DIY Residencies

Like their hosted counterparts, DIY residencies can   

• Provide a dedicated space to make work 
• Carve and protect time to focus on practice
• Create opportunities to collaborate or connect with fellow artists     

Hosted residencies offer compelling opportunities, but   

• They can be difficult to get. Artists are either invited to participate or selected through an open call.  These are often very competitive and take much time and effort to apply for.  
• They can be impracticable if you have work or family commitments or access needs.   
• Even when you get them, it may be challenging to fit around their requirements or timeframes.  
• Not all residencies pay artists properly. Some even charge for the privilege of participating  

Read more about hosted residencies and some case studies of artists who have participated in them.

DIY residencies 

• Have no application process to go through 
• Are customisable. You drive their format to suit your commitments and access needs 
• Have no strings or expectations attached beyond the ones you set 
• Can be designed according to your financial limitations  

For emerging artists, DIY residencies are a great way to build a portfolio and network. For established artists, they provide a chance to try something new and enrich their practice.   

DIY residencies come with benefits and limitations. If you’re thinking of running one consider the following issues.  

Agency  

In establishing their residencies, organisations set down their ambitions and expectations. They invite artists directly or they publish open calls and choose participants through a selection process. With DIY residencies, you reclaim the word ‘Residency”. You can undertake a residency without going through any selection process. There is no obligation to donate artwork, open your studio, set up an exhibition, or interact with the public.  

Flexibility  

On a hosted residency, artists accept the terms and conditions of the host organisations with limited room to negotiate elements like dates or bringing their family. On a DIY residency, you decide where to go and when, for how long and with whom. This is particularly valuable if you have a working life or if your financial circumstances fluctuate. DIY Residencies can be firmly planned but adapted as needed.  

Validation  

Some traditional artist residencies can provide artists with an endorsement of practice, curatorial support and exposure. In a DIY residency, it is necessary to achieve this through careful planning to ensure critical engagement, accountability, and visibility are built into your project. See our guide below for more information. 

Funding   

Some institution-led residencies provide the artists with funding: from paying for accommodation and covering travel expenses to food, a production fee or a stipend. However, the level of funding and support differs between residency programmes. Some even ask you to contribute financially to cover costs. Hosted residencies that offer financial support are also the most competitive. On DIY residencies, you have the responsibility of covering all costs.  

While any self-organised activity can present challenges for artists with already limited time and capacity, self-organising your residency allows you to create a catalyst moment that energises your practice by maintaining a greater level of control.  

The following suggestions can help you plan, execute, and fund your DIY residency.  

Envision your ideal residency

Imagine what the perfect residency at this time of your life and career looks like. What would you like to achieve from your residency? New work, time to write and reflect, networking or just getting out of your comfort zone and exploring? Write down your wish list.  

What does your practice need to achieve this?  

• Time – a protected uninterrupted block of time to keep your head down and make work?  
• More space – Physically, bigger space to work at a different scale, or with materials you can’t use in the home perhaps?  
• Specialist tools or facilities – Do you need access to a printing press, darkroom or other kit?  
• External input – Are you at the stage where you need input from artists or other specialists to push your ideas forward?
• A change of scenery – taking yourself out of your usual setting can be inspirational. Putting some distance between you and the usual daily routine can make space for more creative habits.  

For new parent Lenka Clayton, the wish list was time and space to work, peers, mentors, accountability, exposure and no traveling. She organised her first home residency and from there she established ARIM (Artist Residency In Motherhood), a framework that encourages artists who are mothers to create their own residencies in the home.  

You can hear more about setting up a home residency here where artist and new mum Gretchen Geraets talks about her own DIY Residency looking at the home as a site of conflict and possibility. The home residency provided Gretchen with a sense of urgency, a schedule to work with, and deadlines, leading to a step change in her practice.  

Logistics: location and duration   

Where should your DIY residency take place?

Do you want to stay in the UK, or do you want to go abroad? You may have funds to travel and rent accommodation in your preferred place, or you can start from what you have available around you? Maybe you know someone with a cottage near the sea. Perhaps you can find an unused office or an empty shop somewhere. It doesn’t have to be far. The list is endless: garden centers, golf clubs, airports, hotels, community centres, etc… The point is: to put yourself somewhere new and of interest to you.   

Wherever you choose it’s important the physical space can accommodate the type of work you want to make. If you’re not working in a studio space and working in a messy medium make sure the space is protected.

