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Culture & Diversité Foundation
Each year, an open call is launched, open to 8 young graduates from the Foundation’s “Equal Opportunity” programs, with their sights set on careers in art, design, cinema, art history and architecture. A tailor-made program awaits them for a week at Villa Medici, with practical workshops, visits and meetings with artists, curators and professionals from the cultural sector to help them build a network and facilitate their professional beginnings.
Driven by a shared ambition to encourage the professional integration of young graduates from artistic disciplines and to promote the vitality of contemporary creation in all its forms, French Academy in Rome – Villa Medici and the Culture & Diversité Foundation have joined forces to create this Discovery Residency.
This new residency is aimed at young graduates of the Fondation Culture & Diversité’s Equal Opportunity and Residency programs, and is designed to help them develop their professional network, deepen their understanding of the French and international residency ecosystem, and gain a better grasp of the challenges facing the sector to which they are destined.
Each year, at the end of a open call competition, eight prizewinners are selected to take part in the Discovery Residency. During a week of immersion at Villa Medici in Rome, the eight winners benefit from a tailor-made program of meetings, seminars, workshops and training courses, in contact with French and Italian cultural players, residency specialists and artists from a wide range of backgrounds and profiles.
Time will also be set aside for exchanges between the prizewinners and the sixteen fellows of Villa Medici artists from all fields of artistic creation: architecture, musical composition, literature, visual arts, sound design, photography, etc.
This initiative extends the commitment of both institutions to today’s artists, and is part of a renewed approach to support and interdisciplinary networking between young professionals and structures supporting contemporary creation.
Discovery residency week at Villa Medici: November 24 – November 29, 2024
Winners of the 2024 edition:
Discovery resident week at Villa Medici: November 19 – November 25, 2023
Winners of the 2023 edition:
Discovery resident week at Villa Medici: November 13 – November 20, 2022
Winners of the 2022 edition:
Discovery resident week at Villa Medici: November 4 – November 7, 2021
Winners of the 2021 edition:
Offered by the French Academy in Rome – Villa Medici and the Culture & Diversité Foundation, with the support of the French Ministry of Culture, the Perspectives video series provides information and advice to support young artists in the early stages of their professional careers. The series is divided into several episodes, filmed during the 2022 Discovery Residency at Villa Medici.
Marie Chênel, General Secretary of DCA – Association de développement des centers d’art, gives advice on how to make the most of your work as an artist in an eco-system.
Sam Stourdzé, Director of tthe French Academy in Rome – Villa Medici, talks about the benefits of a research and creative residency.
Marianne Derrien, curator and president of CEA (Association des Commissaires d’Exposition Indépendants) explains how to optimize your application to meet the expectations of a jury.
Isabelle Boulord, Head of the Visual Arts Department at the Direction régionale des affaires culturelles d’Île-de-France, explores the various options available to young artists at the start of their career.