Our Residencies

The purpose of the Goethe-Institut’s residency programmes is to provide a "space for new perspectives", wherein artists and cultural workers have the opportunity to live and work in another country and another culture for an extended period of time. Especially in the era of globalization, cultural workers find it particularly inspiring, freed momentarily from economic concerns, to anchor their work to a specific location, where they can pursue their projects and develop or deepen lasting work relationships.

Our worldwide programmes are not focused on artists alone, but are also open to translators, curators, and scholars. Our goal is to encourage young talents, help get them established in the local cultural scene and to assist with networking. The Goethe-Institut is a cultural mediator; the aim of its programmes and projects is to encourage international cooperation and understanding. Particularly by enabling longer stays abroad, the program makes it possible for artists to deeply immerse themselves in another culture. The personal encounters that have grown from the program have proven invaluable for long-term international cooperation and the promotion of intercultural dialogue.

Cultural exchanges worldwide

Our programmes are not only designed for artists from Germany. The Goethe-Institut also offers artists and cultural workers from abroad the opportunity to immerse themselves for a period of time in German culture. Whether participating in the European translator programme, "Translating Books ‒ Building Bridges" in Dresden-Hellerau and the Center Gut Siggen in Schleswig-Holstein; with bi-national exchange programmes such as: the "Bronner Residency" ‒, an artist exchange between North Rhine-Westphalia and Tel Aviv; or the Scholars-in- Residence programme, which enables tandem teams of young international scholars in the humanities, cultural studies and social sciences to focus on specific themes such as "Culture and Climate Change" or "Culture and Public Space."

There are numerous formats ‒ and the wide variety of offers remains a central feature of the residency programmes. In collaboration with our partners, we develop and organize proposals within the context and circumstances of a specific country.

Residency projects

In addition to our regular programmes ‒ which can be found under Residencies around the Globe ‒ the Goethe-Institut initiates and organizes numerous projects around specific special events. A good example of this is the City Writer Projects (Stadtschreiberprojekte) organized annually during the Frankfurt Book Fair in collaboration with the network of literary institutions (literaturhaus.net) and partners from the guest of honor country. Writers from Germany and the guest country are invited to travel for four to six weeks within the respective country and blog about their experiences and encounters.

A very special intercultural dialogue took place in 2009, during the German-Argentine Writers Project "Rayuela". Unexpectedly, the conversation among ten authors revolved around the role of dogs. In the blog, you can read about the central importance of dogs in Argentine and German culture and society.

"More spaces for new perspectives"

Visits to other countries are always inspiring; the influence of other cultures is both fascinating and unpredictable. The Goethe-Institut accompanies the fellows on their journey and supports them as they immerse themselves in another culture. The impulses created by such a stay have long lasting effects. The dance scholar Franz Anton Cramer, who was one of the first participants in the newly opened artists' residence in Kyoto at the Villa Kamogawa in 2011, sums up his stay in Japan with the following words:

"In Kyoto, the distance between one’s habitual patterns and the influence of the environment is particularly great. But out of this gap, one gains more space for new perspectives."