Villa Albertine Residency Program
The call for applications for Villa Albertine’s 2025 residency season is open until February 1, 2024. From January to December 2025, Villa Albertine will support 50 one-to-three-month-long exploratory residencies across the United States. These residences will be primarily anchored in a single city with the option of multi-city stays for select projects.
Through the concept of exploratory residencies, Villa Albertine invites participants to explore a territory and to meet key local actors in order to enrich an original artistic or intellectual reflection which could not be developed otherwise. Such residencies are not intended to be conducted behind closed doors but rather act as probing field work that inspires and forges new bonds.
The project can either be a new proposal conceived for Villa Albertine or a continuation of research that the applicant has conducted before arriving in the US. In both cases, the raison d’être of the project is its relation to the location of the residency. Meetings, events, and visits should contribute to the work carried out. The exploratory residency should also inspire exchanges and relationships for the future and help refine an approach and deepen reflection. Although the residency involves presenting something, in a particular form, it does not have to be centered on a specific deliverable, notably material, as would be the case for a production residency.
This program is designed and managed by Villa Albertine, a French institution in the United States dedicated to the arts and ideas, created by the French Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs, with the support of the French Ministry of Culture.
The program is supported by Société Générale, a major sponsor of Villa Albertine residencies.
Program objectives and profiles sought
Villa Albertine is looking for creators, researchers, and culture professionals with an original research project they wish to pursue in the field of arts or ideas that requires an immersive stay in the United States. The project should relate to the challenges of the territory explored and should initiate active dialogue with local actors.
The professional disciplines considered include but are certainly not limited to the following: visual arts, architecture, performing arts, street arts, music (all aesthetics except classical music, which is in a separate call for applications), cinema, television series, literature, graphic novels, children’s literature, social sciences and humanities, museology, cultural heritage, art history, digital creation (immersive experiences, video games and other forms related to new technologies from artificial intelligence to virtual reality), podcasts, culinary arts, etc. Multi-disciplinary projects are also welcomed.
Villa Albertine favors individual applications. Collective applications of groups of two or three candidates are accepted only when the research project justifies this exception.
The call is not limited to French or French-speaking people but open to any creator, researcher, or cultural professional who meets the selection criteria mentioned below, including the support of a French partner.
NB:
Due to the specificity of the support offered, the disciplines of Crafts & Design and Classical Music are the subject of separate calls for applications. Applicants from these disciplines are invited to refer to the following links: