An analysis of why artist and organisations form international partnerships

1. How and why we form
international partnerships

2. What organisations say about partnerships
•“To offer international artists with the advantage of creating new work, while
engaging with the vibrant arts community”...
•“To have access to an individual studio space and various professional
development programmes”...
•“Binding the idea of geography to themes and issues that hold great potential
relevance to contemporary practice”...
•“Engaging the world of contemporary art and criticism”...
•“Development and production of experimental projects”...
• “Promoting international art and the understanding of world cultures, through
high quality art exhibitions, cultural exchanges and educational programmes”...
•“Inviting international artists for a chance to exhibit their work and win prizes”
• “To exhibit”.

3. What artists & cultural operators say about
partnerships
• To meet other creative people
• To visit interesting cultural spaces
• To enjoy a break/ to travel
• To share interests
• To share passions
• To enhance my professional practice
• To create lasting partnerships
• To develop capacity
• To develop quality relationships
Findings from research on the hierarchy of needs for international
partnerships - 2016 James Doyle

4. How these two positions are connected
A - The greatest synergies will exist where artistic and
organisational needs cross
•“To offer international artists with the
advantage of creating new work, while
engaging with the vibrant arts community”...
•“To access to an individual studio space and
various professional development
programmes”...
•“Binding the idea of geography to themes and
issues that hold great potential relevance to
contemporary practice”...
•“Engaging the world of contemporary art and
criticism”...
•“Development and production of experimental
projects”...
• “Promoting international art and the
understanding of world cultures, through high
quality art exhibitions, cultural exchanges and
educational programmes”...
•“Inviting international artists for a chance to
exhibit their work and win prizes”
• To meet other creative people
• To visit interesting cultural spaces
• To enjoy a break/ to travel/exhibit
• To share interests
• To share passions
• To enhance my professional practice
• To create lasting partnerships
• To develop capacity
• To develop quality relationships
Q - What does this tell us?

5. Why have a international link?

6. Examples of connections
Forensic science - University of Abertay Dundee and the art collective Yuck 'n Yum are teaming
up to offer an artist-in-residency opportunity within the university’s ground-breaking forensic
science department.
Social Innovation - Arts Collaboratory announces a call for proposals offering long term support
for independent visual arts organisations focusing on collaborative arts practices and social
innovation. Asia
Ecology - Joya: arte + ecología is an arts organisation based Andalucía. The guiding principle behind
the activities of the organisation is to facilitate, through production and collaboration, art and artists
whose work manifests a discourse with the environment and sustainability.
Game Playing - NYU-Poly artist-in-residence, in the Game Innovation Lab: Kaho Abe, who
researches and builds games that bring people together face-to-face. She describes herself as a
designer interested in improving social and personal experiences through the use of technology,
fashion and games.
Conflict Areas - Engages artists, independent arts organizations, residency programmers, and
community initiatives on specific areas and conceptions of conflict - From Residency Unlimited
(workshop) http://www.residencyunlimited.org/
Gastronomy - The owners of Pied à Terre, a two-star Michelin restaurant in London's
Fitzrovia district, have taken the food and art concept a step further by appointing an
artist-in-residence.
“A lot of my work involves things that might be thought of as disgusting,”
Ms. Hadzi-Vasileva - Artist in residence at Pied à Terre.

7. Networks - ArtsFactories
The organisation ARTfactories/Autre(s)pARTs is a common platform for reflection,
research and action, transmission and solidarity for the development of art centres that
organize their practices and experiments around the relationship between arts, territories
and populations. 48 Member and 16 Friendship organizations across Europe
Report on Building a Strong Framework for Artist Mobility 2011
This final report is the outcome of the work of the Open Method of Coordination Working
Group of European Union Member States Experts on Mobility Support Programmes. The
Working Group was launched in early 2011 under the Council Work Plan for Culture 2011-
2014 which implements the European Agenda for Culture.
Key Principle 1: Acknowledge and build on the values and benefits of
artists’ mobility
Key Principle 2: Enhance complementarities between EU Member
States’ policies and EU action in the supports for artists’ mobility
Key Principle 3: Adapt mobility support schemes to changing needs
and circumstances
Key principle 4: Artists’ mobility support is a shared responsibility
Key principle 5: A call for efficiency and effectiveness
http://www.artfactories.net/

8. Networks - Trans Europe Halles
Trans Europe Halles (TEH) is a European Network of Independent Cultural Centres that
connects pioneering cultural actors of Moscow, Budapest and Belgrade with creative
forces in Amsterdam, Helsinki and Berlin – to mention a few.
The network currently has
16
Friends in 2
5
European countries. Founded in 1983, the network now brings together more than fifty multidisciplinary and socially engaged member centres throughout
Europe. Most centres are located in buildings from industrial heritage and have taken important action in challenging established cultural policy.
Nordic Perspectives on European Networking
13 independent cultural centres in conversation
Publications:
• Nordic Perspectives on European Networking - 13 independent cultural centers in
conversation
• THE LIFT Handbook - Sharing Experiences of a youth exchange network project
• Changing Room - Mobility of Non-Artistic Cultural Professionals in Europe
• New Times New Models – Investigating the internal governance models and external
relations of independent cultural centers in times of change”
• Factories of the Imagination - Several Trans Europe Halles members’ experiences
of converting former industrial sites into cultural centers.
http://www.teh.net
Workshops:
The consolidation of mutually supportive links between the participants in arts activities
who belong to the network.
Reflection on the involvement of project spaces in the sustainable development of an area
or “territory” [“territoire” [1] in French].
The development of common, shared tools, resources and methodologies, technical data
sheets, and of the detailed forms of organisation
and contexts in question.

