Author: Stella Mousain

#Residency #Research #Creation

This Call for Applications is part of Event 25 – Living trails, led by M28 – Terres de culture.

Preamble

As part of their respective experimental and cross-sectoral initiatives, and on the occasion of Event 25 –Living trails, Catfarm and the association Montpellier 2028 – Terres de culture are launching the residency call “Learning to Be – The Art of Community Life”.

Since 2012, Catfarm has been developing a social innovation project—an international community space dedicated to collective living in harmony with the environment. Officially an NGO since 2018, Catfarm aims to design and inspire a regenerative lifestyle through permaculture, art and experimentation.

The Catfarm project is structured around three core pillars:

• Community: working and living together with a dynamic based on sharing, love, respect, and mutual understanding,
• Creativity: using art and informal methods to find new responses to current challenges,
• Sustainability: living off-grid while considering ecological impact to reduce the footprint on the planet.

Through non-formal education, training, workshops, and community life, Catfarm offers a space for curious individuals to explore and develop new ways of achieving positive results with limited resources.

The Montpellier 2028 Association was created by the cities of Montpellier, Sète, and several local authorities to support a joint bid for the title of European Capital of Culture. This effort leveraged culture as a driver for an ambitious territorial transformation policy. This initial phase spurred a long-term strategy, enabling the co-construction of a territorial project involving many partners from economic, educational, and social sectors.

Building on this momentum and facing future challenges, Montpellier 2028 now seeks to capitalize on the dynamic initiated by the bid process to continue joint actions across the territory by:

• Providing a shared framework that transcends existing administrative boundaries and aims to transform the region through culture, in line with the Montpellier and partners’ bid for European Capital of Culture,
• To create a space for experimentation with new artistic forms and collaborations around the day-to-day problems of local residents and the major issues affecting the area,
• Take an experimental and cross-sectoral approach,
• Support joint projects, document them and give them shared visibility.

As part of this, a major cultural event, Living trails, will take place from September 26 to October 5, 2025, following a year of residencies and experimentation.

The residency “Learning to Be – The Art of Community Life” accompanied by the Catfarm team allows an artist to develop a territory-based project, in an artistic creation process connected to the living world, in the heart of an eco-built space near the medieval town of Poussan.

This residency is envisioned as a catalyst to support the immersion and welcoming of an artist into an intentional community. The artist is invited to create a work in resonance with the regenerative, life-respecting, and nature-connected lifestyle experienced at Catfarm. The project may highlight personal empowerment, environmental sustainability, social mutual aid, and the transition toward an ecologically and socially resilient society.

The artist will be supported by the local project team (a representative of the Art Circle, living on-site, and an artist intermediary who works outside of Catfarm but will be available to provide presence and support during the residency) and a representative from Montpellier 2028 – Terres de culture.

General conditions of the residency

Expected Artistic Fields

Experiential Design; Serious Games; Art Games; Participatory Narrative Games

The research component of the residency includes time for amateur artistic practices with Catfarm residents. The creation component requires a final presentation as part of Event 25 –Living trails.

Duration and Hosting Conditions

Four weeks of experimentation and creation, during which the artist will have access to the site and support from the local team.
Accommodation, if required, is provided by Catfarm as follows: a private space within Catfarm, consisting of a 19m² tent set on a fixed platform, with access to shared sanitary facilities.
Meals are also provided by Catfarm: three meals per day. Meals are important communal moments at Catfarm, and the artist may be invited to contribute to meal preparation.
Catfarm’s team will also help facilitate local transportation.

Creation Grant

The residency includes a grant of €5000, which covers the artist’s fee and travel expenses to and from Poussan (or Sète train station).
A formal agreement will be signed between Montpellier 2028, Catfarm, and the artist.

Dates

As part of Event 25 –Living trails, the Catfarm team will host the artist for a four-week residency between June 30 and August 1^st, 2025.

