Narva is located at the easternmost point of the Republic of Estonia, immediately on the western bank of the Narva River. On the other side of the river, which is not very wide, lies the Russian Federation and its border town named Ivangorod, which was a suburb of Narva before World War II. The town is located on the edge of the European Union and the Schengen area, which provides Narva with special significance both in terms of local and international dimension. This is a border town.

Currently Narva has a population of approximately 53,000 people, which makes it the third largest city in Estonia. At the same time, Narva clearly stands out in terms of its language and cultural diversity: over 90% of the population speak Russian as their native language, which is a result of the population migration which took place in the Soviet times and the policy of developing large industrial cities. Estonian can rarely be heard in Narva, and it is very difficult to conduct business in Estonian here. The domination of the Russian language affects the identity and the communication culture of the city.

For centuries, Narva has been a point of intersection of the Eastern and the Western spheres of influence. Throughout the Middle Ages and into the modern times, the town played a key role as a trading center. During the Great Northern War, the Swedish King Charles XII held one of his most glorious battles here, defeating the army of Peter the Great. Later, however, after becoming a part of the Russian Empire, Narva turned into an industrial city, with the Kreenholm Manufacturing Company undoubtedly being its main enterprise. During World War II, the historical appearance of Narva was irreversibly altered. In the spring of 1944, the city, which was under the German rule at that time, was bombed by Soviet planes. As a result, the medieval and baroque architecture of the town was almost completely destroyed; only a handful of the original buildings have survived to this day. After the war, the new authorities decided not to restore the historic city center, but to rebuild Narva as a typical industrial city, using dark grey brick as the main construction material. Large apartment buildings and industrial complexes emerged.

NART is a contemporary art center that is a part of the international residency program. It was established in 2015 in collaboration with the Estonian Academy of Arts and Narva Gate OÜ, the company that manages the territory of the Kreenholm textile factory. NART operates with the support of the Estonian Ministry of Culture and has become one of the most important cultural initiatives on the eastern border of Estonia. NART provides the environment for creative work and art education, adding international dimension to the cultural life of Estonia, and especially Narva. The more people get involved and the more diverse the group or participants is, the more colorful and vibrant the life in this otherwise all-too-grey city becomes. Our visitors distribute Estonian narratives to a wider world, and through culture, the residents of Narva also become closer to the Estonian cultural space.

NART hosts 30–40 artists from around the world each year. The building has three bedrooms for this purpose. Artists are primarily selected through open calls, and the competition is very tense: some positions attract 20–30 artists. There have also been cases when 130 artists applied for one single position! Those artists whose creative plans fit into the peculiar environment of Narva and who are willing to involve local people into their creative work are selected. Nearly ten competitions are organised each year, and as a result, a diverse international community of art residents has come together in the city.

In addition to artists, curators, activists, writers, and other creative people can also participate in the activities of NART. There is dormitory-style accommodation for student groups and creative camps on the basement floor of the building.

Exhibitions can be held in the gallery, located at the residency, throughout the year. The gallery is open four days a week. NART organises plenty of events, which are primarily meant for the audience from Narva and Ida-Viru County in general.

Now is a good moment to give ourselves some credit, but for a reason, of course!

NART is not an ordinary art residency, but a unique cultural center on the eastern border of Europe on the grounds of the historic Kreenholm textile factory. Come look at those walls, vaults, and columns!

NART offers free accommodation and shared workspaces for a period of 1 to 3 months. Artists receive support while engaging city residents, organising events, and are provided with access to the vast Kreenholm industrial heritage complex, which is currently empty and unused. There is also an opportunity to set up your own exhibition, of course.

Socially inclusive art lies at the core of NART’s activities. Schoolchildren, students, elderly people, and Ukrainian war refugees all have participated in the projects held by art residents. Those projects have often taken us to places where an outsider would not normally step in, such as garages, gardens, schools, and factories.

City residents have participated in workshops, installations, performances, and collaborative projects. NART demonstrates that contemporary art does not have to remain distant or incomprehensible.

NART is the only art residency in Estonia that is supported by the state and operates all year long, which was made possible through rather rare public-private partnership. Namely, Narva Gate OÜ provides the residency with a home, the Ministry of Culture provides financial support, and the Estonian Academy of Arts provides content.

Over the past ten years, NART has also worked a lot on bringing together the young people and the art. As for our young exhibition guides, it is often their first job after high school.

Main program residency
An open call is held every autumn that invites creative people from various fields to apply. The residency lasts from one and a half to up to two months, offering accommodation, shared workspaces, and support for engaging local residents and organising public events. The focus is on making sure that the creative work is associated with the residents of Narva and its unique cultural space.

