Hosted by Pikene på Broen, artist-in-residency program is open to artists of all genres along with musicians, architects, researchers and curators who are interested in exploring the Barents borderland in transition – an area which is a gateway to Russia, a crossroad for political decisions in the Arctic and a laboratory for creative solutions to economic, cultural and social challenges in the border region.

The program facilitates artistic research of the region and is aimed at new art production and creating new stories about the High North.  Through the residency, artists gain insights into and work with the issues that are locally rooted but at the same time have global relevance.

A.i.R. Programme is mobile and residencies may take place in different towns and locations within the Barents Region depending on a project needs.

Residencies may be individual or workshop-based, aimed at collaborative multidisciplinary productions that may eventually be shown at the Barents Spektakel festival or other events arranged by Pikene på Broen.

Pikene på Broen, a company of art curators and producers Kirkenes, aims at creating meeting places and build bridges across geographical borders and across art genres. They call their projects “Border-Crossing Exercises” and invite artists, musicians, architects, researchers, politicians and the wider public to join these exercises.

A.i.R. Programme was started in 2004 and is by invitation from Pikene på Broen only. The program is supported by BarentsKult, the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Finnmark, Troms and Nordland counties and the Sør-Varanger municipality.