Deadline: September 30th (23:59 GMT+3 time zone)

Lithuanian Composers’ Union, together with Druskininkai Artists‘ residency and Culture Moves Europe program, invites artists to apply for the international residency, gathering artists from Austria, Sweden, and Ukraine to compose new works for Jauna muzika contemporary music festival, which will take place in April 2024 in Vilnius.

Description of the residency

In March 28–April 28, 4 composers from Hållnäs, AIR Krems, Inter Arts Center, and Kyiv Contemporary Music Days organizations will live and work in Druskininkai Artists’ Residence house, creating new pieces for the experimental music festival “Jauna muzika”. Launched in 1992, “Jauna Muzika” is one of Lithuania’s oldest arts festivals. It is aimed at artists working with sound as a form of experimental creativity.

Druskininkai resort is located 130 km from Vilnius. Please find more information about the place and accommodation here.

The pieces will be completed in the Music Innovation Study Centre at the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre (Vilnius), which is equipped with 3 acoustically sensitive rooms: an auditorium, a spherical sound recording studio (with a setup designed for high-order ambisonic sound format), a studio editing and control room. The center focuses on digital music technology innovations and synergies for the development of national and international art, science, and study programs. The artist will get all the necessary technical support, as well as assistance at the rehearsals.

The selected artists will get a fixed amount of 25€ per day, as well as a travel allowance of up to 350€ (plus 350€ bonus top-up in case of green mobility: a travel of more than 600km without using airplanes), free accommodation, technical equipment, and mentoring support by composer and sound technology expert Mantautas Krukauskas.

The topic of the festival

“Creativity is not about certain knowledge. It exists wherever human intelligence is actively engaged.” – Ken Robinson (author, speaker, and international advisor on education in the arts).

Inspired by this idea, the theme of the upcoming festival is “Genesis.” The festival will explore the notions of creation, creativity, and the creative process as a whole, emphasizing that creativity transcends established norms and rigid knowledge. The creative process emerges through experimentation and interaction with the world, closely intertwined with its surrounding context. The outcomes of this process can reflect, contemplate, predict, and make sense of everything the artist encounters.

The festival days will be divided into sub-themes that reflect the entire artistic creation process. The subject of the festival‘s opening concert, to which the open call is announced, is Movement / Process. 

The duration of new pieces should be up to 20 minutes.

Terms, conditions, selection process

The applicants could be artists, working with sound, experimental, and electroacoustic music, as well as interdisciplinary art in various artistic formats (with videos, installations, etc.)

In the case of the call by Inter Arts Center, the applicant must hold a Swedish Citizenship or live in Sweden; and be (or have been in the past) affiliated with Inter Arts Center (for example, having a project there) or Lund University.

All applicants must have a degree in music/composition and/or art or experience equal to it.

The application should be written in English and include a pdf consisting of the following: 

1. A description of the preliminary idea of the piece, or method of working;

2. CV and portfolio with 3-5 audio links.

All application material, except for the work samples, should be gathered in one final pdf document and send to info@iac.lu.se  Title in subject field: Lithuanian Residency Application

For inquiries: alessandro.perini@iac.lu.se

The jury will consist of Druskininkai Artist’s Residency and other counterparts‘ representatives. 

Evaluation criteria include creativity, relation to the festival concept of 2024, and diversity. 

The deadline for the application is September 30, 23:59 GMT+3 time zone