Call for Applications: 2026 Craft & Design Residency

With the support of the Bettencourt Schueller Foundation, Villa Albertine is renewing its call for applications for exploratory residencies specifically dedicated to crafts and design professionals in the United States in 2026. This season will also mark the fifth anniversary of Villa Albertine’s residency program.

Between January and December 2026, for a duration of one to three months, select designers and artisans will benefit from a residency that will allow them to renew their reflections on their practice, draw inspiration from the U.S. territory of their choice, showcase their work, and build enriching connections.

Depending on the nature of the residency project, which must be linked to a U.S. territory, applicants are invited to conduct their residencies in New York City or one or more U.S. cities (two maximum):

Residencies based in New York, lasting a maximum of two months, will be supported by WantedDesign (a platform dedicated to promoting design and strengthening local and international creative communities), in addition to support from Villa Albertine.
Residencies taking place in the rest of the U.S., outside of New York, lasting from one to three months, will receive specialized support from one of the nine Villa Albertine offices in the U.S.

Both residencies are supported by the Bettencourt Schueller Foundation as part of its commitment to promoting the international influence of fine crafts.

We encourage craftsmen and designers to apply exclusively to this thematic call, which is separate from Villa Albertine’s general call for applications, or the Classical Music Call, launched simultaneously and covering all other artistic disciplines (excluding craft and design). 

Applicant Profiles & Projects

This Villa Albertine residency is intended for craftsmen and designers who have an original research project that requires an immersive stay in the United States. This experience can be complemented with exploring new business opportunities.  

These exploratory residencies are not meant to be completed behind closed doors but should serve as field investigations that inspire and create connections. The project can either be a new proposal conceived for Villa Albertine or a continuation of research that the applicant has conducted before arriving in the US. In both cases, the raison d’être of the project is its relation to the location of the residency. Meetings, events, and visits should contribute to the work carried out. 

Logistics and Focus of the Residency 

For applicants to the New York-based Craft & Design residency:

This residency program is anchored in Industry City, a complex of former industrial buildings that have been converted into hundreds of production studios and stores for creators, makers, and designers. In the heart of Brooklyn, Industry City has become a vibrant creative district, focused on the innovation economy, including support for engineering, design, manufacturing, and production.   

 The residency is also part of the Industry City + WantedDesign International Residency program.  

This program is particularly suited for craftsmen and designers looking to enter the New York market with access to a professional network likely to develop through new opportunities and collaborations, especially in the field of interior design. 

This New York residency will be for a period of two months, over one of three periods: February-April 2026, May-July 2026, or October-December 2026. 

For applicants for a Craft & Design residency in another American city: 

Residencies outside New York can last from one to three months over the course of 2026. 

Candidates can conduct their residency projects in the city(ies) of their choice (two maximum). They will be supported by the closest Villa Albertine office to them, including Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami, New Orleans, San Francisco, and Washington, DC. For example, a residency in Seattle will be assigned to Villa Albertine in San Francisco.  

 Villa Albertine will provide support tailored to the expectations and profiles of each resident. The applicant will benefit from networking with relevant professionals, communities, and institutions in the chosen city and/or region for the residency project. This format is particularly well-suited for residents wishing to take advantage of a privileged period of reflection in an identified local environment, to carry out exploratory work in a broader sense in the fields of craft and design.  

Support from Villa Albertine

Villa Albertine provides individual support for each resident, as well as a multitude of possible residency locations. 

The program is implemented through Villa Albertine’s 80 person staff spread across ten cities, as well as networks of partnerships with multiple American institutions, so that each resident can be introduced into an ecosystem, which will facilitate encounters, discoveries, self-examination, and reflections.

For a residency based in New York, the resident’s support will be provided by the reference organization WantedDesign, which enables the resident to be immediately integrated into such an environment

For a residency in the United States outside of New York, the relevant Villa Albertine office will support the resident by providing its expert knowledge of the local artistic and cultural scene and its network of partners. Depending on the themes chosen by the resident, advance prospecting work will identify the most relevant contacts in the fields, communities, and territory under consideration.

Each Villa Albertine team will offer the resident its expert awareness of the cultural and artistic scene and the chosen area’s network and partners. Depending on each resident’s plans and axes of exploration, preparatory work will be done well in advance to identify the most relevant interlocutors in the region and surrounding communities. 

In both scenarios, a series of meetings and visits will be prepared for each resident, relevant to their project and needs. Villa Albertine will assist residents in an analysis of their material and logistical needs for the successful execution of their projects.  

