Residencies 

This programme brings making into the museum, giving artists, designers, performers and creators unprecedented access to world-class arts resources, mentorship, studio space, creative programming and the opportunity to publicly display their work.

Each year, three creatives work for 12 months, full-time, based in a studio space at the V&A South Kensington. Each Adobe Creative Resident is paired with a curatorial mentor who acts as a guide to the collection throughout their time. Residents also work with a designated audience (schools, families or young people) and collaborate with the learning team to expand access to creativity, design and making. The programme ends with a display of their work at V&A South Kensington. Work from the previous year’s Adobe Creative Residents is now part of a free display at the V&A South Kensington until November 2025. More information can be found here.

The Adobe Creative Residency is supported by the Adobe Foundation.

Open calls for the Adobe Creative Residencies 2026 are now open. Information about the open calls and how to apply are available in a number of formats. Please see below.

For information about how to apply in British Sign Language, please watch this video.

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The Victoria and Albert Museum has a rich history of collecting works created by artists who explore the relationship between technology and art. From early mechanical devices to cutting-edge digital experiments, the museum’s collection tells a compelling story of artists who have embraced machines as collaborators in the creative process. As artificial intelligence (AI) become increasingly important tools for contemporary artists, this residency invites digital art and design practitioners to explore the intersections of AI, history, and the future of creative practice.

In 2026, the V&A will showcase the work of trailblazing digital artist Vera Molnar, host its second Digital Art Season, and present new commissions during the Digital Design Weekend, all to celebrate and ask questions about technology, creativity and digital culture. The selected artist will work alongside curators and researchers to investigate AI’s creative potential, its impact on everyday life, and its ethical and social challenges. From how AI shapes decision-making and communication to its role in automation, education, and design, this residency will explore how AI is transforming the world around us.

This residency will be embedded within the V&A’s Schools Programme, inviting students and teachers—including through our national Design Lab Nation network—to take part in hands-on workshops and discussions that critically examine the impact of AI on creativity. We envision that Schools and teachers will be invited to explore key themes such as authorship, collaboration, and the ethical dimensions of AI, drawing on the V&A’s collections and contemporary digital practices. We aim for the resident to support students and teachers in workshops and discussions to consider the potential and challenges of working with AI and how they could embed this within their teaching practice. By engaging with these broader themes, the residency aims to equip students with critical awareness and practical understanding, preparing them to navigate and question the presence of AI in their own lives beyond its artistic applications.

Artificial Intelligence and the Digital World Residency information in British Sign Language here.

Materials shape the way we understand history, function, and creativity. From the malleability of metal to the fragility of ceramics, these materials carry histories of invention, resilience, and transformation. This residency invites an artist or designer working in metalworking or ceramics (or a combination of both), to explore sustainability, recycling, repair, and material storytelling. It is open to practitioners working with recycled materials, experimental restoration techniques, or innovative approaches to material reuse.

Drawing on the V&A’s extensive metal and ceramics collections—spanning historical artefacts, contemporary craft, and industrial design—this residency aims to foster new dialogues around materiality, circularity, and the environmental impact of artistic and functional objects. Artists might explore traditional restoration practices such as kintsugi, experiment with hybrid materials, or investigate the life cycles of these materials in contemporary art and design.

This residency will focus on engaging our Families audience through interactive, hands-on experiences that encourage intergenerational learning. Workshops, demonstrations, and storytelling sessions will invite families to explore the histories of metal and ceramics, experiment with creative repair and recycling techniques, and consider how these materials shape our everyday lives. The resident artist will encourage visitors of all ages to play and reflect on sustainability, craft, and material innovation

Making and Meaning – Mixed Media Residency information in British Sign Language here.

Furniture is more than just functional—it reflects personal identity, culture, and craftsmanship. It can make the user feel invited into a space and at ease, or conversely, alienated and unwelcome. This residency invites artists and designers working with furniture and placemaking to explore new approaches to think about place and how we can adapt and rethink spaces for inclusive creative practices. What furniture interventions can take place in civic spaces, like museums, public gardens, and beyond to make users want to understand, participate and explore? What is needed to make a ‘third space’ for young people?

The V&A’s furniture collection includes significant historical and contemporary examples, from traditional woodworking to radical experiments in material innovation. This residency will focus on furniture and material environments to take up space and place-making, particularly in relation to Young People. Through design, making, and experimentation, artists will be invited to consider how furniture shapes social interactions, identity, communities, and our environments.

This residency will place particular emphasis on engagement with Young People, offering workshops, talks, and hands-on activities that explore design, functionality, and sustainability. The resident will engage with Young People in interactive making sessions, fostering a deeper understanding of craftsmanship and innovation. We also encourage the resident to think about ways of showcasing process that enables visitors to reflect on the future of furniture design, placemaking and material sustainability.

Rethinking Spaces- Furniture and Placemaking Residency in British Sign Language here.

