art futures fellowship programme

The call for the Art Futures Fellowship 2025 is currently live!

Art Futures has received generous donations, from which the Board decided to initiate a Fellowship programme, to be located in Athens, Greece. In 2024 through an additional grant a second residency in Zutphen, the Netherlands was added to the programme.

Art Futures, Serendipity in Action is an international non-profit organisation that supports and initiates activities with an unconditional belief in the value of the arts, culture and education. Its activities aim to widen participation and engagement in the arts towards more just and sustainable societies in Europe and beyond. Art Futures Research Fellow Georgios Papadopoulos ensures the residency is well embedded in the local context, providing ongoing research into the discourse around artist residencies involving inclusive, socially engaged practice, and contributing to the sustainability of the project, in Zutphen Artistic Director of Dat Bolwerck Marlise van der Jagt provides the local context.

Together with partner Space for International Cooperation [SIC] located in Athens, Greece, Art Futures offers an annual fellowship, involving a two-month residency. The fellowship is part of a 5-year programme, running from 2023-27, aiming to research international residencies in the arts, exploring their strengths and weaknesses; reviewing the methods of selection; methods of mentoring; their value to the artists, to the host communities and to the venues. The outcomes will be presented and disseminated in a series of workshops and symposia, coming together during an event in 2027.

The selected fellows are mentored by the Critical Friends, an international platform Art Futures developed, that meets annually to discuss ‘the role of the arts and higher arts education in future societies, in an international arena’. The profile of Critical Friends is made up of experts with a proven contribution to and a successful position and seniority in, the cultural and/or higher arts education sectors.

Art Futures Fellowship 2024: Artists from all arts disciplines were invited to apply for the 2024 fellowship, which includes a two-month residency in Athens and a two-month residency in Zutphen, both in fully equipped studio-apartments.