Application Guideline for Artists’ Residencies

Residency Grants

The guidelines for August 2023 open call will be updated in June 2023.

The working grant for the three-month residencies is EUR 7,500 per person. 

If a recipient of a residency place is also receiving a smaller grant from a different source during the residency period, the amount awarded by the Cultural Foundation will be the difference between the Cultural Foundation’s ordinary grant and the other grant.

The sum awarded in travel grants depends on the chosen mode of transport. The Cultural Foundation is favourably disposed towards higher travel costs due to the journey taking place in a way that pollutes the climate and the environment as little as possible. In addition to direct travel costs, the grant may also be used to offset emissions that your form of travel produces.

The travel expense grant for flights is EUR 500 for travel within Europe and EUR 1,000 to destinations outside of Europe.

Those travelling by means other than flying may apply for a raised travel grant if they agree to travel by public transportation, e.g. by rail or sea (N.B. E.g. passenger cars are excluded). In this case, the grant for Asian travel will be EUR 5,000, which incorporates an additional one-month working grant. In other words, two weeks of surface travel is calculated in each direction. The raised travel grant for those going to Italy by rail is EUR 1,500 per person, which covers an estimated one week’s worth of working time. A travel grant to Estonia or Denmark is EUR 500 which does not include a work period or a working grant.

The form of travel must be confirmed at the time of being granted the residency place.

How to Apply

Applications should be submitted using the Finnish Cultural Foundation’s Online Application Service during the August round of applications. Applications close at 4 pm Finnish time on the last day of the application period.

The form will guide you in filling out an application. Applications and all of their appendices must be in English.

A maximum of four artists’ residencies can be applied for in a single application. The application must place the residencies in order of preference, and the work plan must indicate how the nature of the work would differ in each residency.

Appendices, statements and how to submit the application

Compulsory appendices to the application are:
•    curriculum vitae (maximum three pages)
•    a portfolio or photographs of artistic work.

Large images (over 3 MB) and videos cannot be uploaded. We suggest that you provide a link to these files, for example to your website. Applications and appendices submitted through channels other than the application system will not be processed.

The online reference system of the Finnish Cultural Foundation is not available for use with this application. To include references, please scan and append them.

After submitting your application, please check that the application’s status in the system is marked as “sent”. Submitted applications may be cancelled using the application management function. No other changes can be made.

Grant reporting and commitment

The Finnish Cultural Foundation requires that applicants commit to following the instructions they receive as they apply for the grant, to reporting to the Foundation any external funding received during the processing of the application, and to abiding by the plan submitted in the application. Successful applicants must also agree to the guidelines for grantees.

The announced time of the residency may change due to force majeure situations (for example travelling restrictions imposed by countries). In such cases, a new timetable will be negotiated together with the selected artist and the residency organisation. If the residency period cannot be postponed the working grant may be used for artistic work in Finland.

Feedback on the residency period is collected from all residency recipients, in addition to which the grantees are required to provide an online report of how the grant was used within one year of the final payment. Grant reports must be submitted using the Online Services for Grantees. Failure to provide a report may adversely affect the chances of receiving a grant in the future.

Grant Decisions

Decisions on residencies will be sent to applicants and published on the Finnish Cultural Foundation’s website during the autumn, as soon as each choice is confirmed by the institution organising the residency. Grantees must accept or reject the offered place within two weeks of receiving the notification. All residency decisions will be published by 5 January on the website.

Contact information

All practical enquiries regarding applications should be directed to apurahainfo@skr.fi, tel. +358 9 612 810 (switchboard). Additional information on the residency programme is available from Secretary Anniina Majanlahti-Binaku.