Language:
Italian and English
Duration:
4 or 5 weeks
Paid by host:

The residency includes accommodation, studio space, breakfast and dinner 5 times a week.

Paid by artist:

The Villa Lena Foundation charges a 21 euros application fee to help offset our administrative costs of processing applications (e.g. Application platform fees, staff hours, etc.). They understand this cost can be prohibitive to some prospective applicants: each year they are able to waive the application fee for a limited number of artists from low socio-economic backgrounds or those fleeing conflict. Please email [email protected] in advance of the application deadline if you need to arrange an application fee waiver. There is a weekly charge of 150 euros per person, which goes a small way to cover some of the costs of running the residency programme. The residency fees are priced as such to maintain the sustainability of the programme. Each year they have a number of opportunities for artists to join the programme fully funded or partly funded through our partners and collaborators. Aside from this, there is one Villa Lena Foundation Scholarship awarded in each yearly programme and the artist who is awarded the Scholarship has the residency fee waived. The Scholarship is aimed at artists from low socio-economic backgrounds and artists at risk and those that are fleeing conflict. The scholarship can be applied for from within the application form.

Application guidelines:

All applications must be submitted in English. They accept applications from all creative disciplines. Please try to make your application concise, without losing too much detail about what makes you up as an artist and potential resident.

Their main requirements are a descriptive and vibrant artist statement and a PDF portfolio of your work. If you work in music, sound or moving images you can upload work to the application form; they would like to see up to 10 examples of work. They also ask you to provide them with an idea of your work objective at Villa Lena and the expectations of the residency. They strongly recommend that you provide a reference: references should be headed and signed and be of relevance to your application to Villa Lena. If you are applying for the creative contributor role you must also provide a PDF briefly outlining your workshop proposals and select this option on the application form.

Deadline:
AIR tags:
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Villa Lena Foundation

Villa Lena Foundation

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Description

The Villa Lena Foundation is a not-for-profit organisation dedicated to supporting international contemporary artists working in art, music, film, literature, fashion, and other creative disciplines, and fostering opportunities for multi-disciplinary dialogue. The element of collaboration and exchange is one of the founding principles of the Foundation, with the hope that by bringing together different areas of practice, they will generate new creative outlooks, unparalleled research and exciting new impulses.

The Villa Lena Foundation operates a residency programme that runs from April to October each year in Tuscany, Italy. Located in the wild Tuscan countryside, but only one hour away from the beautiful and culturally dense cities of Florence and Pisa, the Villa Lena Estate sits within five hundred hectares of woodland, rugged hills, olive groves, and vineyards. The Foundation offers artists 4 or 5-week residencies with onsite accommodation, studio space, and half-board meals (breakfast and dinner) five days a week. Studio spaces range in size depending on residents’ needs, with several being as large as one hundred and twenty square metres. Residents are invited to live in the nineteenth-century villa, which is the heart of the property, a magnificent building of period charm.

For artists selected, the residency provides time and space for self-led projects; alongside this a programme of regular talks, workshops, and other events is run by the Foundation in collaboration with the residents to promote interaction and exchange of ideas both among artists and with the wider community. Social interactions, creativity, and collaboration underscore life at Villa Lena and residents are an integral part of the expanded community during their stay.

Outcome

Artists are all requested to donate a work to the Villa Lena Foundation at the end of their residency. In the case of visual artists, this is most tangible, but in every artist’s case, it is a unique conversation. Donated artworks hang throughout the property, giving the historical spaces a visual memory of past residents’ work and their experience of the place. The Foundation aims to create an environment that allows artists to make the best of their time at Villa Lena alongside giving them the opportunity to be well represented in the important collection that includes works from over 200 international artists. The Foundation discusses plans in advance to explore what support is required to help realise a project and to advise what is possible.

Studio Information

They allocate the appropriate spaces based on the resident's practice. On occasion, an artist will have their own studio space, but most often residents will have to share a studio. They try to never have more than 3 artists allocated in one studio space. The studio spaces can be as big as 120 square meters so there is plenty of room for your creations even if sharing.

They have a ceramic studio, which is equipped with a wheel and a small kiln. They also have a wood workshop with a variety of tools. There are no technicians on site, so to use these facilities you must have prior knowledge.

Accommodation Information

All artists will be accomodated in the XIX century Villa sitting at the centre of 500 hectares of terrain. They will be provided with half-board meals (breakfast and dinner) during weekdays and will have a shared kitchen for all other meals. The Villa Lena Foundation offers family residencies during the programme, intended to support artists as they begin to find a balance between their work with parenthood. Families live in a community in the Villa with other residents.

Contact information
Addresses

Strada Comunale di Toiano 25
56036 Palaia PI
Italy

Email
admin [at] villa-lena.org