Summertime residency at Narva Venice Embassy
Meant for artists from various fields of art, the open call takes place in April-May. This is a short-term summertime residency in the Kulgu area, which offers mobile accommodation (tent, garage, container house), a 500-euro scholarship, and the chance to integrate your artistic work with the local nature, among other things. The NART boat can be used. Three to five artists participate each year.

Partner residency with the Baltic Center of Contemporary Art
Meant for artists based in Northern England. A resident arriving to Narva for one month receives a scholarship. One artist participates each year.

Kreenholm Garden Residency
A short, two- to seven-day summertime residency for artists and groups of artists interested in plants, ecology, and community work. A small creative grant and the compensation of travel expenses are offered. One to two artists participate each year.

Children’s Literature Residency
The open call takes place in the spring and is meant for writers and illustrators of children’s books. The residency takes place in autumn and is a month long. A grant of 1,500 euros and the compensation of travel expenses are offered.

School Residency “Artists Are Present”
The residency for Estonian-speaking artists in Narva schools, which lasts from one to two weeks.

Residencies held by the Finnish Cultural Foundation
A three-month program for Finnish artists and other creative people living in Finland.

NAIR
The residency that takes place in collaboration with the Narva municipality’s department of architecture and urban planning.

Applications for participating in NART residencies are submitted through open calls. Each residency option has its own conditions, but general principles are similar: an applicant must have a well-thought-out project and a desire to contribute to Narva community. The visibility of the creative work and its capacity to spark discussion or generate feedback are also beneficial.

Before applying, please have a look at the deadlines and conditions listed on the NART website. Make sure that the nature of your creative work and your artistic approach match with the residency option you wish to apply for.

To apply for most residency options, one must submit the following materials:
a CV, i. e. an overview of academic path, exhibitions held, and previous experience
a portfolio, i. e. an overview of 5 pieces that showcase your artistic work
a motivational letter, i. e. a short text explaining why it is Narva that you want to come to and what your connection with the focus of a particular residency option is
a project proposal, i. e. what you are planning to create, research or develop in Narva and what are your thoughts on involving city residents (this part of the application is the most important for us, and we read it in the first place)
practical information, i. e. technical conditions, materials, space requirements, etc.

All materials must be submitted in English, unless otherwise specified in the terms and conditions of the open call.

(Small advice box) How to write a successful application?

Get to know Narva! Make a research on the history of the town, explore its map, peculiar features of the local population, heritage of Kreenholm, and the modern way of life. Dry texts copied from Wikipedia will be of no use.

Be specific and state clearly what you’re planning to do, who you want to involve, and for what reason. “International art English” does not fit the context of Narva.

Think about the residents of Narva! NART values the projects that may go beyond the walls of the residency.

Be realistic and assess your resources adequately.

A good portfolio is the key. Choose the pieces that characterise your creative work, with due consideration of the focus of a particular residency option you are applying for.

See which artists NART has been hosting in the past. Since they have been successful in the open calls, you can get an overview of what kind of candidates could be successful in the future.

Avoid overly repetitive topics, issues, or areas of research. An artist should seek to be inquisitive and original!

Rooms

– three private bedrooms for artists and their companions
– shared washing facilities, sauna and almost fully equipped kitchen
– a workshop equipped with tools for working with wood for work that generates more dust
– clean and warm computer workstations
– a movie hall for spontaneous movie nights
– Kreenholm grounds for walking, gathering thoughts, working and putting up exhibitions
– large dormitory rooms where it is also possible to accommodate friends and family members of artists for additional fee

Technical capabilities

– a scanner, a projector, a Bluetooth speaker, a sound mixer, speakers and a camera for short-term rental
– materials left by the artists that had visited NART before
– bicycles (upon deposit) and a rowboat in Narva Venice, called “Vesikana”

Support

– assistance in organising events and communicating with the public
– translation service during public events
– advice on involving city residents, sharing experiences on specific features of working in Narva
– feedback, opportunity for discussion with various art experts visiting NART from time to time
– the opportunity to find those willing to participate in creative work at events and among exhibition visitors, because NART is an active visitor center, and many people move around the building

What we cannot offer, unfortunately

– a private studio, but if necessary, we can help to find additional spaces for creative work
– covering project costs, including the expenses related to publishing brochures and opening exhibitions (except if the budget allocated for creative work is financed as part of the project)
– curator service and substantive mentorship related to creative work
– daily translation service, but we can recommend local young people that can be hired

Organising larger exhibitions in gallery spaces requires extensive advance planning, and a separate application must be submitted after the end of the residency. Applications undergo a selection process.

