Call for VAA Nida Art Colony residency applications for 2016-2017 and a trainee

January 11, 2016
Author Echo Gone Wrong
Published in Calls from Lithuania
Facade of the NAC residency studios, 2015, photo by Andrej Vasilenko

Facade of the NAC residency studios, 2015, photo by Andrej Vasilenko

The residency programme at Nida Art Colony of Vilnius Academy of Arts (NAC) is open for emerging and experienced artists, designers, architects, curators and art researchers, and philosophers. NAC is the academic and artistic venue in the Baltic region that provides the opportunity to live and work in the Curonian Spit National Park. Since 2011, when the A-I-R programme was launched, about 250 artists and other culture professionals have stayed at the Colony. NAC aims to facilitate hybrid art, architecture and design practices. Artists are selected by curators and the board of NAC within one month. Everyone will receive a personal notification.

The reconstruction of the second NAC building is completed. Artists and scholars who seek a quiet and spacious environment are welcome to experience a distinctive remote location and use the Colony’s new spaces. Production of art or design works is facilitated by new professional equipment for working with different materials, including wood and metal in the specialised studios. Residents can now use a 4K-quality video camera, professional photography equipment, A0 inkjet printer, sound and other tools. There is a 200m2 room (white cube/black box) for exhibitions, concerts, screenings and live performances. Workstudios, a spacious reading room / library, a meeting room and other facilities for residents’ academic and educational activities are now available. You can also use the facilities of more than ten different workshops of Vilnius Academy of Arts in Vilnius.

The atmosphere and intensity of residencies depends on the season and programme of the Colony. There are between 5 and 55 people staying at NAC at all times. In summer Nida becomes a busy (albeit not overcrowded) resort. Throughout September and partly May you will share the space with art, architecture and design students. From October to April you will enjoy solitude, occasionally accented by art professionals or students arriving to the Colony for workshops.

NAC call for Individual residency applications

Residencies between August 2016 and May 2017

Deadline for applications: February 15, 2016
Recommended duration of a residency is two months.

Possible duration of a residency is one to four months.

Working, living and social conditions are provided to ensure a comfortable environment for the artists-in-residence. The artist is free to do what s/he wants, but there are occasional possibilities to give a workshop or a talk, or organize a show based on separate agreement. Each of the five residencies has a private studio on two floors with 65 square meters of floor space and is equipped with all the necessary facilities but can also use a larger size shared studio/workshop.

Grants and costs: No grants are currently available; selected candidates are issued a letter of support for individual grant seeking. Studio and living space rent for selected residents is 400€ (300€ in October-May for residents from Lithuania), including all taxes, use of equipment, Wi-Fi, communal spaces and bicycles.

NDS residencies for doctoral students from Nordic-Baltic countries

Nida Doctoral School (NDS) is a non-degree doctoral program. The school was launched together with Aalto University (Helsinki, FIN). It is open for other universities and academies to join. The goal of the School is to foster doctoral education in humanities and artistic research and provide intensive courses and residencies for doctoral fellows. We look forward for proposals from artists and researchers (residents of Nordic-Baltic countries) enrolled in doctoral programmes all around the world to stay in the residency and enjoy our facilities and creative environment.

NDS summer session. We expect that applicants will take part in the summer school “CO-ACTION – Artist placements in non-cultural spheres” in the end of August.

Dates and duration of the residency: NDS offers 2 month long doctoral residencies for August-September 2016.

Grants: For the 2 months period we offer 2 grants of 1000€ each, and cover studio rent expenses and travel costs up to 300€. These grants are made possible with the support from Nordic Culture Point.

Call for a trainee

We are looking for a trainee to work as a curatorial or visual communication assistant of the NAC artist-in-residency programme.

Duration of the internship is at least 4 months.

Please visit our internships section for more information.

Please send all the applications to info@nidacolony.lt, indicating in the subject the activity you are applying for: residency, curatorial proposal or internship. Please follow the application guidelines when applying.