AiR Program
The Artists in Residency program is run year-round by the Kamel Lazaar Foundation, with the support of Community Art Network, Porticus Foundation, and the Segal Family Foundation, in close dialogue with a network of international partners.
Residencies are awarded through open calls and selected by an international jury of artists, curators, and cultural practitioners. This process ensures both the diversity of artistic trajectories represented and the relevance of the practices supported. Taken together, the residencies reflect the geographic and thematic breadth of the Global Majority and affirm the legitimacy of its voices within contemporary artistic discourse.
Open to visual arts, literature, poetry, curatorial practice, music, and the performing arts, the program offers artists time removed from immediate production demands. It is designed to support research, experimentation, and sustained engagement with the questions shaping contemporary practice.
Exchange among resident artists is central to the program, as is engagement with the local community of Utica. Through school workshops and open-studio days, residents and visitors are invited into direct contact with artistic processes—gestures, materials, and ways of working. These encounters help to open cultural spaces locally while enriching the social and human dimensions of the artists’ projects.
Artists are also encouraged to explore the wider Tunisian cultural landscape. Visits to exhibitions, artists’ and artisans’ studios, museums, and archaeological sites are regularly organized. These encounters often lead to unexpected connections and collaborations that continue well beyond the residency period.