9. Networks - Artists Residencies / Networks
resartis - An association of over 400 centres, organisations,
and individuals in over 70 countries. Each of our members is
dedicated to offering artists, curators, and all manner of
creative people the essential time and place away from the
pressures and habits of every-day life, an experience framed
within a unique geographic and cultural context.
Trans Artists is an independent knowledge centre on
cultural mobility for artists, with a strong focus on artist-in-
residence opportunities. Here you can find all about facts,
use and value of international artist-in-residence programs
as well as other cultural opportunities for artists to stay and
work elsewhere.
artistay is a service for artists, writers, architects,
academics, art teachers, curators… looking for a
residency programme in France in order to realize a
personal artistic project.
Goethe Institut - Studio space and accommodation
for limited periods of time, often combined with the
award of a stipend or grant, listed by federal state
(Bundesland) with an outline of their programmes and
selection procedures.

10. So what makes a good link?
Real lasting linkages are driven by the honey (reason)... not money.

11. Questions
•EU funding requires experience, skills, long term commitment and support – where does
this come from?
•How can we capitalise on existing connections?
•Should we be more connected to organisations like ArtFactories or Trans Europe Halles?
•If Clarity and understanding are the keys to successful linkages, what are the cornerstones?
•Which comes first the passion or the punt?
•Is Ireland well placed to mediate between Europe & North America? and how?
•Can Couch Surfing offer a viable alternative?
•Looking in – Does Europe need a one stop shop for Irish Arts Residencies?
•Looking Out – Do Irish Artists need a one stop shop for International Arts Residencies?
•Language – Is English a hurdle to research, dissemination and connectivity?
•Is EU funding really the golden fleece? and if so where are the Argonauts?
•Can we as artist and art professionals clearly articulate our passions?
“I'm looking over the wall, and they're
looking at me”

12. European Funding
1. European Cultural Contact Point Ireland
2. Lab for Culture - Find funding for your project, initiative or organisation. Learn more about mobility schemes, foundations, corporate
sponsorship, philanthropy and alternative sources of funding
3. CEF A programme that aims to strengthen Central European identity through arts and culture in its different forms of expression.
4. Boeing – Arts and Culture Dimension With a strong emphasis on local communities, the aerospace company Boeing supports arts and
cultural initiatives at an international level through their Global Corporate Citizenship programme
5. The British Council. Its Arts team works to develop innovative, high-quality events and collaborations that link thousands of artists and
cultural institutions around the world, drawing them into a closer relationship with the UK.
6. CEC Arts Link An international arts service organisation which offers opportunities to artists and cultural managers for cross-cultural
cooperation between the US and 32 countries in Central Europe, Russia and Eurasia.
7. Central and Eastern Europe's Cultural Institutions - A database project set up by Kulturkontakt Austria, it features links to a wide range
of cultural institutions in Central and Eastern Europe. The database includes amongst other cultural project funding offices,publishing
houses, exhibition spaces, theatres, music and arts centres.
8. Competition ARTE 2.0 VOCENTO&ARCO - Proposals are invited for innovative online platforms and web tools that stimulate the
presence, exhibition, communication and management of art on the Internet
9. Cultural Diversity and Collaboration grants - European Cultural Foundation - With a focus on diversity, the European Cultural
Foundation (ECF) introduces its new grants scheme for organisations and individual artists providing a totally new approach to their funding
support.
10. CulturesFrance - (formerly called AFAA) promotes the French cultural scene abroad, hosts foreign artists during large cultural events, and
supports international cultural exchange and development in the fields of visual, scenic arts and applied arts, architecture, design, literature,
cinematographic heritage, cultural management and documentary collections
11. Fabrica - Benetton's research centre on communication offers scholarships for young artists under 25. Every year young artists are invited
from all over the world to live at the Fabrica centre in Italy, working and researching in diverse fields including photography, design, music,
video, writing, interactive to visual communication in general.
12. Gulliver Connect - A 'mobility and arts work placement programme', created to facilitate collaborative partnerships and encourage a
process of 'learning from practice' for arts and cultural practitioners from the European Union (EU) member states and the former Soviet
Union.
13. Hungarian Multicultural Centre - artist-in-residency programme, supports artists and strengthens the vital role of the arts in the lives of
people and communities; offers an international artist-in-residency programme.
14. UNESCO-Aschberg Bursaries for Artists A grant for the mobility of young artists (aged 25 to 35) to promote intercultural dialogue and
enhance cultural diversity.......
56 funding institutions/organisations and links on one site.