OUR RESIDENCIES – ARTIST-IN-RESIDENCE PROGRAMS
GENERAL INFORMATION

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Our customized International Artist-in-Residence Programs offer competitive professional and academic opportunities for emerging, mid-career, and late-career national and international artists, designers, curators, art historians, art educators, academics, writers, journalists, cultural researchers, and graduate students age 20 and over.
 
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Arquetopia is distinguished worldwide for its array of unique residency programs with substantial content. Our residency spaces function exclusively for productive art professionals, writers, and researchers and offer customized, informative programs; a network of collaborative workspaces, institutions, and studios; individualized mentoring, and project support by our directorial/curatorial staff.

Our unique residency programs are based on a non-exploitative model promoting social consciousness. Residents are strongly encouraged to explore various ways of cultural exchange as part of their artistic and/or research goals and to actively engage in critical discussions as part of their residency experience. As part of Arquetopia’s mission is to promote social transformation, understanding Mexico or Peru’s context and cultural complexity is key for a successful cultural exchange.

Our residency programs are process-oriented, and the core of the residency is a critical approach to artmaking, learning, and research. Our staff and international board of directors have designed a special curriculum for the residency programs that facilitates a critical dialogue between the artist’s practice and the context encountered. In order to challenge stereotypes and preconceived notions of Latin America, all programs include an introduction to the complexity of Mexican or Peruvian identities with a focus in the artists’ project scope and artistic goals.

Artists-in-residence are introduced to a better understanding of Mexico or Peru’s Mesoamerican and colonial past, its modern present, and while producing, they learn to challenge contemporary art and what are considered traditional art practices; therefore, Arquetopia aids this process with individualized mentoring, discussion, critiques, and a critical bibliography that are tailored to each artist’s needs. The ultimate goal is for artists to learn new methods and techniques while questioning their own practice in the hopes of extending the critical discussion to other communities.

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16. PRE-COLUMBIAN CERAMICS Instructional Residency
17. PRINTMAKING Residency
18. WRITERS Residency

Examples of Techniques Supported
(But Not Limited to These)

Drawing • Painting • Organic painting • Natural pigments (cochineal, indigo & other pigments) • Printmaking • Electroetching • CNC etching • Natural ink silkscreen • Papermaking • Collage • Graphic design • Mexican textiles (weaving, embroidery & tapestry) • Peruvian textiles (weaving) • Sculpture • Ceramics • Mexican ceramics (Talavera, majolica & loza vidriada) • Pre-Columbian ceramics • Gold leafing • Wood carving • Performance • Ephemeral (including food & other perishable materials) • Photography (analog, digital & alternative processes) • Film & digital media • Design • Illustration • Environmental art • Murals • Site-specific intervention
Our Four Residency Spaces & Their Locations

1. PUEBLA, MEXICO – Our spectacular 1930s artist compound in the majestic central historic district
2. OAXACA, MEXICO – Our Mexican-style villa and traditional studio in the open countryside
3. CUSCO, PERU – Our Peruvian-style villa and traditional studio close to Machu Picchu, in the Sacred Valley of the Peruvian Andes
4. NAPLES, ITALY – Coming Soon
What Our Residency Programs Include

Our residencies are mentored, professional programs with academic content customized to each artist-in-residence. Our programs include mentoring by our directorial and curatorial staff for personalized research assistance and resources, project guidance, and critique; 24-hour studio access with personal workspace and some tools; wireless Internet; furnished, private bedroom accommodation and use of indoor and outdoor shared/common spaces; home-cooked meals, locally grown coffee, and stocked kitchens –with organic and local produce, meats, and dairy– for 24-hour resident access; shared, serviced bathrooms with modern fixtures and showers; utilities and housekeeping. For the instructional residencies we offer, the instruction our residents receive from the Mexican and Andean master artists we contract is funded directly from the residency tuition, and materials and supplies for these instructional courses are included. For our non-instructional residencies, artists bring their own materials and supplies or obtain them locally. Arquetopia provides carefully detailed trip preparation and arrival transportation instructions and orientation materials to all incoming residents. At Arquetopia Oaxaca and Arquetopia Peru, our staff provides pickup and dropoff transportation on the scheduled start and end date of the residency.

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Residency Guidelines

• Selection decisions are based on artistic work and proposed project. Applicants at all stages of their careers (emerging and established) must demonstrate a clear sense of potential.
• Our pool of applicants and residents is diverse in all aspects.
• Our residency programs are competitive opportunities for artists, writers, and researchers to pursue their own work, free of pressure (especially work that in their particular circumstances would normally be difficult to produce).
• The creation of community with fellow artists and staff during the residency period is important.
Funding & Residency Program Tuition

Arquetopia is a self-sustaining, official nonprofit organization of artist-run spaces in two developing countries and receives zero external funding from public, governmental, corporate, or other interests. As with approximately 90% of residency programs around the world, our residents cover the operating costs of their own programs and travel themselves or through third-party funding. E-mail us at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. for information regarding the program tuition for our comprehensive residency programs and for available program tuition reduction options.

Some of our residents apply for third-party funding from their local arts organizations and governments. Many of our residents have also raised their funds (most often exceeding their goals) via crowdfunding programs such as GoFundMe, Pozible, Kickstarter, and Indiegogo.
Our Resident Artists & Writers
Experiences & Testimonials

Click here for candid interviews with past Arquetopia resident artists and writers, a spotlight on outstanding Arquetopia alumni, many of whom have returned to participate in residencies at Arquetopia multiple times.
Residency Open Calls & Deadlines

Click here for our current residency open calls and application deadlines.
In the News

Click Here for Arquetopia Alumni News
 Updated February 2021

The End of the Grand Tour?
Virtual Symposium on Artist Residencies: Future, Place and State
June 3 to July 27, 2020
Click here to view the videos and presentations from all sessions.

Hello World is an international project to which artists throughout the
world have submitted art works to share with all of us. We hope you enjoy
this gesture of goodwill and solidarity from our colleagues around the globe,
starting with this link to Arquetopia’s video.

Francisco Guevara, Co-Founder and Co-Director of Arquetopia,
was recently interviewed on the Latinos Who Lunch podcast.
Listen to the full interview here.

Our Arquetopia Virtual Residency 2020 series discussions
are now available to view on YouTube.

 We are excited to announce the

Artists-in-Residence and Staff in group presentation and critique sessions
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Meet Our Artists 1

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