Narva Art Residency has turned 10. The art residency, which integrates contemporary art, communities and artists on both the local and international art scenes, celebrates the anniversary with retrospection as well looking forward.
NART is visited by both local and international artists, well-known and lesser-known representatives of cultural and other spheres of life. For many, the experience at NART has been unique and broadening. Zimbabwean artist Zacharaha Magasa made the first flight of his life to arrive in Estonia to experience his first snow here. The visit to Narva by the President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen and the then Prime Minister of the Government of the Republic, today’s High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Vice-President of the European Commission, Kaja Kallas, introduced the Narva Art Residency to a new audience around the world. “For ten years, the Narva Art Residency has been an open house on the border of Europe, between tradition and experiment. For the Academy of Arts, it is a place where dialogues create new meanings in our cultural landscape. Congratulations on the anniversary!” says Anne Pikkov, Vice-Rector for Academic Affairs of the Estonian Academy of Arts (EAA) and member of the NART Board.
NART’s anniversary will be celebrated on September 5, which coincides with the Station Narva music festival taking place on the same weekend. During the weekend, guests can enjoy several events organized by NART, such as Narva Venice Annuale, with dugout boat with motor boat rides. There will be a opening of a sculpture by a Ukrainian sculptor Ihor Tkachivksyi, a harvest party at the Kreenholm community garden, and house tours. The anniversary will be preceded by the EKA Science Café on September 4 about the changing roles of religious and industrial buildings in contemporary Europe. “NART is one of the places that inspired us to start the Station Narva festival. An environment where historical architecture, art, creativity, courage and the will to do things together create a feeling that anything is possible”, says Station Narva director Helen Sildna.
“Over the past ten years, NART has hosted around 140 artists. Most of them have stayed in Narva for up to two months. Some residencies have been week long, but the longest residency has been four months. By 2025, NART is known all over the world,” says residency director Johanna Rannula. “Of course, there are many guests from the Baltics and Finland and from different corners of Europe, but also from other continents, for example, artists from Chile, Colombia, South Korea, Japan, Bangladesh, Mexico, India, South Africa, Pakistan, Brazil, have come to Narva for a creative residency”, adds Rannula. The open call for Finno-Ugric creative residency, which ended in August 2025, received 131 applications, which indicates the residency’s continued popularity.
The Narva Art Residency is located in the 130-year-old neo-Gothic former Kreenholm factory director’s villa and is a vibrant and successful example of private-public cooperation. When Tõnis Saadoja’s successful exhibition “Architectural Photography with a Little Boy” in 2014 gave the impetus to create the residency, a founding agreement was signed in 2015, under which Narva Gate OÜ supports it with the building, the Ministry of Culture provides operating support, and the Estonian Academy of Arts makes the operations run smoothly. Starting in 2022, summer residencies have taken place at Narva Venive Embassy, which marks NART’s focus and orientation towards the Narva community. More and more residencies are supported by partners or are taking place thanks to project support, which means that more artists receive a creative stipend, travel support, and support for the production of an artwork while in residency.
More about the NART anniversary: https://www.nart.ee/et/nart-10/