STILLS & VERZASCA FOTO RESIDENCY 2024

Verzasca Foto Festival in Sonogno 2023 (photo: Florian Spring)

Stills is delighted to be joining-up with Verzasca Foto, Switzerland to invite applications from Scotland-based photographers for the Stills & Verzasca Foto Residency 2024 supported by the Wilhelmina Barns-Graham Trust.

Applications are now closed.

The successful applicant will spend 3 weeks in the Verzasca Valley, Switzerland in June 2024 for the research and development of their practice. They will return for the main events of the Verzasca Foto Festival in August/September 2024 and have the opportunity to share their work with public audiences and international visitors to the festival. On completion of their residency, they will present an illustrated talk on their work at Stills in Edinburgh.

Verzasca Foto was established in 2013 and is an annual festival and year-round residency programme in the Verzasca Valley, Switzerland. http://www.verzascafoto.com

The international residency programme hosts photographers from around the world and was set up to promote emerging international photographers and to support visual arts in rural and peripheral areas, by providing free space through connection and dialogues with nature, offering access to different forms of expression and ways of visual storytelling.

Residency comprises:
-A 21 day stay in the Verzasca Valley, Switzerland in June 2024 and an additional 7 day stay in late August/early September 2024 for one person.
-Accommodation in the Verzasca Valley.
-Funding for return travel from Scotland to Switzerland, local travel in the Verzasca Valley and a daily per diem.
-On-hand support and advice from the Verzasca Foto team and staff from Stills, Edinburgh.
-Opportunities to make new international connections and to meet key people from the Swiss photography sector.
-Opportunities for public presentations in Verzasca and Edinburgh.

Bego Anton exhibition (photo: Arguiñe Escandón)

Who is this residency for?:
The aim of this residency is to support a photographer based in Scotland by providing them with time and an inspirational context from which they can research and develop their work. Stills is committed to becoming an organisation that is truly representative of the growing diversity of Scotland today. We welcome applications from everyone regardless of age, sex, race, religion or belief, sexual orientation, gender identity, ethnicity, disability or nationality.

Essential criteria:
-Applicants must be living and working in Scotland at the time of application and duration of the residency.
-Applicants must demonstrate that photography is central to/at the core of their practice.
-Applicants who are at an early stage of their careers* and for whom this opportunity might provide a break-through in their practice.

Desirable criteria:
-Applicants with an idea for a new body of work or for whom this opportunity offers the chance to complete a new body of work.
-Applicants whose work raises awareness to the global climate emergency.

*Whilst we are open to different interpretations, this might include applicants that are within 5 years of graduating from a degree in photography or a related subject; a self-taught photographer who has managed to sustain a practice but has not had a solo exhibition in a public museum or gallery; an applicant that makes a compelling case for how this opportunity would unlock the potential for them to make a break-through in their practice.

To Apply, please send the following to cheryl.connell@stills.org before 9am on Friday 19 January 2024:

-A CV (no more than two pages of A4)
-A cover letter explaining why you are interested in this opportunity and how it will benefit you and your photography practice (no more than one page of A4)
-Up to 6 example images of your work (please include any titles and credits)

We are happy to accept Word, pdf and jpeg files.

Please contact Stills on the above email if you have any questions about the opportunity or to discuss applying in any other formats.

This residency opportunity is supported by funding from Stills and the Wilhelmina Barns-Graham Trust.