For some inspiration and contacts, you can use Artquest Exchange, Artquest’s free professional network for visual artists. You can connect with fellow artists around the corner or around the world. Maybe someone would like to swap studio and bedroom for a couple of weeks?   

Research your location and consider the tools you’ll need and how you’ll set up your studio onsite, if you need one.   

How long should your DIY residency last?  

DIY residencies give you the flexibility to choose when to go. It can be next week or next year. Decide your start and end date and if it will be a short but immersive period or a dedicated day each week for a few months.   

If time is an issue, maybe you can use your family holidays as a residency, go for a 24-hour residency or use the commute to your job: proclaim yourself Artist in residence of the 172 Bus!    

Partners and peers  

Partner organisations

You can book yourself into a remote place and go entirely solo or find partners and communities to work with, it’s your decision.   

Partner organisations can help artists with the resources, support and expertise they need to create their work. In some cases, they can also provide funding and exposure or future opportunities.   

In 2023, Cash Aspeek self-organised a residency inside the ViSpring mattress factory in Plymouth. She rented an Airbnb and took her son with her.   Convincing ViSpring to take her on a residency took some time and perseverance from Cash. She had to navigate the unfamiliar factory hierarchy and health and safety regulations. But she went home with new skills, bags of materials, images and footage, and exposure. Cash is in ongoing conversation with them, which may lead to new opportunities. Moreover, this first experience gave Cash the confidence to self-organise a new residency in a different place.  

You can listen to Cash talking about how she enticed the factory to get onboard and how she went on organising her residency here.

If you want to work with a partner organisation, contact them at an early stage to negotiate the terms of your residency. Be clear on:  

• What you want to do, when and why
• What they can give you: accommodation, studio space, a working table, materials, a tour of their premises, engagement with their employees  
• What they will get out of it: an artwork, visibility on your website and social media, a presentation for all their employees or clients, a selection of digital images they can use for their PR  
• Include information about yourself, your website and some images of your work 

 Many of the principles to sponsorship apply to working with a partner in this way.  

Other artists and peers  

If you aim to share, collaborate, or receive feedback you can invite other artists on this journey. Artists with a similar practice or from different disciplines: a small group of peer artists sharing the costs of a bungalow for a week in Scotland could just be what you need. And maybe someone knows a curator who is also looking for an opportunity to write that text or get experience in running crits and talking to artists.  

Interaction with fellow residents is often an impactful component of a residency. If you have a big studio, you can invite fellow artists to work alongside you. You could plan a group DIY residency at your studio, a campground or a large Airbnb.  

Or, challenge your peers to do their own DIY Residency concurrently with you. Set up meeting times throughout—in person or virtual—to discuss your research and progress. If you desire less interaction, something as simple as a one-on-one critique with a colleague can provide reflection and feedback.  

Artquest Exchange can help you reach local creative networks in cities around the world, allowing you to find artists, potential collaborators, exchange partners and friends living and working where your DIY Residency takes place.  

Structure your residency   

Whether you go alone or with others, create a structure for your Residency. Think about what you want to accomplish? Be bold, concrete and realistic. Respond to context, experiment with materials or build a new body of work? Outline a series of work that you want to make.    

Set daily goals. What will you do every day? A new drawing, read something, go for a walk, get up at 6am, write a journal, meditate? Write down your ideal routine.  

As an artist who uses landscape and nature as inspiration, connection and metaphor, and after her applications for traditional residencies started to be rejected, in 2019 Lorraine Glessner self-organised her first DIY retreat residency in a fish cabin in Florida. She created a balanced daily routine by dividing the day into three parts, with morning hikes and plain air painting, household chores in the afternoon and evenings dedicated to painting in the makeshift studio she set up in the cabin.   You can listen to more about Lorraine’s retreat DIY Residency below.

Staying accountable   

It’s easy to lose momentum or let other priorities take over. You get excited at the idea of a DIY Residency, but then it can be difficult to pursue it. There are a few things you can do to stay motivated and make yourself accountable to yourself and to others. 

Make a public commitment

Call it a ‘Residency’ and let the world know you are on it. There are no rules about what a residency should be. But once you have decided what your DIY Residency is, give it proper space and importance. Put it on your website and on your social media. ‘Talk about it to anyone who would listen’ suggests Lenka Clayton. (https://www.artistresidencyinmotherhood.com/how-it-started)  

Lenka also created a Residency Manifesto and some physical reminders that made the residency exist and reminded herself and others about it. You can create cards or a vinyl sign for your studio or house window (And you can download templates on Lenkas’ website).  

