Call for Creative Professionals, Fiskars Village - Finland

[Brigitte Martin]

Call for Creative Professionals, Fiskars Village
Join hundreds of creative professionals forming a unique, vivid art community in a protected, cultural landscape.

Residencies 2013, application deadline 15 September As one of the oldest ironworks in Finland and the birth place of the Fiskars Corporation, international exchange and community engagement has always played a natural part in Fiskars. Today this countryside village is inhabited by hundreds of creative professionals forming a unique, vivid art community in a protected, cultural landscape.

The Cooperative of Artisans, Designers and Artists in Fiskars' arranges international exhibitions in Fiskars all year-round. Since 1996, Fiskars have become an established showroom of high-class arts and crafts. The village has numerous workshops and hosts nationally noticed events such as the antique, wood, slow food and knife happening.

Fiskars Village Artist in Residence´s mission is to stimulate the professional exchange and networking between creative professionals in Fiskars Village and overseas. The residence is open to non-Finnish professionals of all creative businesses, nationalities and ages. This includes working craftspeople, designers, all artists and art disciplines, architects, curators, producers, journalists and researchers. Students and Finnish residents are not considered for the residency.

The Fiskars Village AiR offers two separate, fully furnished apartments with private kitchen, bathroom and work space in a traditional, newly renovated house in the heart of Fiskars Village. While the residency is mostly self-directed, the Fiskars AiR coordinator and Onoma staff will do their best to connect you with local professionals and organisations for studio visits and possible collaborations. The summer months are most suitable for independent research and social networking whilst the winter season offers more time and space for production. Workshops, artist talks, screenings, micro exhibitions or other events are encouraged and it is our wish that the visitor donates an art piece or product to the AiR collection at the end of his/her residency. Artists do not pay any rent for the residence apartment with work space. However, a monthly maintainance fee is required from all artists for the complete period of residence. The fee covers maintainence and hosting costs.

The fee should be payed at least two (2) months prior to the first day of the offered and confirmed residence period. Artists must finance their own travel to/from the village, her/his own food and other daily requirements, including working materials.

Our 6 open, fixed residency periods are: 1 April - 31 May (2 months, 300e) 1 June - 30 June (1 month, 300e) 1 July - 31 July (1 month, 300e) 1 August - 31 August (1 month, 300e) 1 September - 31 October (2 months, 300e) 1 November- 31 December (2 months, 300e) Artists/professionals are selected once a year on the basis of applications. The selection is made by an appointed work group consisting of 6 professionals within the creative bransches. At selection, special attention is given to the applicants professional level and on the adequacy of the work in Fiskars Village. 

The next application deadline will be on September 15th 2012 (00:00 EET) for residency periods during 2013. To apply, please read the application instructions on our web site. Information on the cooperative and it´s members: www.onoma.org Information on events and services in Fiskars Village: www.fiskarsvillage.fi