Museum Residencies and Open Studio
Residency studios
The Museum Residency Programme at the V&A gives designers, artists, writers, makers, musicians etc. the extraordinary opportunity to have a studio in the Sackler Centre for arts education or the Ceramics Galleries, normally for six months. Using these studios as a base, Residents have access to the V&A's unique resources including the extensive collections; curatorial and conservation expertise; practical art, design and digital media workshops in the Sackler Centre and experienced educational and outreach staff. Residents use these to develop their careers, carry out research, make new work and acquire or increase their skills in working with the public. Residents hold Open Studios sessions when visitors to the Museum can visit the studios to see for themselves the Residents at work. They also work with a team of museum professionals to contribute to the Learning Programme. This may include workshops, lectures and gallery talks, courses, gallery activities for children or contributing to the V&A website. Their input into these programmes is inspirational for the public and Museum staff alike. Access to the collections can fuel imaginative ideas for activities and events for the Museum's audiences as well as new bodies of work for the Residents.
Find out more about about our Residency Programme on the V&A Channel
How we appoint residents
The V&A specifies a particular area of the collections, or a particular medium which they want the Resident to work in e.g. jewellery, new media, print, textiles, photography etc. Invitations to apply are put on the V&A website and through selected publications and advertising networks inviting practioners to apply to be Resident. The applicant is asked to propose ideas for how they might work with the collections and with the Museum's diverse audiences. A panel of Museum staff and external experts, where appropriate, are brought together to select candidates for interview. If you are interested in applying, please go to our job vacancies page
Open Studios
Appointed Residents open their studios on a regular basis - see What's On for details of current Open Studios. Visitors to the Museum are welcome to drop into the studios during these times, where they can meet the Residents, ask questions about their work, discover how they are using the collections for research and see how their work is progressing. The Open Studios programme enable visitors to witness first hand how practitioners develop their ideas, where they find inspiration, the tools and skills used to make work and process involved in developing an initial idea into a more complete concept.
Current residents
- Design Resident: Julia Lohmann, April - September 2013
- Toshiba Japanese Ceramics Resident: Keiko Masumoto, April - September 2013
Future residents
- Game Designer Resident: Sophia George, October 2013 - March 2014
A gift in your will
You may not have thought of including a gift to a museum in your will, but the V&A is a charity and legacies form an important source of funding for our work. It is not just the great collectors and the wealthy who leave legacies to the V&A. Legacies of all sizes, large and small, make a real difference to what we can do and your support can help ensure that future generations enjoy the V&A as much as you have.
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Buy nowEvent - Open Studio: The Toshiba Japan Ceramics Residency - Keiko Masumoto
Wed 17 April 2013–Sat 22 June 2013
OPEN STUDIO: Visit the Ceramics Residency Studio to watch Keiko Masumoto at work and find out more about her highly skilled making processes and Japanese ceramic trends.
