Jam Factory Art Center is opening applications for emerging artists to participate in the 2026 Residency.
Residency theme
The ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine causes lost, left and mined lands on the occupied, de-occupied and pre-frontline territories of Ukraine. Thousands of people who have been forced to leave their homes since 2014, found their way to cope with the loss by “reproducing” their homes on the new lands through seedlings, gardening, which re-creates their familiar set up/ambient, or through the cooking and feasting that provoke memories with smells and tastes and gives emotional support through social gathering. Collective seasonal works, traditional crafts co-creation enable to reveal cultural heritage and memory of the Ukrainian regions and national communities of Ukraine. The artists are invited to re-think this phenomena as community building factors and practices that build interpersonal ties.
In the residencies we invite artists to discover all these everyday practices that make us feel like home through the lenses of their artistic mediums.
This year particularly focus is on:
- Site specific projects, safe spaces for creative activities and social gatherings;
- Garden-form or land art projects, work with plants;
- Activities connected to food and cooking;
- Re-thinking traditional craft making techniques.
The expected outcomes in the sense of artistic production is a subject to discussion with selected artists, and may vary between garden-form/land art project, architecture construction or installation in semi-public space, research and publication, video work.
Artists are invited to work with participants’ stories through their artistic media, where the creative process intensifies the trustful communication environment.
The final event will be defined together with participated artists. The preliminary ideas are a public event in a festival shape, collective performative dinner, etc.
Definition of emerging artist:
- an individual or group in the early stage of their career (does not yet have international recognition);
- has specialized training in their field (not necessarily gained in an academic institution);
- has created a modest independent body of work, but hasn’t yet established a reputation (does not have a substantial number of public presentations, national awards and scholarships);
- has previous experience and/or has clearly expressed intention to work in a collaborative, inclusive and co-creative way with other artists and communities in a community-based art project(s);
- the term ‘emerging artist’ is not affected by the age of the individual (it applies to all individuals despite their age).
Who can apply: Artists who are EU citizens, have the right to reside in the EU, or are from Creative Europe-eligible countries.
Application deadline: 10 April 2025.
All the information for the applicants in here: Jam Factory Open Call 2026
This project is co-funded by the Creative Europe Programme of the European Union.