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Information Sessions

To find out more and meet the Residencies Team, please come to an information session either online or at V&A South Kensington. Upcoming information sessions:

Jessica Starns

Inclusive Design Resident
Focus audience: Schools

Jessica is an installation and multidisciplinary artist interested in inclusive design, disability history and rights. Her practice is participatory, collaborative and inclusive with a focus on disability and neurodiversity.

Collections and archival material are a rich source of inspiration and central to Jessica’s practice. She invites social commentary and critique on past societal norms and their impact on people’s lives today. Her work in representation includes exhibiting in the landmark exhibition ‘Nothing About Us Without Us’ at the People’s History Museum and participating in the pioneering project at University College London, ‘Prejudice and Power, Framing Inclusion: AI art response to Burt’s educational standards’ with young people and the Alliance for Inclusive Education.

Jessica is highly experienced in working with institutions to further inclusion and access through public programming. Her work also tackles the infrastructure and systems within organisations to reduce barriers to engagement, ensuring disabled people feel represented and welcomed in public spaces such as The British Museum and Battersea Arts Centre.

As Inclusive Design Resident, Jessica will combine her creative practice, lived experience and her museum participation career using the V&A’s collections to represent how disability enriches our understanding of design. Jessica will research adaptive design and focus on objects created by disabled people for disabled people in the ‘1900 to Now Gallery’ and the Rapid Response collection. She will explore occupational therapy and how people design ‘coping mechanisms’ for themselves.

Jessica will collaborate with the Schools team to create a supportive design studio for children, young people and their support network. She will also draw on her skills and experience as a qualified youth support worker to connect more deeply with her focus audience.

“I shall be researching adaptive design in the V&A collection as well as exploring the design processes within occupational therapy.”

Ciara Neufeldt

Mosaics and Ceramic Tilework Resident
Focus audience: Families

Ciara is a ceramic artist and educator creating objects and installations to bring playfulness and joy into public spaces. For her, joy transcends barriers and is universally relatable. Her practice centres on bringing a moment of joy into everyday life, through her work. Her interventions are functional, tactile and colourful, with the intention of creating inclusion and accessibility to art in our daily environments.

Ciara uses the ‘nerikomi’ technique of layering colourful clays, to dramatic effect by laying over objects and largescale structures, such as furniture, and incorporate her interest in somatic practices, inviting a heightened awareness of the relationship between mind and body to understand areas of discomfort and imbalance. Ciara’s interests lie in exploring how somatic practice can lead to engaging underserved audiences, particularly families, in public spaces.

Her work as an educator and facilitator are integral to her practice in making ceramics an accessible artform and in collaborating with the public to create artworks that serve a social purpose through long-term projects at organisations such as Glasgow Ceramic Studios, Sculpture House in Paisley and in collaboration with local charities.

As Mosaics and Ceramic Tilework Resident, Ciara will collaborate with the Families team. She plans to explore themes of community, care and collective making inspired by the ceramics collections, and mosaics in the fabric of the historic building at V&A South Kensington and at Young V&A at Bethnal Green. She will also research the quilts collection to understand how this process of communal making can inform her making process.

“Joy lies at the core of my practice, acting as a catalyst for what I make and teach. I am eager to explore the histories of objects within the V&A collection which align with this, using it to bring people together through a series of joyful workshops which highlight themes of care and community.”

Michael Akuagwu

Photography Resident
Focus Audience: Young People

Michael is a multimedia artist blending photography and photo-manipulation with a surreal approach to explore themes of self, identity, culture and society. Whilst questioning whether his work fits under an Afro-surrealist context, he uses self-portraiture to highlight contemporary issues through the creation of otherworldly scenes.

As a self-taught creative, Michael has first-hand experience of navigating the creative industries and is passionate about sharing his insight with young people to support them in finding their pathway to a creative career.

He is a co-founder and co-presenter of ‘Rule of Thirds’, a podcast about art, design and culture from the perspectives of three Black-British graphic designers in industry, building a national and international following. He has worked for agencies like Ogilvy and other cultural organisations whilst creating work for brands like HOKA, CASIO and the BBC.

As Photography Resident, Michael will collaborate with the Young People’s team to share his creative process and inspire young people to use self-portraiture as a powerful tool for self-expression.

He plans to begin his research with the documentary photography collection that captures Black British life from the 1950s to the 1990s, treating the Black British photographers in the collection as 'Old Masters'. He will draw inspiration from their work while experimenting with new forms of photography and analogue photo-manipulation. His goal is to reimagine how Black British life today can be captured through his distinctive lens.

"Kerry James Marshall speaks about 'Old Master works' and how their principles informed his practice. That idea has stayed with me, and I’m inspired to create my own collective of 'Old Masters' using the works of Black photographers within the V&A Collection as a foundation."

Meet and learn about our residents with drop-in creative workshops, open studio sessions, and resident-led activities. Aimed at families, young people and schools.

Our Residency programme has hosted a wide range of practitioners since it was established. Watch our films to get a first-hand account of the research and projects that our residents have carried out.