*sculpture/installation, photography, film, digital media, mixed media including time-based and performative practices, crafts, painting, drawing

The fee for each residency is £1200 (equivalent to 5-6 days’ artist time) and £100 expenses/materials per residency, plus up to a month’s access per residency to the ONCA Barge artist studio. The Barge studio is down a wide flight of stairs. The top deck is accessible by ramp so this is an option for anyone for whom stairs prohibit access.

Accessibility information can be found here.

About

We are inviting proposals for two artist residencies to take place between July and November 2022, in Brighton. In creating this opportunity with The Living Coast, we are seeking to understand, through the eyes of artists, more about how immersion in the natural world is good for physical and mental wellbeing. We welcome proposals from artists and makers living or working in The Living Coast area (see map) whose work explores this theme. We are open to a wide range of approaches.

These process-orientated artist commissions provide the opportunity for two artists (or artist groups) to work with experienced commissioners ONCA, and with Fabrica, a visual arts organisation based in a former Regency church in the heart of Brighton, which commissions contemporary visual art installations.

From June to December, ONCA’s programme will explore the interconnections between social and ecological diversity. Between July and November 2022, Fabrica will present two exhibitions that touch on wellbeing, creative practice and connections to the natural world. Although The Living Coast 2022 residencies are stand-alone projects, where possible and appropriate Fabrica and ONCA will draw connections between the residencies and their upcoming projects in order to maximise marketing resources for the residencies and their programmes as a whole.

About the commissioning partnership 

ONCA is an arts charity that bridges social and environmental justice issues. Since 2012 we’ve cultivated art that engages with environmental change, social justice and wellbeing. We host residencies and curate exhibitions and events at our central Brighton gallery and our East Brighton community space/eco-hub:ONCA Barge. A key focus now is on developing accessible, inclusive curatorial and organisational practices.

Fabrica has a strong track record in commissioning artists and presenting large-scale immersive works. An educational charity, Fabrica creates a wide-ranging programme of discussions, events, film screenings and hands-on activities around each exhibition it presents, believing that it enriches visitors’ experiences of the artist’s work, and opens up the possibility of learning more about the subjects that artists research.

Fabrica and ONCA are partners in The Living Coast, Brighton & Lewes Downs UNESCO Biosphere region for this residency.  The Living Coast is a diverse partnership of over 40 organisations, including local authorities, the South Downs National Park authority, universities, private companies, national bodies, charities, cultural and community organisations.  The mission of The Living Coast is to connect people and nature to inspire a positive future, today, and a key element of achieving this is through cultural partnerships. The Living Coast partnership works towards three objectives, shared by all global biospheres: conserve and enhance nature and culture; support sustainable human development; promote environmental awareness, knowledge, learning and engagement.

To apply

For further information, and to apply, please download the pdf form and our equal opportunities form and email your application to  with The Living Coast Residency 2022 in the subject.

Deadline: Submissions must be received by Fabrica no later than 12 noon Thursday 19 May 2022.

​Image credit: Anna Dumitriu

Image description: Image shows a photograph of seaweed microscopy. A circle of white light frames the silhouette of seaweed. The texture of the image is grainy, cracks and scuffs on the edge of the microscope reveal the depth of the circular lens. A crescent stripe of turquoise light bends around with the lens set against a black backdrop.