Strong Together Art Residency

Galeria Arsenał in Białystok and the Platform for Interdisciplinary Practice Open Place are combining their expertise to launch a comprehensive program of events. This initiative aims to connect Ukrainian artists, Ukrainian refugees in Białystok, and local residents. Our goal is to provide broad access to educational and artistic processes, create a safe space for interaction and integration, and challenge traditional roles of guest and host, refugee and citizen.

The Strong Together program aims to:

• Support Ukrainian artists by enabling them to continue their artistic practice through the residency program.
• Offer Ukrainian refugees a diverse array of cultural and educational activities tailored to different age groups.
• Implement multicultural integration activities, workshops, and events that are artistic, educational, and interdisciplinary, focusing on engaging with Ukrainian artists in Białystok.
• Test various approaches to cooperation with Ukrainian refugees based on the artistic practices of the resident artists.
• Build trust-based relationships between migrants and cultural institutions while engaging new audiences (Ukrainian artists and the Ukrainian community in Białystok).

The Strong Together program strives to:

• Support Ukrainian refugees by providing a comprehensive cultural and educational program for all age groups, fostering collaboration at multiple levels.
• Offer therapeutic benefits and support to refugees by granting access to new knowledge and self-presentation tools.
• Support Ukrainian artists by offering residencies for them and their families, allowing them to continue their artistic practice, and facilitating connections with artists and the cultural context of Białystok and Poland.

The program is designed for Ukrainian artists engaged in socially conscious practices, as well as Ukrainian refugees in Białystok and the surrounding area, including children, teenagers, adults, and families. We view Ukrainian artists not only as individuals needing support but as potential contributors to local communities and international artistic collaborations. Similarly, we see the target groups of cultural and artistic projects as co-creators, not just recipients.

We expect Ukrainian artists to provide diverse workshops based on their practices and to act as intermediaries between the gallery, its educational and cultural offerings, and Ukrainian refugees. The gallery will offer space for integration, workshops, lectures, presentations, and facilitate meetings between Ukrainian artists and the artistic community of Białystok and Poland. The program will be developed in close collaboration with artists, who will propose cultural and educational events, and with refugees, the primary audience for these events.

Each participating artist will conduct two community workshops and one public presentation of their practice. During each residency period, Ukrainian artists will be offered two trips to explore current and historical cultural phenomena in Białystok and the culture of eastern Poland, as well as two meetings with Polish artists to encourage intercultural exchange.

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The project Сильні Разом/Strong Together is implemented by the Arsenal Gallery in Białystok and the Open Place Platform for Interdisciplinary Practices as part of the “Culture Helps / Культура допомагає” is a project co-funded by the European Union under a dedicated call for proposals to support Ukrainian displaced people and the Ukrainian Cultural and Creative Sectors. The project is a cooperation between Insha Osvita (UA) and zusa (DE).