Norrbotten supports Ukrainian cultural creators with residency

This week, Region Norrbotten has made the decision to increase this year's residency budget by an additional 100 SEK to be able to offer crisis residency for Ukrainian cultural creators. 

The work is now in full swing so that together we can stand up and help artists who are in acute crisis.

– We are now trying to act quickly to reach out to cultural creators in Ukraine about coming to Norrbotten for a residency, says Hanna Isaksson, operations manager at the Resource Center for Art and project manager for the regional residency network Swedish Lapland AiR.

A residency means that a cultural creator can come and live and work in a location for a longer period of time, usually between 1-3 months. The local residency organizer will be Northern Sustainable Futures in Moskosel, which has accommodation and premises. The residency will be aimed primarily at female cultural creators with children.

– As residency organizers, we can offer cultural creators in all fields a safe and secure place to work from during the war, even if it is only for a few months. We know that cultural creators are especially vulnerable and it is important that their voices can provide a picture of what is happening now, says Goncalo Marques, founder of Northern Sustainable Futures.

Region Norrbotten is also responsible for the national residency network SWAN – Swedish Artist Residency Network. On Wednesday, a crisis meeting was arranged for the network, in which other actors also participated. There was a large turnout from all over Sweden, artist-run residencies, regions, municipalities, TransArtists, ResArtis, Svenska PEN, ICORN, Konsten att delta and the Swedish Artists' Council and others participated. Together, they will mobilize efforts across Sweden.

– We hope that Region Norrbotten can inspire more regions to take the step and allocate funds to support cultural creators from Ukraine, we see it as an important part of defending culture and democratic discourse, says Thomas Vedestig, chairman of the cultural committee.

          
From left: Hanna Isaksson, Tomas Vedestig and Goncalo Marques.

Want to know more?

Welcome to contact

Hanna Isaksson, Director of the Resource Center for Art, Norrbotten Region
Convening Program Council SWAN
hanna.isaksson@norrbotten.se, 072 – 562 47 55

Tomas Vedestig, Chairman of the Regional Development Committee, Norrbotten Region
Tomas.vedestig@norrbotten.se, 070 - 203 35 23

Goncalo Marques, Northern Sustainable Futures
info@northernsustainablefutures.com, + 46 73 985 13 24