Exactly. At the end of the 19th century, the Kreenholm Manufacturing Company created the position of a technical director and built a villa at 18 Joala street, where the director and his family moved in. The neo-Gothic villa made of bricks was designed by an architect Paul Alisch, who also designed a number of other buildings for Kreenholm.

The spacious rooms, a garden and service buildings that were typical of the original family home were described in the memoirs of Marjorie Cottam, a relative of the last director of the manufacturing company, as follows:

“A square building with large rooms. The house had three guest rooms, a kitchen, three bedrooms, a wardrobe room, and a bathroom. The attic was used as a laundry drying room, a wine storage, and a winter cellar. Outside there were gardens and an ice cellar, where food was stored during summer months. The residents of the house had a cook and a maid at their service.”

After 1918, the villa was used by various military units. Namely, German officers and the Red Guards were accommodated there, and later the 1st Estonian Division was stationed in the building. After the Treaty of Non-Aggression between the Republic of Estonia and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was signed in 1932, the military units left Narva, and for some time the building was used randomly.

At the beginning of the Soviet occupation in 1940, the Kreenholm Manufacturing Company was nationalised. The villa was severely damaged during World War II, but it remained standing. During the reconstruction works in the post-war years, the house was transformed into the cultural center belonging to the Kreenholm factory: a workers’ club operated here and later a Children’s Creative Center named after Amalie Kreisberg was opened here, which offered many types of recreational activities.

After the restoration of independence in 1991, the owner of the building changed, and for a while it served both as a library and as a rehabilitation center. When the library moved out, the villa remained empty. In 2014, the house hosted an exhibition of paintings by Tõnis Saadoja, and in the following year the house gained a new life as the Narva Art Residency.

Watch a video about the house, made by Anastassiia Savynska and Artem Nikolaienko, the young interns of NART, in 2022.
Check it out on this link.

…first exhibition?
Tõnis Saadoja’s painting series „Arhitektuurifoto väikese poisiga“ (“Architectural Photography with a Little Boy”) (2014). Large-format photorealistic oil paintings were dealing with the childhood memories of the artist through architecture, placing the little boy into the context of the buildings typical of the 1980s. Saadoja reconstructed and recreated the recollections of his first experience in a construction setting. In addition to the exhibition, film nights, guided tours, and educational programs took place. Within a month, one and a half thousand people visited the exhibition.

…largest exhibition project?
”LVLup! WarpZone“ (2022) was an interactive project that combined retro video games and contemporary art, occupying both the basement and the first floor of the house. The exhibition that was opened in collaboration with the Tallinn LVLup! Video Game Museum offered something exciting for audiences of all ages. Visitors could play classic video games, such as Battle City and Guitar Hero, and discover artistic interpretations of the gaming culture. Among visitors there were many families, couples, and groups of friends, and many people came to see the exhibition for the second and third time.

…heaviest work of art?
Augustas Lapinskas’ installation „Tuhast“ (“From the Ashes”) (2024) symbolises the transition that the Ida-Viru County has been going through from oil shale energy to the green future. This three-meter-high and a five-ton concrete arch portal, made from oil shale ash, stands out in the urban space of Narva, increasing the visibility of the residency and providing food for thought to the people passing by. Photoshoots done with the installation in the background have been published in social media since then, and people have been discussing where this portal could take them.

…art project that fits with the local context best of all?
Pavel Rotts’ exhibition „Ronides mälukildudel. Puuduva puudutus“ (“Climbing a Memory. The Matter of Touch”) (2024) was dealing with war memories and marked the 80th anniversary of the bombing that took place in 1944 and destroyed the city of Narva. The exhibition featured carved stone pieces found in the rubble after the bombing of Narva, which had been transformed into sculptures. Rotts and the local people made bricks from clay, creating a metaphor for the scars left by the bombing and their healing process. The urban installation took the form of a climbing wall created from the shapes of war debris, providing visitors with the way to reflect on historical trauma.

NART is also involved in providing art education, both for children, young people, and all city residents. The residency does it through workshops and performances supervised by artists residing at NART. The workshops are mostly practical in nature and do not require specific knowledge, skills or proficiency in foreign languages. This is why local residents can participate in them easily. Art residents have also conducted training courses and even organised communal feast tables.

NART collaborates closely with the Estonian Academy of Arts and other educational institutions, hosting workshops, creative camps, and seminars. In their turn, the art residents of NART have given open lectures at the Estonian Academy of Arts.