Material Support of the Residency

Villa Albertine covers the following travel and living expenses related to the residency:

A residency allowance of $100 or $110 per day to cover daily expenses (meals, local transportation, etc.).
A shared workspace in the heart of Industry City, in direct contact with the WantedDesign team.
Round-trip international travel to the residency location(s)
Accommodations
Health, liability, and repatriation insurance.

 Villa Albertine will not commit to covering any expenses other than the travel and accommodation expenses mentioned above.   

Villa Albertine’s framework is organized to support individual residences (not including family members or other close relatives who would not be part of the project). In the case where this accompaniment would be necessary (a parent with dependent child(ren)), such a situation could be considered in the organization of the residency by searching for adapted housing. 

French Partners

Each applicant is asked to have their residency project supported by a French partner. Depending on the case, this support can take one of three forms:   

Conception of the residency project: assistance in writing the residency presentation, finding resources and contacts that could help the applicant, etc.    
Promotion of the residency: communication on social media or support with content creation about the residency (articles, podcasts, videos, etc.).
Post-residency follow-up: presenting the work carried out by the resident in the United States (conference, meet-up with professionals, etc. or help in developing an artistic or intellectual project) in France.

Partners are not asked to contribute financially to the residency. 

Any public or private entity under French law, based in  France, may be a partner. This organization cannot be one that the applicant directs or has founded, but it can be the organization where the applicant is employed, or another distinct partner.

In addition to the main French partner, applicants may also use other French partners and US entities that could help develop the project (e.g. networking, provision of a workspace, etc.) as support for their application.  

Selection Criteria

Eligible applicants must possess the following criteria:

Professional experience in their field of artistic or intellectual creation, demonstrated through a CV or file (less than ten pages long) that presents their career and work.   
Be fluent in English, proven by sending a short, three-minute (max) introductory video about their career and project. The video is not expected to be edited but rather should be a simple video shot in front of the camera in which the candidate does not read from a prepared text.
The support of a French partner associated with the residency project, which can be any public or private French entity (a cultural institution, an organization, a publishing house, a firm in a creative and cultural industry, etc.). The chosen organization should inform Villa Albertine of their interest in supporting the applicant with a letter addressed to Mohamed Bouabdallah, Cultural Counselor of France and Director of Villa Albertine.

The candidate must be at least 21 years old before the planned date of departure for their residency. 

 The selection criteria are as follows: 

Quality of the applicant’s career: the manner in which the applicant carries out their artistic or intellectual practice professionally; recognition by their peers; their residency project is a logical continuation of their work.
Relevance of the project in relation to the residency location: the project is strongly tied to local dynamics and challenges and requires the applicant to travel to the United States.
Feasibility of the project: Villa Albertine reserves the right to not host projects it cannot properly support.

Candidates should be able to adapt to any regional restrictions where they plan on spending their residency. For example, it is strongly recommended that they have a driver’s license if they plan to work in sprawling cities, such as  Los Angeles.  

 A candidate may submit only one application per season to the Craft & Design call. Any incomplete or non-compliant application will be declared inadmissible. Any intentionally false declaration will automatically render the application void.  

How to Apply

Applications must be submitted before January 30, 2025 to the following link.

  Applicants must provide the following elements:  

A file presenting the applicant’s background and work (less than 10 pages) and describing their professional practice in the fields of craft and design (max 10 Mb).
A short video in English presenting the candidate’s career path and project (video already produced and available online or recorded for the occasion). The candidate should simply introduce themselves and say a few words about their project in a maximum of three minutes. The video is not expected to be edited, but rather should be a simple video shot in front of the camera where the candidate is clearly visible. This video will demonstrate that the applicant is fluent in English.
A letter addressed to Mr. Mohamed Bouabdallah, Cultural Counselor of France and Director of Villa Albertine, from a French partner associated with the project, expressing their interest in partnering with or supporting the candidate. This letter should state how the partner will support the residency.

Timeline

Deadline for the call for applications: January 30, 2025, 11:59pm (UTC+1)

 March – April 2025:   

For applications for residencies in New York: pre-selection of applications by a jury made up of representatives of Villa Albertine and WantedDesign and interview(s) with short-listed candidates.
For applications for residencies outside of New York: examination of applications by a local jury (depending on the desired city of residence) followed by a federal jury, made up of representatives from Villa Albertine and qualified French and American members.

  End of June 2025: announcement of results

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