Terms and conditions

• Open to artists of all ages and nationalities.
• The artist must be able to communicate in English, which is the most widely spoken language at Catfarm (currently home to residents of 11 different nationalities).
• The artist is invited to experiment and create in resonance with the residency site and the broader Event 25 –Living trails context.
• Applications must be individual*.
• The selected artist must commit to being on-site for four consecutive weeks within the given dates.
• The residency will include collaborative time with Catfarm residents.
• The artist should include in their proposal:
  – An interim public event at Catfarm (July) featuring amateur artistic practices.
  – A final presentation on Tuesday, September 30, 2025, during Event 25.

* In the case of a joint application (max. 2 artists), the final presentation for Event 25 must be a shared project.

Final Presentation

Catfarm, with support from Montpellier 2028 – Terres de culture, will organize the main presentation during Event 25 –Living trails.

Application

Application packages must include:

• an up-to-date biography and portfolio featuring the most relevant references,
• a statement of intent outlining the artist’s motivation for this residency, with particular attention to the criteria detailed in this call (max. 2 pages).

The application package may not exceed 5 pages.

All documents, not exceeding 20MB, must be submitted in PDF format using the following filenames: “LASTNAME_PORTFOLIO/BIO_CATFARM_E25” and “LASTNAME_STATEMENT_CATFARM_E25” send to both of the following addresses: community@catfarm.net and contact@montpellier2028.eu

Please include the following information in the body of your email, without exception and in this order: Last name, First name, City, Phone number, Website, and Social media (if applicable).


Deadline for applications: extended to May 23, 2025 (inclusive)

Download the Call for applications

The jury will deliberate on May 28, 2025.

18 h 00

“LET’S TALK ABOUT TOMORROW – Act, connect and celebrate with the living world“

This series of monthly meetings is part of Event 25 – Living trails. The aim of these meetings is to bring together professionals and members of the public involved in the M28 approach and to share ideas on M28 themes.

One Monday a month, two guest speakers – artists, researchers or project leaders – are invited to discuss thematic issues at the Hôtel d’Aurès in Montpellier, the beating heart of M28.

Reaching out to audiences #5

Monday 7 April 2025 at 6pm at the Hôtel d’Aurès in Montpellier on the theme of “Reaching out to the public”, with Elise Armentier and Julien Audemard.

Free admission, subject to availability

Elise Armentier

Elise Armentier is co-director of the Bouillon cube association based in Causse-de-la-Selle, a small village of 400 inhabitants in the heart of the Grand Pic Saint-Loup. Some 40 kilometres from Montpellier, the rocky terrain of Causse-de-la-Selle is home to La Grange, a rural third-party centre bustling with activity.
Bouillon cube has occupied the premises since the association was founded nearly 20 years ago, transforming this old stone farmhouse into a rural territory factory. The site is steeped in history and has undergone a number of transformations over the centuries, from silkworm farm to glassworks, farmhouse to manor house, and is now developing all kinds of original activities: concerts, artists’ residencies, European exchanges, workshops for young people, third-centre facilities, etc.
Bouillon cube is a structure that asserts its singularity and cultural identity by being firmly rooted in its local area, and by taking a popular education approach. Co-directed by Clayre Pitot and a group of volunteers, this social, cultural and economic project combines work, quality of life and human ties to serve the territory and its residents.

Julien Audemard

Julien Audemard is a university lecturer and researcher in political science at the CEPEL (CNRS, UMR5112) and the University of Montpellier. His research focuses on cultural practices and policies in France and Europe. He is also a specialist in the localised analysis of politics, quantitative survey methods and statistical analysis.
In particular, he worked on the 2018 survey of French cultural practices. He has taken part in several research projects on the territorial impact of festivals in mainland France and Guadeloupe. He was a member of the UNCHARTED project, funded by the European Commission, on the social values of culture. He is the author of a book on Cultural meeting centres (Faire Label, published in 2025 by Éditions de l’Attribut) and another on festival dynamics in France (Création et disparition des festivals en France, to be published next June by Presses de Sciences Po).