NART has also initiated larger-scale educational projects, such as „Kunstnikud on kohal“ (“Artists Are Present”), in the frames of which the Estonian artists have been working together with the students from Narva schools for a week, giving art-themed lessons. In addition to bringing contemporary art closer to young people, a less obvious goal of this project is to support the transition to Estonian-language education in Narva schools. NART also offers some events for local artists and art teachers. For example, a pack of art cards was created in 2025 in cooperation between the Estonian Language House and Maarin Ektermann, which encourages language learners to visit art exhibitions and discuss the pieces of art.

Throughout the years, NART has learned that the involvement of the people living in the city does not start at the opening of an exhibition or at a public event, in social media, by means of a poster put up in the street or through personal invitation. It starts at the moment when an artist arrives in the city with an idea and contemplates on how to spread the word about it.

You need to speak clearly and simply, using few foreign words and not using “isms” at all. People living in Narva don’t need to understand the language of art catalogues. When art is only discussed through academic concepts and institutional language, it can seem distant, cause confusion, or even be discouraging. We have seen how inaccurate or unadapted communication attempts create expectations that do not match the actual experience. This can lead to disappointment, and there have been cases when people walked away from the event. At the same time, we have also witnessed the opposite: when an artist managed to find an approach that was understandable for local people, it boosted interest, and people were coming to see an exhibition again and again. For example, one Belgian artist was offering Belgian waffles that he was baking himself during the event. It reminds us of the Estonian proverb “The way to a person’s heart is through their stomach”.

It is always worth investing in personal communication, whether with schools, interest groups, or youth centers. A Facebook post is a must, but it cannot replace conversations on the street, at garages, or in stores.

The most deeply touching encounters happen when the artist is truly present and shows interest towards Narva and its people.

NNART has provided shelter to hundreds of Ukrainian war refugees and hosted a number of Ukrainian artists. This experience has been very touching for the artists and the institution itself and has shown that an art institution is able to and must play a socially active role in society.

NART uses Estonian, English and Russian for communication. This is a practice without which the residency would not be able to convey artistic life to city residents and create connections between different cultures. At the same time, since 2022, there has been a clear principle that the residency does not cooperate with Russian institutions. The residency cooperates with Russian artists only if they do not reside in Russia and have publicly condemned the war in Ukraine.

Narva often comes into focus of foreign journalists with the question “Is Narva next?” Journalism simplifies reality and focuses on stereotypes. Artists have the chance to go deeper and overcome stereotypes. The encounter between art and war in the border area assumes sensitivity in understanding the local context, awareness of political tensions, and the ability to build bridges across troubled waters. It is necessary to strike a balance between creative freedom and social responsibility.

Making art is great, but there’s something more to life! Narva is a big city where you can stroll around; Narva-Jõesuu, Sillamäe, the old mining areas, the mysterious forests lying further to the south, the impulsive exotic flair of the summer cottages to the north are not too far away…

The NART residency can organise communal cooking, sauna evenings and parties, you can go swimming, even in winter. Visit the restaurants and bars of Narva. Go pick some mushrooms. The keywords related to entertainment include, for example, the Venice Embassy and the Station Narva festival.

When you can get a chance to rest, it is, of course, entertaining for the artists to get a glimpse of what other artists have been up to and what they have created. For example, you can visit the wooden watchtower installation in the Port of Narva, inspired by the traditions of the Cossacks, created by the Ukrainian artist duo Tatjana and Irena. The city is already pleasantly filled with art!

Our goal is not to expand endlessly. NART wants to grow in quality, rather than quantity. At the same time, we are trying to increase the number of NART team from two to, for example, four.

The inhabitants of the city of Narva remain the utmost priority for NART. Everything that has been discussed above must find its way to them. We wish to interact with hidden target groups that can only be reached when the artist goes to them, not the other way around. Small, personal encounters often have more impact than large public events.

Of course, there are also points to ponder in terms of the programme of NART. Who should we invite to our gallery? How large, professional, or experimental should our exhibitions be? How much and in what way should we communicate with former residents, Estonian artists and international authors? What could be effective, interesting ways to bring contemporary art to the locals?

The international network of NART continues to expand, and we want to bring more and more new people and ideas to Narva. For example, we could find more artists from outside the Western world.

We would really like to make the living and creative spaces of the residents more attractive. In 2026, the house gets new windows, a main door, and fiber-optic internet connection. The facilities and amenities at the Narva Venice Embassy are awaiting renovation, so that they would include everything necessary for a proper art dacha. We already have a boat, maybe in the future we will also have a boat engine, a boat dock and a raft. The container house will soon transform into a cozy cottage with a terrace, where one will be able to observe the shimmering water and cast a glance at the other shore beyond the eastern border without a single border guard minding it.