Artist residencies
Accessibility checklist for the residencies
Here you can download the accessibility checklist designed specially for the residencies:
Art residencies in 2022 as a part of the project
The project Making space for artistry and the Aine Art Museum organised a more accessible arts residency in Tornio, northern Finland.
Our aim was to facilitate residency work especially for disabled artists and artists who are Sign Language users. During the residency stays, we gathered insights on how the accessibility of arts residencies could be enhanced.
Artistic residencies are not part of the core functions of the Aine Art Museum. Instead, the museum rents out the premises of the Viippola arts residency, owned by the City of Tornio, on an irregular basis to accommodate guest artists and arts experts. Nobody on the museum staff has the fixed role of managing residency operations. The Culture For All Service is also not primarily engaged in the organisation of residencies, facilitating artistic work as such, or artistic productions. The project in question had a lot of novelty value for us. We were joined by the City of Haparanda’s cultural office, which supported us in finding suitable accommodation and work spaces on the Swedish Haparanda side of the twin cities. We also cooperated with the City of Haparanda in communication efforts.
An open call for artists was organised in spring 2022. We received 32 applications from both Finnish and international artists, which goes to show that there is a clear demand for more accessible artist residencies!
We selected artists and artist duos of different career stages for the residency periods and exhibitions. The artists worked at the Viippola residency in Tornio and at the Swedish-Finnish Folk High School (Svefi) in Haparanda, with the support of Kone Foundation’s artist grants. During the stays of various lengths, the programme for the artists also included meetings with artist mentors, in collaboration with the Artists’ Association of Lapland.
Each selected artist presented a solo exhibition at the end of their stay, using diverse spaces in both Tornio and Haparanda (the shopping centre Rajalla in Tornio, the Haparanda Library, the Haparanda railway station). A group exhibition featuring all residency artists was presented at the Aine Art Museum in 2023.
Open call
The announcement was published in five languages:
- Finnish
- Easy Finnish
- Finnish Sign Language
- Swedish
- English
The applicants had the opportunity to submit a video to complement their written working plan verbally or using Sign Language.
We provided support for applicants. Our open call listed a contact person who had assigned hours to help with compiling applications.
We communicated our announcement widely through various disability organisations, different professionals and communities using sign language, artist organisations and networks, Facebook groups, and individual contacts. We made ourselves available to be reached by potential applicants, and had telephone conversations already during the open call period with artists on how to best handle practicalities during residency stays. We actively encouraged a wide range of artists to apply.
As part of their application, we requested the applicants to explain their accessibility needs.
Selection of artists
The expertise of our selection team represented the arts field through the Aine Art Museum, as well as disability and disability culture through the Culture For All Service and Cultural Association Finland’s EUCREA. The open call was restricted to disabled artists and artists who are Sign Language users. Our selection process emphasized the appeal of the working plan at hand more than the previous merits of the applicant. Our selection also underlined the relevance of the residency stay for the artist’s career stage.
How we built a more accessible residency
The artists were accommodated and they worked at either the Viippola residency in Tornio or at the Swedish-Finnish Folk High School (Svefi) in Haparanda, the latter being more accessible. The staff of the Aine Art Museum compiled a concise presentation of the accessibility of the Viippola residency. This material was made available as a document accompanying the open call announcement. The material includes photos and measurements which applicants could refer to when considering the suitability of the residency premises for their own needs. The material was also added on the City of Tornio’s website where it can still be found.
Viippola’s accessibility, dimensions and images (Word in Finnish)
Viippola’s accessibility, dimensions and images (PDF in Finnish)
We found it important to have a willingness to seek out individual, creative, and even experimental solutions. In the case of certain applicants, we had to think about what the duration of an individual stay needs to be. We considered how much remote work from home could be combined with the residency stay without slipping away from our aim of facilitating an equal experience of a residency stay. One question we asked ourselves was: What is the lowest common denominator based on which we can say that an artist completed a residency?
The selected residency artists did not require an assistant to accompany them. When necessary, we turned to a volunteer organisation to find a support person to be reached, even at night, and to help out with accommodation and meal planning practicalities in the respective host city.
Regarding travel arrangements, we took into account individual needs and had an assigned budget to back up various alternatives that may arise. As an example, had it been necessary to fly in a guide dog, we would have been able to cover the costs of air travel (even if air travel was otherwise avoided due to ecological reasons). There is no accessible train connection to Tornio, so a taxi was used for the last leg between the Kemi railway station and Tornio, when necessary.
One artist brought their own suitable bicycle to use for moving around inside the residency city.
We organised Sign Language interpreters for some meetings between artists and residency representatives.
Two producers were in charge of the production of the residency programme, one of them also a staff member at the Aine Art Museum. The other producer, whose first language is Finnish Sign Language, was hired specifically for the project.
We felt it important to ensure a safer space. We did this through active and transparent communication, conversation, and encounters with all parties involved in various stages of the process, by holding on to our promises, and promoting a positive atmosphere throughout. Peer support was another important aspect to nurture.
Experiences and results
We collected experiences and feedback from the participants through a wrap-up discussion and an anonymous feedback form. The producers also made notes of their observations during – as well as at the end of – the residency periods.
The artists reported that the working periods had a significant impact on their own artistic work, the strengthening of their artistic identity, and/or career opportunities. The residency periods were seen as an opportunity to truly focus on their own work. There was some wish to have a little more encouragement for peer support, interaction, and sharing among the artists.
The exhibitions deriving from the stays featured highly interesting and original art. At the same time, the surrounding media interest tended to focus on questions of accessibility and equality.
Our study and our active conversations regarding accessibility and individual needs were of crucial importance. It is also good to consider what could have been situations where no answer would have been available, or where support would not have been at hand.
As always, limited resources pose a challenge. We could, for instance, have allocated more resources into multilingualism and to arranging Sign Language interpretation outside a dependence on the national social insurance institution, Kela. Even without a further budget, it would have been useful to make a clearer agreement between the artists and producers and decide who books Sign Language interpreters. That could have eased the burden on the artists attempting to book interpreters through the public system. In cases where a residency artist would have required a round-the-clock or full-day assistant, and if the assistant’s work would not have been covered by the artist’s home municipality, we would have likely been able to cover these labour costs through rearranging our own budget. With a smaller budget, such rearrangements would, however, have not been possible.
An important observation was the power held by the organising body in terms of considering how an artist’s residency experience will be, especially in the case of artists with no previous residency experience. It can then be more difficult to set and express expectations. It is essential to be aware of the power structures amongst different parties as they relate to residencies, and how one could shape the process into a more open, safer, and equitable opportunity for all.
The residency artists felt that they benefited from the mentoring, and established new networks.
The goal of the project contributed to the interest and desire of various parties to be involved in the project, and brought positive visibility to the residency.
Artists
Sofia Karinen is a 21-year-old Finnish-French visual artist studying at Liminka Art School. In her paintings she focuses on her everyday environment and the surrounding nature.
The artist duo Aino Laiho and Olga Green, who are Sign Language users, will explore the opportunities for joint artistic expression created by safe space, interaction and play. They work experimentally with a variety of techniques and materials.
Kari Toiviainen is a multidisciplinary professional with cerebral palsy. He works in the fields of theater and audiovisual expression. In the residency he will be working on a series of video art works with the local community.
Maarit Hedman and Anu Haapanen will work on an exhibition consisting of mixed media, acrylic paintings and charcoal drawings. In their works, they engage in a dialogue on darkness between an artist who sees and an artist who has lost their sight.