As we continue to move into the second year of the full-scale Russian military invasion of Ukraine, we are committed to continuing to find and share opportunities for Ukrainians working in art and culture, in Poland and also beyond. Please read below for a few ongoing programs such as artist residencies and similar opportunities for those in the cultural sector such as researchers, writers, and translators as well as organizations and platforms to add to your list to follow for future opportunities:
Current / Ongoing Opportunities
Zamek Ujazdowski Contemporary Art Centre
Located in the center of Warsaw, the Ujazdowski Castle has a rich history of art residency programs for local and international artists alike as well as active and rich exhibition programming with a particular focus on artistic processes, rather than production and outcomes. In response to the war, Ujazdowski began a monthly Crisis Residencies program for artists from Ukraine in April and has also continued to expand its layers of support to include the Ukrainian Intercity Artistic Cooperative.
It is a pilot project of an artistic cooperative connecting artists, curators, art collectives , informal groups and non-governmental organizations in Poland and Ukraine. The first events of the project took place in December 2022 . Through meetings, exchanges of experience, but also public presentations, we want to support those who and which with their actions – whether artistic or activist, or by the fact of staying in Ukraine and alive – give a response to the war violence. Their ongoing residency program and recruitment for Ukrainian artists is available at least through 2023.
Curatorial team / main point of contact:
- Yulia Kosterieva (coordinator of the crisis residency program at the Center for Contemporary Art Ujazdowski Castle)
- Anna Czaban, Anna Ptak (Community Projects Department at the Center for Contemporary Art Ujazdowski Castle)
The Zbigniew Raszewski Theater Institute
The Zbigniew Raszewski Theater Institute in Warsaw is running an information center for representatives of the Ukrainian theater professions who have been forced to temporarily leave their country, as well as Polish theaters that want to support their Ukrainian partners during the war. The task of the center is to monitor the current needs of Ukrainian theater people, as well as offers from theater institutions and organizations, such as places to stay, places to work, collections of belongings and finances, performances, readings, charity concerts, and long-term projects aimed at Ukrainian artists. In their center, provide further information about the possibility of receiving support and the activities of partners in the country and abroad aimed at helping refugees.
The Theater also occasionally runs open calls for residency programs for Ukrainian artists, the most recent one in February 2023, which will run in June and November 2023, in which applicants will receive placements in Polish cultural organizations and institutions. They provide ongoing open calls and opportunities so contact them to learn more and look for upcoming open calls.
Main point of contact: Lena Tworkowska
Narodowy Instytut Architektury i Urbanistyki – Architects and designers for Ukraine
First shared on 1 March 2022, the Institute began creating a database of businesses and individuals who can offer various forms of employment in various design companies. They provide an application form where you can find long term positions (for those planning to stay in Poland or another country); temporary positions or commissions (for those who need support and financial stabilization during their stay in Poland or another country); paid internships for students; and remote work for those who chose to stay in or cannot leave Ukraine, but lost their place of employment or position.
More information via their website
The International Cultural Center in Kraków (ICC)
As part of their multifaceted art and culture programming, including exhibitions, workshops, seminars, and more, the ICC created a new iteration of their Thesaurus Poloniae program for Ukraine following the full-scale invasion in February 2022 to host scholars working in cultural heritage in Kraków. They provide ongoing opportunities for Ukrainian Scholars working in culture, contact them to learn more and look for upcoming open calls with a three-month (renewable) fellowship stay in an independent apartment in Krakow for researchers and their families.
Learn more about the recruitment process via their website
Dom Utopia International Center of Empathy
Located in Nowa Huta, just east of Kraków’s city center, Dom Utopia is a more recent addition to Kraków’s cultural landscape, but it has already established itself as a vibrant and active artistic hub that meets both local and international audiences and residents. Their ongoing residency program and recruitment for Ukrainian artists in residence is available at least through 2023 and they have hosted Ukrainians coming directly from Ukraine, living in Poland, and throughout Europe. They also cooperate with other organizations and institutions including with the Goethe Institut, Fundacja Imago Mundi and The Zbigniew Raszewski Theater Institute. In December, they also had an open call for Ukrainian artists who hadn’t come to Poland yet following the war. Additionally, their program is focused on the conceptual side of each resident’s practice, not so much production and encourages residents to explore the concepts and ideas of their work through dialogue and exchange.
More information and ways to get in contact via their website
The Villa Decius Institute for Culture
Located in the western outskirts of Kraków city center, Villa Decius runs four major ongoing scholarship and residency programs in cooperation with several partners. These include Krakow UNESCO Residency Program for writers and translators from the UNESCO Creative Cities Network; The Residency Program of the International Cities of Refuge Network (ICORN) for persecuted writers and artists; Scholars at Risk (SAR) Network Residence offering a safe stay for the academic semester and logistic support for scientist exposed to persecution. Villa Decius also hosts artists taking part in The Visegrad Literary Residency Program and Scriptwriting Scholarships managed by the Villa Decius Association. Every residency program includes a monthly scholarship and housing at comfortable rooms located in Łaski’s House – a renaissance palace’s outbuilding.
They currently have an open call for their Kraków UNESCO City of Literature International Residency Program for writers and translators. The Program is dedicated to all emerging writers, and poets having at least one published book working currently on a writing project and are willing to learn more about the Polish literary community. The Residency Program is a perfect opportunity to professionalize writing skills, find the optimal conditions for creative work, and present your own writing to a new audience.
The call for applications for 2023 is now open. The deadline for application submission is the 23rd of April.
