Southbank’s artist residency programme a ‘meeting space for ideas’

Southbank Centre in London has launched a new artist development initiative that will support ‘creative innovation and experimentation’.

The first stage of the Studio programme will invite nine artists to undertake individual residencies in its Purcell Room.

Each five-day residency is designed to help the artists develop existing ideas as well as inspire new ones.

The main focus will be on supporting collaborations across artforms to provide ‘a meeting space to create new ideas borne from collaborations between writers, visual artists, designers, choreographers and musicians’.

Mark Ball, Artistic Director at Southbank Centre, said: “The launch of Southbank Centre Studio further underscores our commitment to making the art of the future, to developing bold artistic endeavours and providing artists with the opportunity to explore exciting and surprising new hybrid collaborations.”

Artists selected for the launch programme include Le Gateau Chocolat, voted by Time Out London as one of its Top 10 Cabaret Stars, and audio-visual artist GAIKA, self-described as a “hard-to-place person".

The residency programme begins in May.