounds the jury will spend more time with every application and there is more time to look at additional information (written texts, motivation and introduction video). Jury members then discuss which candidates they would like to meet for an interview.
- Approximately 30 candidates from the Netherlands and 30 international candidates will be invited for an interview with the jury, either online or at the Rijksakademie. From all interview candidates approximately one third will be invited for the residency.
- During all rounds, the jury is looking for diversity in the community, both in practice as well as in the personal backgrounds of the candidates.
Composition of the jury
Every year we compose different juries for the Dutch and International jury processes, and also throughout the different jury rounds. All juries are diverse, and bring together jury members with different backgrounds, ways of working, relations to the Rijksakademie and different levels of experience with our process. Most of the jury members are artists.
The jury members in the different rounds for the residency 2024/2025 were: Isabelle Cornaro, Ade Darmawan,Yael Davids, Anawana Haloba, Melvin Moti, Christodoulos Panayiotou, Natasha Soobramanien, Antonio Vega Macotela, Helen Verhoeven and Tirdad Zolghadr.
The pre-selection and main selection rounds will take place in November and December 2024. The interviews will take place in January 2025.
IMPORTANT INFORMATION BEFORE YOU START THE APPLICATION
Please read this information before you start your application. If you have any further questions regarding your application or the residency, check our FAQ section below or send an email to:Â application@rijksakademie.nl.
Unfortunately, we cannot give you the exact material requirements for the next application process, because there are always improvements to be made in our application form. But you can be sure that we will ask for documentation, descriptions of the documentation, a cv and questions about your motivation. You can find the requirements in the application form when we open the application on 1 September.
Financial aspects of the residency
APPLICATION FEE
A non-refundable application fee of €60 is charged, with an exception for artists living in countries from the so-called DAC List (2020-2023). The DAC is the Development Assistance Committee of the OECD, established in 1961.
PARTICIPATION FEE
Each selected resident artist must pay an annual participation fee. The participation fee for all resident artists is €1,875 each year, to be paid before the residency year starts. In some cases, it is possible to find additional funding or a sponsor for this. More information is provided after an artist is selected for the residency.
STIPEND
Every selected resident artist will receive a stipend of €14,000, to be paid in monthly installments. Please be aware the stipend provides for a very basic standard of living for one person in Amsterdam.
FELLOWSHIP
The Rijksakademie is generously supported by the Dutch government, but we have to fundraise for 1/3 of our annual income. The 1/3 of fundraised income is sourced from private and public funding, which includes a fellowship that is fundraised for each artist. A fellowship covers 1/3 of the cost of the residency, which includes the stipend that every resident artist receives during the residency.
The Rijksakademie requires the assistance of all resident artists to contribute to their residency by helping us to fundraise for the fellowship of €16,500 a year.
This means that each artist who is offered a residency place at the Rijksakademie has an obligation to help the Rijksakademie to find the fellowship, as one of the conditions of joining the residency.
If the fellowship is found by the artist, and paid directly to them, the funds must be transferred to the Rijksakademie.
We understand that some resident artists find it difficult to secure a fellowship, and that it may not be possible. This will not affect your place at the Rijksakademie, but we ask for effort, and proof of this by providing several declined applications to give proof of your effort.
In the case that you are invited for an interview (which is the last stage of the selection procedure), you will receive more information about the fellowship.
Being selected/admitted to the Rijksakademie does not depend on whether you obtain a fellowship, but we do depend on the help of the artists to find them.
The Rijksakademie Trust Fund will contact the invited artists soon after being selected, to gain your help on the applications for fellowships and funding. This is a condition of the residency place that will be offered.
Website link: https://rijksakademie.nl/en/residency-apply/apply
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