Baltic|States Residency Open Call
Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art, Gateshead and Narva Art Residency (NART) in Estonia are pleased to announce a residency opportunity at NART as part of the Baltic|States Residency Exchange Programme which supports emerging artists and curators from the UK, Lithuania, Estonia and Latvia.
The Baltic|States Residency Exchange Programme enables artist and curator research and professional development through a series of supported residencies, studio visits, curator study visits and commissions at Baltic, Gateshead and partner venues in the Baltic region. The programme builds relationships through cross-cultural exchange connecting artists, arts professionals and institutions. Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art, named after the Baltic Sea, was a former flour mill housing grain from the Baltic region, and the North East has long established trading routes with the Baltic countries.
Participants are invited to respond to the current shifting geopolitical landscape in Europe and develop work that explores borders, identity, citizenship and belonging. They are also encouraged to find points of connection between the Baltic region and the North East of England, building networks with the artistic communities and creating dialogue that transcends borders and geographies at a time of rapid social and political change.
The residencies offer opportunities for participants to meet artists, curators and arts professionals and visit arts spaces in the host city (depending on location). During their residency, participants are invited to share their research and experiences with the wider public through an event or workshop.
Artists who have participated in residencies as part of the Baltic|States programme at Baltic and partner venues include Andrius Arutiunian, Susie Green, Maria Kapajeva, Jordan Edge (Kiik Amor) and Kristina Õllek.
For the second year, Baltic has partnered with NART to support a North East-based emerging artist to spend a month in residence in Narva, Estonia in November/December 2025. Narva is located on the Estonian-Russian international border and is Estonia’s third largest city.
The residency is supported with an artist’s fee of £2,000, a travel bursary of £500 and a studio live/work space at NART with a private toilet/shower. In addition to meeting other artists and curators in the NART community, artists are invited to make interactive, socially engaged, and/or community-based work which is also relevant to the locals of Narva. The engagement can be an event, a workshop, or the showing of a final work, but even better if the engagement is already intertwined into the process of art-making itself. For more information click here.
The residency will take place from 24 November – 21 December 2025.
Deadline for applications: 7 September 2025 23:59.
Eligibility
· You must be based in the North East of England (County Durham, Northumberland, Teesside or Tyne and Wear)
· You must be available to undertake the residency at NART from 24 November – 21 December 2025.
Submitting your Application
As part of the application we will ask for:
· A covering statement (500 words max.) telling us about your work, and how this residency opportunity will benefit you, also what interests you about the distinct location of this residency
· A recent or updated CV or biography
· Examples of your work, these can be attached as files (up to six images of your work or a video/audio extract, no longer than two minutes) or an online portfolio/website
· Submittable accepts text, audio and visual media. This means you can use the format most accessible to you. You can upload your statement and/or your CV as an audio or video file.
Further to Baltic’s Equal Opportunities Statement, your personal details from the Submittable form and your responses to the Equality Monitoring Questionnaire will not be seen by the shortlisting panel. This means we can make the selection based only on how this opportunity will benefit your practice. In addition, we would ask that in your statement and CV/biography, you do not include any personal information which identifies any personal characteristic, for example your age, title, name, e-mail address, home address, nationality details, immigration status, dates of examinations.
You can also send your application by post, please do not send original artwork, applications will not be returned:
Baltic|States Residency 2025
BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art
Gateshead Quays
South Shore Road
Gateshead NE8 3BA
Shortlisting will take place mid-September and the successful artist will be notified by 26 September 2025. Due to the expected high volume of applications, we may not be able to give individual feedback.
Access Requirements for the Residency
If you have any access requirements or would require step-free access to take part in this opportunity please e-mail states@balticmill.com
About the Partner Institution
Narva Art Residency (NART) is a cultural platform founded in 2015. It facilitates residencies, art exhibitions, talks and educational workshops. It is located in Narva city on the Estonian-Russian border on the historical Kreenholm site. The international artist-in-residency programme is open for artists operating across a wide range of disciplines, including visual arts, music, performance, architecture, design, film, literature, curatorial practices and more. It generates creative exchange between practitioners and strengthens links with the local community. NART is located at the historicist villa, which was originally built for the director of Kreenholm Textile Manufacture. In close proximity stand the vacant factory buildings that once formed the largest enterprise of its kind in Europe in the mid-nineteenth century.
FURTHER INFORMATION
You can watch a tour of NART here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=avOYADrNMBY
You can view the Easy Read Guide here.
Respecting Your Privacy and Safeguarding Your Data
Baltic is committed to upholding your privacy and taking care of your personal data. This declaration outlines what, why and how Baltic collects and stores your personal data securely in compliance with the General Data Protection Regulation (May 2018).
As part of your application we request personal data from you to allow Baltic to evaluate your application, and to communicate with you about your submission. This data will not be shared with any third parties or transferred without your explicit consent.
The application data is collected and stored on a third party platform called Submittable. This data may be downloaded to assist with the evaluation process; if downloaded it will be stored on Baltic’s secure servers.
Personal data of unsuccessful candidates will be deleted from Submittable once the selection has concluded; data of successful candidates will only be stored for a maximum of six months unless there is a legitimate interest to do so. Baltic’s Library & Archive may retain some data for archival purposes if of cultural significance.
The Submittable form asks for your contact details, a covering statement (500 words max.), a CV or biography upload, examples of your recent work (up to six images of your work, or a video/audio extract no longer than two minutes), or an online portfolio/website) and equal opportunities information.