The Künstlerdorf Schöppingen Foundation supports international artists by organizing an Artist-in-Residence program. Grant holders are able to focus on their work without time or financial pressure.

The guiding principle of the Stiftung Künstlerdorf Schöppingen is that of a social space that promotes cross-disciplinary artistic exchange and personal and professional development in international dialogue. This results in innovation potentials as well as opportunities for reflection on an individual, structural and global level.

The garden, communal kitchen, workshop, library, gallery, exhibition hall, and the surroundings of the Künstlerdorf provide space for a variety of processes, activities, interactions, and engagement.

About

The Stiftung Künstlerdorf Schöppingen is located in two listed manor houses from the early 19th century, situated in the rural area of Münsterland, close to the Dutch border. Each year, the Künstlerdorf awards around 40 grants in the fields of visual arts, literature and composition. Since its founding in 1989, a total of about 900 artists have been invited for a residency. The fellowships are each associated with a two- to six-month stay in the Künstlerdorf. The program is open to international applicants and has no age limit. The selection of the fellows is made by juries of experts, which are renewed on a regular basis.

The program of Künstlerdorf offers the opportunity to regularly gain insight into artistic processes and to engage in personal exchange with the fellows. In addition to ongoing events such as monthly dinners and brunches, the Künstlerdorf organizes the annual CAP (Curating for Advanced Practices) program, which aims to discuss production conditions and implementation issues for artistic practices and to develop new strategies and structures in the arts.

At the end of each year, a publication is issued that includes documentation of the residency fellowships, the ongoing program, and the CAP program. Annual editions serve to support the work of the Künstlerdorf.

In order to sustainably promote the exchange of fellows beyond the residencies, the alumni program offers the possibility to visit the Künstlerdorf as a guest or to participate in later projects. This option is available by arrangement or by invitation.

Policies

1. supporting artists
The core mission of the work of the Stiftung Künstlerdorf Schöppingen is to support its fellows. Mobility and working in a new context enable changes of perspective and sustainable dialogues. The residency serves individual artistic work and personal and professional development.

2. creating free spaces
The Künstlerdorf offers an open space, time and financial relief that enable meaningful reflection and the development of artistic processes.
The Künstlerdorf creates free spaces for encounters and exchange, beyond restrictive contexts, and thus enables impulses for transformation processes.

3. providing refuge
The Künstlerdorf values collegial advice and knowledge sharing in a supportive and non-competitive setting.
Spare capacity and resources are made available to artists who are restricted in their freedom of expression, threatened by persecution and oppression, or fleeing war and terror.

4. reciprocity and conviviality
We value and practice concepts of reciprocity and conviviality in the self-image of a learning institution. Also in the relationship of the ethics of hospitality and visiting, we rely on care and solidarity among and for each other.

5. rules for temporary communities
The Künstlerdorf is a place of creation and residence for temporary communities of fellows in continuously varying constellations. In view of the complexity of aspects of co-habitation and potential for conflict in engaged exchange, the present policies and a corresponding code of conduct apply to the residency program. In particular, the Künstlerdorf offers a discrimination-sensitive environment and clearly positions itself against hostility and exclusion.

6. resonance conditions
The program of the Künstlerdorf creates resonance spaces for encounters between international fellows and the local community. In-house and public formats provide space for engagement and exchange. They are the breeding ground for cooperation and new networks.

7. social spaces
The infrastructure of the Künstlerdorf provides a physical framework for the implementation of artistic projects and the transfer of knowledge. We conceive our spaces as social spaces that are constantly changing. Each social space is equipped with ideas, techniques, materials, and practices related to the work of our fellows and their projects.

8. social responsibility
As part of our mission to support artists, we recognize unequal preconditions and different needs in taking advantage of the residency fellowship and accompany them individually. We create access and counteract asymmetries by accompanying fellows before and after the residency*.

9. ecological sustainability
When it comes to issues of mobility, production and organization, the Künstlerdorf is committed to using materials, water and energy in a way that conserves resources.
To improve our ecological foot- and handprints, we are currently developing a concrete catalog of measures as part of a sustainability strategy.

10. addressing change
We accompany artistic processes of our fellows, which provide valuable stimuli for social change and transformation. We address our observations regarding the potentials of and needs for artistic creation within the annual CAP (Curating for Advanced Practices) program.
CAP aims to discuss production conditions and implementation issues for artistic practices and to develop new strategies and structures in the arts.

*In particular, but not exclusively, in regards to visa, travel, insurance, navigation, in case of physical or other disability or parenthood.