R|Artist Residency

March - June 2026

R|Artist Residency: Think Big invites regional artists residing in areas hosting Brisbane 2032 Olympic Games events to imagine bold, large-scale works that share their region’s stories with national and international audiences.

Open to artists at all career stages, this residency will support you to think beyond traditional presentation formats and to pursue ambitious ideas at scale that consider place and impact. The residency will support creative practices that engage communities, explore ecological narratives, and elevate regional stories to a global audience.

About

This residency is delivered with support from the Creative Ecologies Research Cluster (CERC) at UniSC, providing artists with opportunities to explore the role of creative technologies within the project.

The residency is concept-focused rather than outcome-driven. This is not about producing a finished work; it is about experimenting with ideas to develop a well-articulated concept and delivery plan to be presented at the conclusion of the residency.

Purpose

The residency is intended to contribute to the building of a pipeline of ambitious, internationally scaled artistic projects positioned for presentation within a major global event.

Objectives

The residency encourages artists to explore:

How their arts practice can engage with a global event and generate new opportunities
Their role in showcasing their region’s stories to national and international audiences
How artistic work can be scaled to stand out within a global event and engage substantial audiences.

Artists will be encouraged to develop concepts for works that:

Tell the stories of their region(s), and/or
Meaningfully engage audiences in place.

Collaboration between artists, including those from different regions, will be actively encouraged. Program requirements will remain flexible to allow the residency to fit the needs of the selected artist(s).

Support and Resources

The residency includes:

Artist fee: $10,000
Project budget: $5,000 contribution to production and travel costs
UniSC will contribute to mentoring and access to creative technologies

This residency is designed as a flexible, hybrid program. The residency timeframe may include periods of remote creative development, enabling artists to work from home or online, on research, conceptual development, experimentation, and digital production. The residency may also incorporate field-based activity, including site visits, place-based research, community engagement, and creative development in relevant locations. In addition, the residency may include on-campus engagement at the University of the Sunshine Coast (UniSC) with the Creative Ecologies Research Cluster experimenting with creative technologies.

Application Process

R|Artist Residency: Think Big is by application. Applications close Monday, 16 February 2025 at midnight.

Applications must include:

Completed application form
2 page artist CV
Examples of previous work provided as a PDF.

What are we looking for?

Applications will be assessed based on the following criteria →

Merit
The vision of the project concept and the capacity of the artist to realise this concept and engage creative specialists and collaborators.

Clarity
The application demonstrates a clear process for delivering the project and an understanding of how they can use the resources available through the residency to evolve or extend their practice.

Impact
Potential for the residency to impact the artist’s practice and their capacity to engage audiences in new ways.

Program fit
Project alignment with the level of resources and support on offer.

Eligibility

The opportunity will be open to regionally-based artists residing in areas hosting 2032 Brisbane Olympic Games events. Games Independent Infrastructure and Coordination Authority (GIICA) has identified the following places as hosting venues: