Villa Lena Foundation
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.
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.
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.
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.