Open Call: An artist residency at Moly-Sabata

Open Call in het Engels

The Embassy of the Kingdom of The Netherlands in France is launching an Open Call aimed at Dutch artists and/or artists based in The Netherlands for an artist residency at Moly-Sabata, in the Region of Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes in France, for the period of the 3rd of September until the 1st of November 2024.

Views of Moly-Sabata © Moly-Sabata

About Moly-Sabata

Moly-Sabata is a residency program in the rural-setting of Sablons (Region of Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes) (45 minutes by train from Lyon) operating all year long. It opened in 1927 and is France’s oldest active artist residency. They welcome around 25 artists per year who are directly invited by the curator of the residency, Joël Riff, or by art institutions from the region (as they usually do not work with open applications).

The residency provides studios and facilities, and is part of a local, national and international network of partners. Joël Riff also curates an annual exhibition that takes place in September-October, during the European Heritage Days.

Moly-Sabata has traditionally been involved with ceramics, which is a craft well represented in the region. However, this is by no means exclusive. Moly-Sabata usually welcomes artists working with any medium.

What do we offer?

A 2 month (9 weeks) residency for a Dutch artist or artist based in The Netherlands at Moly-Sabata entirely subsidised by the Embassy of the Kingdom of The Netherlands in France:

The residency focuses on the creation of new work. It is not a research residency.
Moly-Sabata will therefore provide a 50m2 atelier-apartment and will make its resources available to the selected artist. Moly-Sabata’s team will accompany the artist concerning technical and practical matters and the artist can also receive guidance from artisans in the area.

The Embassy will cover the rent of the atelier-apartment at Moly-Sabata and provide the selected artist with a grant of 4.400 €, which should cover the artist’s travel expenses, production and material costs, transport of the created art works, and living expenses for the duration of the residency. The costs for renting the atelier-appartement, being 1.000 € per month, are not included in the grant as they are paid directly to Moly-Sabata by the Embassy.

The opportunity to work among other international artists as there will always be two other artists staying at the same time. A car is made available for the artist’s errands or external meetings.

The period of September – October 2024 has been especially chosen for this residency as it will coincide with the Lyon Biennale 2024 that will take place and thus provide the artist an excellent opportunity to meet French and international art professionals. The team of Moly-Sabata will provide an invitation to the Biennale and accompany the artist to the official opening.
The residency is also the opportunity to visit art institutions and museums in the area, such as Mac Lyon, La Tôlerie and In Extenso in Clermont-Ferrand, and IAC in Villeurbanne,…

In addition to the visitors coming to visit the annual exhibition that will also take place during the time of the residency, an open studio day will be organised at the end of the artist’s residency allowing the artist to present his/her work to art professionals from Moly-Sabata’s network.

One of the three atelier-apartments © Moly-Sabata

What do we ask?

Please send us one PDF-file in English or French (named as follows ‘SURNAME_NAME-Moly-Sabata’) including the following elements:

  • A letter of motivation (max. 1 A4-pages)
  • Your CV with your contact information
  • Your portfolio (max. 15 A4-pages)

Selection of the winning proposal

The winning proposal will be selected by Joël Riff, curator of Moly-Sabata, Nanda Janssen, visual arts advisor for the Embassy of the Kingdom of The Netherlands in France, and Agnès Raux, Senior Officer Culture at the Embassy of the Kingdom of The Netherlands in France.

Questions and submissions

Please submit your proposal in English or French in one PDF-file before Sunday 5 November 2023, 12:00 PM CET by email to agnes.raux@minbuza.nl.

If you have any questions, please contact Agnès Raux, Senior Officer Culture at the Embassy of Kingdom of the Netherlands in France: agnes.raux@minbuza.nl  

About artist residencies in France

The Embassy aims with this Open Call to generate more attention to artist residencies in France. Moly-Sabata, which usually works by invitation only, accepted through this partnership with the Embassy to work with an Open Call aimed at artists from The Netherlands.

However, France has other interesting residencies as well. Want to know more?
Together with TransArtists, the Embassy organises a meeting on Thursday 26 October from 5pm to 6:30pm in the offices of DutchCulture in Amsterdam. The Embassy, as well as a selection of directors of French artist residencies and artists who did a residency in France, will share information and experiences. The Embassy will also be available for any questions related to the Open Call for a residency at Moly-Sabata.

More information and subscriptions: https://dutchculture.nl/en