Green Residencies 2025-2026: A New Impetus for Eco-Responsible Artistic Creation

Are you a professional performing or visual artist who wants to rethink your practice from an ecological perspective? Find out more about the Green Residencies 2025-2026 call for projects from the French Ministry of Culture’s Direction générale de la création artistique, which we support as part of our Art, Science and Society program. You have until Sunday, September 14, 2025 to apply!

A device for thinking and creating differently in a context of ecological upheaval

Faced with the intensification of environmental crises and the scarcity of resources, our society is embarking on a major ecological transition. Like all actors, artists have a role to play in reducing their impact. Adapting their practices also means strengthening their resilience to future changes. In addition, through their territorial roots, they actively contribute to changing representations and supporting collective transformations.

In the wake of the Orientation and Inspiration Guide for the Ecological Transition, the Directorate General for Artistic Creation (DGCA) has initiated the Green Residencies as a lever for innovation and adaptation. This program aims to reduce the ecological impacts of creation, encourage new sustainable practices and strengthen the capacity of artists to adapt to future changes, while providing them with spaces for research, experimentation and dialogue with ecological experts.

A residency to transform artistic practices in contact with territories

A Green Residency is a time of research and experimentation led by an artist or a collective in conjunction with a professional in the ecological transition and a place of reception. Together, they explore new ways of producing, disseminating, conceiving or even thinking about artistic work from an ecological perspective: materials, mobility, creative process, impact on living things, etc.
The duration of the residency is equivalent to a minimum of 6 months, continuously or discontinuously, over a period of 6 to 12 months.
This residency does not necessarily imply the production of a work, but must give rise to a restitution on the territory concerned as well as to a documentation of the practices developed. The scheme promotes co-construction between the actors involved and encourages the territorial anchoring of each project.

In 2023-2024, an experiment with green residences was carried out, during which 6 projects were selected in 5 regions, including one in the overseas territories.

Eligibility and support for projects

Applications are open to professional performing or visual artists with at least 5 years’ experience, excluding students. Eligible disciplines include music, dance, theater, circus, visual arts, design, photography, etc. The project must be located in France and supported by at least one artist and one of the two required co-sponsors (host venue or ecological transition professional). A production-distribution structure is also required if the venue does not have one.

Each selected project will be able to benefit from financial support of up to €20,000, with at least 50% of this amount earmarked for the artist’s remuneration. The submission procedures and useful links will be available on the website of the Ministry of Culture.

If you have any questions about artist residencies for ecological creation, you are invited to contact the advisor of your DRAC/DAC/DCJS, whose contacts can be found on the directory of the Ministry of Culture.

Calendar

• 14 September 2025: closing of applications;
• End of October 2025: pre-selection of projects;
• October 2025 – January 2026: incubation period for selected projects, intended to refine partnerships and formalize residencies;
• 31 January 2026: submission of finalised applications;
• February-March 2026: final selection and announcement of the winners.

Credits: Mirabaudouce efflorescence minérale