Location: Itaparica, Brazil (island)

Mission: The Instituto Sacatar operates a residency program for creative individuals in all disciplines at its estate on the Island of Itaparica in the Bay of All Saints, across from the city of Salvador, Bahia, Brazil. The purpose of Instituto Sacatar is to provide artists a place to live and create, generate opportunities for artists to interact and collaborate with the local and regional community, enhance the visibility and cultural impact of the host city and nation, encourage art that returns us to where art began — to a wordless silence before all of creation.

Cost: Reimbursement for roundtrip airfare between the artist’s closest international airport and Salvador, Bahia, Brazil, paid room and board. The Fellowships do not include a stipend.

Number of Artists: Up to 2 visual artists, 5 residents possible at a time

Accommodations: A private bedroom with attached bath, separate studio, all meals (except on Saturday night, all day Sunday and holidays). They have separate studio spaces for every Fellow, distinct from his or her bedroom suite. All of the studios are simple rooms that can easily be adapted for other disciplines. They have five studios and a woodworking shop clustered around the coconut grove facing the ocean. Two of these studios, measuring 6.0m x 6.0m, are open-air, designed primarily for visual artists, with ample wall space, work sinks and private internal gardens.  The wind and the birds can enter these studios freely. A third studio (5.0m x 5.0m), reserved primarily for writers, is raised on stilts, offering panoramic ocean views. In 2010, they added two additional studios, one specifically for dance and theater (with a primitive sprung floor, 5.0m x 12.0m plus dressing room) and the other for musicians and composers (4.5m x 10.0m).  While the composer’s studio is not soundproof or acoustically isolated, it is located at the furthest corner of the property, where musicians are less likely to disturb the other Fellows.  In addition, there are two studios in the main residential house. One measures 6.0m x 8.0m, and the other 3.5m x 5.0m, both with ceilings 3.60 meters high. Only the smaller of these two studios has a sink.

Length of Stay: variable

Demographic: The Instituto Sacatar sponsors residencies for highly-qualified individuals in all creative pursuits. While they sometimes use the word ‘artist,’ they interpret ‘creativity’ in the broadest possible sense.  They seek creative individuals of all backgrounds, without regard to race, creed, national origin, sex, age, sexual orientation, marital status, ancestry, disability or HIV status.

As of January 2011, the Instituto Sacatar has hosted 188 artists from 42 countries.  The youngest was 21; the oldest, 83.  The average age of all Sacatar Fellows is 40 years old.  They have hosted artists with a diversity of disabilities: paraplegic, quadraplegic, deaf, etc.

Benefits: The Instituto arranges for theaters, exhibition spaces, classrooms, etc., both on the island and in Salvador, and we will help find collaborators, musicians, students, actors and other volunteers to realize project proposals.  Wages on the island are low and some artists also contract studio assistants at a daily wage. Wi-Fi is provided at the center. Woodworking shop on location.

Deadline: They will announce the deadline for submissions to the next Sacatar Open Selection Process in 2013 for residency Fellowships to be awarded in 2014 and beyond.

Website