Online Research Residency at the Saison Foundation

The Saison Foundation is a private grant-making foundation established by Seiji Tsutsumi in July 1987. The foundation supports projects and activities related to contemporary Japanese theater and dance. In order to increase the visibility of contemporary Japanese performing arts on a worldwide level, The Saison Foundation awards grants and priority use of its rehearsal/workshop and residence facilities at Morishita Studio in Tokyo.

The Online Research Residency offers artistic development opportunities to research and spend time building links with the other participating artists. This program supports creative research for international dance/performance artists who are expected to play an important role in the international performing arts scene, with aims to build an international network for contemporary performing arts and to enhance mutual understanding. The program is open to individual artists working in the field of contemporary dance and performance art, who are able to communicate in English; who are able to carry out creative research between January 13 and March 24, 2021 and who are able to attend all the programs including online group sessions and workshops.

The Saison Foundation offers a 300,000-yen (JPY) grant and will provide support and advice for the research. The Saison Foundation will coordinate meetings and interviews with experts or researchers on Japanese culture and arts upon request. The grant will be paid at the end of March 2021.

Participating artists are expected to:

• carry out creative research
• share the process of the creative research with the other participating artists in the online group sessions on January 13, 14, February 10, and March 10, 2021
• hold an online workshop to share their original dance practice, method or training with choreographers and dancers on February 14, 20 or 27, 2021
• attend the final group session on March 24, 2021 to share the outcome of the research with the online audience
• submit a report on the research after the online research residency
• demonstrate the outcome of the research within one year after its conclusion, e.g. performing events, workshops, talk events or publications written in any language

There are five steps to apply for the Online Research Residency:

• Read the guidelines carefully and check the eligibility of your project
• Request an application form including the following information in the mail body and email to [email protected], no later than 5 p.m. on Thursday, December 10, 2020 (Japan Standard Time)
• Fill in the Application Form
• Include Supplementary Materials
• In order to make a full application, applicants must submit a package including the completed application form [Word and PDF] and a set of supplementary materials [PDF]. Application Procedures Please upload your package to file-sharing websites e.g. WeTransfer and Dropbox, and email to the organisers no later than Tuesday, December 15, 2020.