Catalyst Residency with Create & Fire Station Artists’ Studios 2026

Catalyst Residency, offered in partnership between Create and Fire Station Artists’ Studios (FSAS), offers a collaborative socially engaged artist from a minoritised ethnic background a one-month residency in Dublin 1 during June 2026 (2 – 30 June). The residency is intended as an artist-led incubation period which allows them to develop their practice and their networks with targeted support from the residency partners. The deadline for this residency is the 7th April 2026.

About the Partnership and Catalyst Residency

In 2018, Create and the Fire Station Artists’ Studios formed a unique partnership to offer Catalyst Residency as part of the Artist in the Community Scheme, managed by Create, and the range of residencies offered by FSAS. Catalyst Residency is aligned with both Create and FSAS’s long standing commitment to collaborative, socially engaged arts practice, and to supporting communities and artists on the margins of society.

Since 2018, Catalyst Residency has opened a dedicated space for Create and FSAS to work with and support artists from minoritised ethnic backgrounds. Each year, Catalyst Residency responds to the specific needs of successful candidates, offering skills and opening relevant networks across the arts sector.

Catalyst Residency emphasises the opportunity for the recipient to develop their artistic practice. The residency offers artists the opportunity to be mentored by a range of practitioners; it is designed to enable the successful candidate to step away from their everyday responsibilities and to instead immerse themselves in a dedicated period of reflection, mentoring, peer-to-peer conversation and strategic networking.

We invite expressions of interest from artists who:

• have a collaborative socially engaged practice or
• who have a strong interest in developing their collaborative socially engaged practice.

What Catalyst Residency offers

Catalyst Residency is artist led, and it will offer a residential living space for up to one month in June 2026 at FSAS in Dublin to facilitate the following:

• an experimental / developmental incubation 1 month period, based in an FSAS apartment
• time to network and engage with the wider field of collaborative socially engaged arts field in Dublin, as identified by the artist
• time to schedule focused work (meetings, research, events) in Dublin
• a space for reflection and planning for future project and partnership development
• an opportunity to engage with Dublin’s vibrant art scene (should the successful candidate live outside Dublin)
• Support from a dedicated Residency Coordinator who will engage with the successful candidate at critical points throughout the residency period, following a preparatory session with Create and FSAS
• A stipend of €1,300, with an additional budget for agreed expenses associated with the residency, for example travel to and from Residency

Please note that this is not a production residency, rather it is an opportunity for learning and unlearning, networking, research and discussion to generate new ideas and perspectives.

What are the expectations and conditions of Catalyst Residency?

• We expect the Residency to be self-directed. Create, FSAS and the Residency Coordinator will organise one meeting with the successful applicant ahead of the residency to scope out the residency plan.
• After that, the artist’s main point of contact will be the Residency Coordinator.
• A final meeting with Create, FSAS and the Residency Coordinator will be organised with the awardee at the end of the residency.
• We are flexible in terms of the approach/use of the space available (i.e. a hybrid approach), however we require applicants to clearly articulate why the residential space, and its particular location, is currently of added value to their practice.
• We invite applicants to reflect on Create and FSAS and how both organisations’ values, programmes, networks and partnerships are relevant to the development of your work.
• We require applicants to provide a clear articulation of their collaborative socially engaged arts practice, the preoccupations of the practice and the methodologies they employ when working with, and alongside, communities.

About FSAS Residential space

Catalyst Residency will take place over four weeks in June, based in Dublin’s FSAS, one of Ireland’s key residency and resource centres for visual arts. The allocated space is not suitable for more than 1 person as a living and working space. As a residential provider, accommodation in FSAS is a major part of the award, and it should be clearly articulated by the applicant why taking up this element is relevant to their current practice (even in a hybrid manner). Accommodation at FSAS includes a studio space with an open plan kitchen/living area, a partitioned-off bedroom and a private bathroom. This is not a wet space studio but has capacity for desk-based work.

Please see the “About FSAS” document, linked on this page, for additional information on the residency space including accessibility, facilities and appliances

How to Apply

1. Read the Guidelines
   A full Guidelines document may be found linked on this page in the weeks before the closing date. You must read the Guidelines in full before advancing to the next step.
2. Prepare your answers
   You will find a REFERENCE ONLY copy of the application form on this page, in the weeks before the closing date. Use this only to prepare your answers, to understand the questions you must answer, and support materials you must provide. Do not use this reference-only version to apply for the scheme. Applications received in this manner will be ineligible.
3. Gather all Supporting Materials
   Information on essential supporting materials is available in the Guidelines document.
4. Complete your application online
   

How can we support you?

We aim to make the application process accessible to all. We provide supports to remove barriers for artist applicants to this Residency. These may include translation from other languages or transcription of audio and video files. We will do everything we reasonably can to assist applicants eligible under the conditions of the Residency. To find out more, please contact Create (info[at]create-ireland.ie) at least 2 weeks in advance of the closing date. If you feel your needs are not outlined here, please contact us and we will do our best to support you.

The residency is funded through the Arts Council of Ireland’s Artist in the Community Scheme managed by Create, and the Fire Station Artists’ Studios funded through the Visual Arts Department of the Arts Council of Ireland.  The award is delivered through a Create and Fire Station Artists’ Studios partnership.