Learn more about the open call
Learn more about all their residency programs
Future Opportunities and Organizations to Follow:
The Polish Sculpture Centre in Okońsko
The Center has an established art residency program alongside it’s impressive collection and programming. In response to the war, it has provided open calls for art residencies and most recently, an Open Call: 10th Young Triennale: Consolidation, three years since its last edition. The call asks submitters to consider questions of strengthening collaborations between various actors towards building a common future, how to strengthen valuable ideas in a world full of disinformation, and what should come after emergency residencies for artists fleeing war?
VIsit Okońsko for the opening of the 10th Young Triennale on June 24-25 2023, which will be on view until September 3rd, 2023.
Curators: Stanisław Małecki, Lia Dostlieva
Organized by Andrii Dostilev
The Sunflower Solidarity Community Center / Солідарний будинок культури / Solidarny Dom Kultury
The initiative was born out of the first days of the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 as a first-aid initiative and began operating at the Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw and also cooperated with Fundacja Bądź. It functions as an open, supportive, multilingual and multicultural space for Ukrainian and Polish language, humanitarian aid, workshops, and artistic activities. They host and collaborate frequent programming that promotes discussion and action to preserving Ukrainian art and culture (with Frieze Magazine, 23 February), highlighting particularly marginalized Ukrainians such as LGBTQI+ voices (Queer Ukraine: An Anthology of LGBTQI+ Voices During Wartime on 3 March). Most recently, VOGUE published an article by Anna Konieczyńska on the work they have been doing: “Supporting Ukraine Is Not a Choice, But Our Common Duty”: How a Group of Artist-Activists Is Supporting Ukraine From Warsaw”
More information and contact information via the website
Staromiejski Dom Kultury
Based in Warsaw, they provide multifaceted public cultural programming and events such as art and theater workshops, for women in cultural centers, for senior citizens as well as opportunities for Ukrainians before and since the full-scale invasion. In particular, their Literary Residency running since 2021 for foreign writers, dramats and translators provides residents with an apartment in the center with a convenient place for creative work, a scholarship, substantive and logistical support. Most recently this program has focused on supporting artists from Ukraine and Belarus.
A Selection of Transnational and International Organizations and Programs with programs for Ukrainians
The Visegrad Fund – Continue Supporting Organizations
The Visegrad Fund actively seeks new ways of supporting the people of Ukraine, after having supported more than 70 organizations in a total amount of €1 million to strengthen their capacities when assisting people escaping the war. With help of V4 Embassies in Kiev and Chisinau we have also implemented an Extraordinary Grant Support for Ukraine and Moldova.
We are here for Ukraine! Civil society organizations from Ukraine can apply for our Visegrad+ Grants or be a partner organization in the V4 Gen Mini-Grants focused on the youth. Moreover, Ukrainian students and researchers can apply for the Visegrad Scholarships, Research Grants at Historical Archives of the EU or the Visegrad Scholarship at the Open Society Archive. They are available to answer any of your questions and provide assistance at [email protected].
Fulbright Ukraine – also in cooperation with Fulbright Poland
The Fulbright Ukraine Program has carried on despite Russia’s unprovoked war against Ukraine. The office has continued, from Kyiv and Warsaw, to support Ukrainian Fulbrighters in the United States and support U.S. Fulbrighters who were relocated from Ukraine to Poland and other countries to continue their Fulbright research and studies. Many of the U.S. Fulbright Students and Scholars as well as Fulbright Ukraine staff have volunteered with displaced Ukrainian communities in Poland.
Jessica Zychowicz, Fulbright alum and Director of the Fulbright Program in Ukraine, speaks about the critical importance of Fulbright at this time. “All [Fulbright participants and alumni] contribute to our mutual democratic freedom—not only through publications, speeches, lectures, but also in everyday words and actions. We educate and act against authoritarian past(s) so that they do not return to the democratic societies of the future. We must work together to build the future of ethical, responsible, and qualified leaders who defend human rights, and defend Ukrainian sovereignty.”
Current open calls include: The Fulbright Graduate Program (for graduating seniors, graduate students and young professionals), Fulbright Foreign Language Teaching Assistant and Fulbright Research and Development Program (for junior faculty and researchers) and for those who hold “Kandydat Nauk” and “Doktor Nauk” degrees, researchers and professionals outside academic the following three programs are available: Fulbright Visiting Scholar Program, Fulbright National Archives Heritage Science Fellowship, and Fulbright Scholar-in-Residence Program.
Helsinki_International. Artist_programme
Started in March 2022 and is still ongoing, the residencies are located in various places, mostly around southern Finland. Accommodation, travel and living costs of the residents are covered as part of the program. The residency period offered is 3-6 months with the possibility of continuation. The residencies can host a single artist or artist with family members (up to 4 people). At the moment the Solidarity Residencies are allocating residencies for 2023. There are residency spaces available in Summer and Autumn 2023. Please fill in the form below and we will contact you in the case we need more information or can offer you a residency spot. To inquire about a residency place please see the website link to fill in the residency request form.
Scholarship for Art and Cultural Mediation for Art and Cultural Mediators who have fled Ukraine – Berlin
Successful applicants will receive a stipend of 13.500 (lump sum) in 2023, as well as a budget of up to 750 Euro for material and production costs. Scholarships will be awarded for the months of April to December 2023,subject to the availability of district cultural funding in accordance with its Action Plan.Individuals who have fled from Ukraine to Germany after the onset of the Russian war of aggression, and who would like to realize projects or formats that incorporate artistic work, art mediation, or pedagogical approaches in the fields of culture and media, are eligible to apply.
Deadline: Tuesday, 11 April 2023, 6pm via email to: [email protected].
Finally, see ongoing opportunities via: Res Artis emergency residencies list and Vitsche Home Opportunities for Artists Outside Ukraine
Follow also the Facebook group Open Calls and Opportunities admininstrated by Lynx team.
