Western Africa

Co-Cr8 is a four-week experimental cross-disciplinary residency that brings together six artists from various disciplines, including fashion design, photography, painting, textile design, dance, and poetry. The residency is from October to November 2024, in Kaduna, Nigeria, and will include local and international artists.

The Merian Institute for Advanced Studies in Africa (MIASA) invites applications for up to two Artists in Residence for three months each at the University of Ghana (in the Academic Year 2025/2026).

The Creative Europe-funded project CONTESTED DESIRES: Constructive Dialogues (CDCD) is calling for applications from visual artists who are passionate about unravelling colonial legacies and who are based in Tunisia, Ghana, Hungary, Chile, Portugal, Italy, Cyprus, Spain, the Netherlands or the UK.

In 2024 the British Council is launching the Festival Connect Fund, which enables new and innovative ways for connections, mobility, and exchanges and showcases contemporary arts between festivals across Africa and internationally.

The 14th Bamako Encounters – The African Biennale of Photography will be held from 16 November 2024 to 15 January 2025 in Bamako, Mali. This call is open to artists from the African world and its diaspora – photographers and videographers, amateurs or professionals, alone or in groups, with no limit of age or nationality.

STARTS4AFRICA is has announced the Call for Artists for the first STARTS Residency Programme fully dedicated to promoting Sub-Saharan Africa innovation at the nexus of Science + Technology + Arts.

Studio Quantum is an international events and artist-in-residence programme from the Goethe-Institut, exploring emerging quantum technologies through the lens of art.  The Studio Quantum residences in 2024 are open to artists based in the following project locations: Germany, Ireland, Mexico, Netherlands, United Kingdom, Nigeria, India (States of Karnataka and Kerala), and South Africa. 

The EU – West Africa Arts Fusion Residency & Expo 2024 will gather artists and creatives from Ghana, Togo, Benin, and EU Member States together to stimulate cross-continental collaboration and cultural interaction. There are three categories for applications: fashion, music and visual arts.

In 2020, Don Sen Folo opened an artistic residency, the Don Sen Folo – LAB, on two hectares in the village of Bancoumana, 50 km from Bamako. This space can accommodate artists for their research, experimentation and creative work. GNININI WOMEN is a laboratory for young African choreographers under 35 years of age.

From 13-20 April 2024, the 13th edition of the Market for Abidjan Performing Arts (MASA) will take place in Abidjan. The organisers are calling for companies and artists working in various performing arts categories.

OneBeat Ghana is now accepting applications for socially engaged artist-entrepreneurs from Ghana, Nigeria and the U.S. (ages 19-35) to participate in an intensive 2-week residency from 6-20 November 2023. The Ghana-based program will convene 11-12 artists from all 3 countries to exchange and build strategies for stronger artist communities and creative economies in the region.

Orbitals is a recurrent programme which takes four curators and researchers from or living in the Arab world to an international location to learn about a different artistic context. This year’s edition will take place between 4-14 December 4 2023 and will be an introduction to the art scene in Dakar, Senegal.