NB! Would you like to apply for this residency? Go back to Residency (international) for the terms and conditions, assessment and checklist for your application.
The Mondriaan Fund and the Creative Industries Fund (het Stimuleringsfonds) jointly offer two residency periods in the Japanese porcelain region of Saga. The work period in Japan offers promising artists and designers the opportunity to conduct artistic and technical research and to develop their own work, resulting in close interaction with the region’s porcelain products. A significant aspect of this residency is to learn special techniques within Japan’s oldest ceramics industry, and to apply these techniques in the artist’s own work.
The residency is designed to stimulate crossovers and experimentation, to initiate new collaborations between Dutch artists and designers, and to trigger new Japanese porcelain products. English speaking local coordinating staff is available for a few hours a week to help the residents with meetings at the potteries and to deal with other practical concerns. A Japanese guide is also available to assist the residents and help them find their way in the Saga prefecture of which the city of Arita is part. The experiences and results from the residency are shared in lectures and/or workshops in Arita, and subsequently in the Netherlands. The selected artists bring new perspectives with the hope of opening up possibilities for future collaboration with local porcelain producers and craftsmen.
Per period, an artist and designer are selected to work in Arita. Each resident has their own room in a traditional Japanese house. The living room, bathroom and kitchen are shared.
At the beginning of the work period, the Saga Ceramic Industry Association will link the residents to one of the potteries in Arita. These potteries will provide technical support and help with the firing of the creations. Residents also discuss development plans with the director and coordinators. They link the residents to partner organizations in the Saga ceramics region such as Hizen, Imari and Ureshino.
More information
Arita porcelain and other porcelain from the Saga prefecture are known for their high quality and the focus on hand painting. The porcelain industry and the tradition of porcelain painting dates back to 1616, and is still alive today. Arita is a town in the province of Saga on Kyushu, the third largest of Japan’s main islands.
Hizen ceramics have been known since 1616 and are characterised by their special quality. The potters from Hizen provide technical support, share their knowledge with the artists and help with the baking of the creations.
English speaking local coordinating staff will be on site several days a week to support residents with meetings with the potteries and other practical questions. This coordinator’s assistant also helps participants find their way in and around Saga/Arita.
In 2019, artist Antye Günther and the artist duo Heringa/Van Kalsbeek worked in Arita. The artists Tilmann Meyer-Faje, Isabel Ferrand, Henri Jacobs, Ruta Butkute de Roo, Susan Kooi and Helen Frik all previously stayed at the residence.
For whom
The residency is only open to individual visual artists, who should apply via the Mondriaan Fund. The artists are not strictly required to have experience working with ceramics or porcelain, but a practical understanding is highly recommended. It is not possible to apply as a duo.
Work periods
There are 2 work periods available:
- 1 June 2026 – 31 August 2026
- 15 September 2026 – 15 December 2026
Applicants are asked to state their preference for a work period on the application form. Every effort will be made to honour this preference. Per period there is room for 1 artist.
How much?
The Mondriaan Fund makes a subsidy of € 11.887 available for an artist to help cover travel expenses, material costs (other supplies related to your own research and experiences) and living costs. This sum is intended for 1 person. In addition, the selected resident is expected to pay a 10% personal contribution. The Mondriaan Fund automatically takes this into account in their ultimate subsidy, you do not need to do anything.
The contribution to artists based in the Caribbean part of the Kingdom can be increased to meet any higher travel costs. This is looked at per situation.
Please note! This application must be submitted in English.
Application
The deadline for submitting an application for a work period in 2026 is Thursday 11 September 2025 before 16.00 (Dutch time zone) / 11.00 (Caribbean time zone)
Before submitting an application, please see the Residency page for the terms and conditions, application procedure and assessment procedure.
Please also read the terms and conditions applicable to Mondriaan Fund contributions.
Selection
The advisory committee selects the candidates based on the submitted documents. This committee comprises advisors from the Creative Industries Fund and the Mondriaan Fund. All applicants will be jointly assessed and selected. A representative of Creative Residency Arita will participates in the meeting.*
*Please note! Be aware that the processing time for this selection procedure may exceed three months
When you apply for two different residencies within the same call then the quality and development of your oeuvre/(professional) practice and the quality of your cultural entrepreneurship as the artist, curator or viewer is only assessed once. This assessment is therefore valid for both applications.
Other grants for residencies in the Netherlands and other countries
Because only 1 or 2 residents can be selected for any given residency during each application round, it is inevitable that many will be disappointed. For this reason, we point out that it is also possible to apply for an Artist Project at a different residency location. The specific Artist Project residency applied for may not be one of those already being offered in the Mondriaan Fund application rounds.