Record your progress

If your residency takes place in your home, studio or shed, and you are afraid of being sidetracked, keep a studio diary where you can record the time you actually spend on your Residency.   

Get a mentor

Another way to increase the sense of accountability is to appoint your mentors and give them a role in your residency.  

Mentors can be an invaluable resource for artists and being on a residency can give you the opportunity to finally reach out to someone who’s been on your radar for a while. Mentors can be artists / art professionals or non-artist friends. You can swap mentorship with a friend or maybe there is something you want to learn and a teacher friend of yours could be perfect for it.      

Promote your residency  

You should be proud of having set up your DIY Residency and you should be telling the world about it.  

Post about it on social media, it will attract interest and it will make you feel accountable and visible.  

Can you create a blog/vlog or use a section of your website and post on it regularly?   You can post behind-the-scenes shots of your creative process, or a photo capturing a moment of inspiration or interaction together with thank you messages and reflections about the residency process. You can think about this as a visual journey and as a way to document the residency.  Decide how often you want to post and do that at a fixed time, maybe every 2 or 3 days as first thing in the morning or before night time.   

Mark the end of the Residency  

By creatively marking the end of your residency, you not only celebrate your accomplishments but also contribute to the legacy of the project and can inspire future residents.  You can showcase the work created during the residency in a physical space or online or organise an open studio or a talk to share your learning and work and to have a conversation about your experience.   

You can document your Residency through photos, writing or reflections about your artistic process, challenges and final outcomes. These can be presented on a page on your website, on a physical or digital zine, or on your social media to connect with a wider audience.  

DIY residencies don’t have to be expensive to be successful. However, some projects may need funding to cover the costs.   

Start by creating a budget: what are the actual costs associated with your residency project?   

• Childcare one day a week 
• Materials  
• A daily fee allocation for your time 
• A return ticket to somewhere  
• Board and lodging 
• Fees for a mentor to hold you accountable  

If you decide to apply for funding, there are a few funding opportunities that you can try. Bear in mind that most of these are awarded once a year so they work if you are planning your DIY Residency well in advance.  

Arts Council England – DYCP (Developing Your Creative Practice) provides grants for up to £12,000, four times a year, to artists who want to take time to focus on their creative development, including travel and residencies.    

Adaptations is a practice development award from Artquest that might suit artists who have moved out of London and are looking to carve out some time to test a new direction in their practice.    A-n bursaries enable artists to undertake a wide range of professional development activities, and to visit internationally significant exhibitions and events. You need to be a-n member to be able to apply for this opportunity.  

Other creative development funds include:    

CuratorSpace Artist Bursary bursary scheme to support artists in maintaining their art practice. Six bursaries of £250 are awarded annually to CuratorSpace Artist members.  

The Oppenheim-John Downes Memorial Trust provides small-scale grants (typically range from £250 – £1,000.) to British artists, designers, writers and performers over the age of 30 who are experiencing financial difficulties in the pursuit of their careers.    

Explore Fund 7 grants of £3,000 for artists in Bradford working in any art form to explore, experiment, research; or test new ideas, processes or media.  

Artist Grant, a yearly programme providing £2000 unrestricted financial support to artists worldwide. Normally accepting applications in October.    

The Eaton Fund provides average grants of £350 for artists to pay for materials to make works or to prepare works for an exhibition (e.g. framing).     

Other ways to support your DIY Residency  

If you don’t have time to apply to funding bodies, you can try to support your DIY Residency project in other ways:  

• Think organically: Consider if you have a friend with a holiday home or if you can do a house swap. Or maybe you can look for house or pet-sitting opportunities abroad.     
• Stay local: Look for venues and opportunities in your own town or area: offices, firms or business, libraries, schools or community centres can provide in-kind support in the form of an empty space or even resources and collaboration.    
• Sublet your space: If possible, sublet your studio or room to generate income to cover the residency costs (always check with your studio or room provider).    
• Partner with another artist: Consider splitting the costs of a residency with another artist. This can be a great way to make a residency more affordable, and it can also lead to creative collaboration.    
• Create a limited edition: By implementing a well-planned limited-edition campaign, you can raise significant funds for your residency, while also increasing your artistic recognition. Be open about your plans and how the sales of the limited edition will benefit you. People are more likely to support a fundraiser if they understand how their contribution will be used.    
• Launch a crowdfunding campaign or sign up to Patreon, a platform specifically designed to help artists raise funds directly from their supporters. Unlike selling a limited-edition piece, Patreon offers a way to create a sustainable income stream.