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Lerka - Espace de Recherche et de Création en Arts Actuels
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Banyan - Centre d’art contemporain de la Cité des Arts de La Réunion

Exploratory Residency

Residency brief

Located in the Indian Ocean, La Réunion is a singular territory at the crossroads of continents, languages, and cultural histories. Shaped by centuries of circulation between Africa, Europe and Asia, the island offers a rich and layered environment in which questions of memory, migration, identity, creolisation, and belonging remain deeply alive. Its longstanding historical and cultural ties with India make it a particularly fertile space for literary research and reflection. This exploratory residency is jointly organised by Cité des Arts Réunion and LERKA, two major actors in the island’s artistic and cultural ecosystem.

Cité des Arts Réunion is a unique multidisciplinary institution dedicated to supporting artistic creation, accompaniment, and dissemination across La Réunion. Conceived as an artistic incubator at the service of people, it functions as a cultural agora and a laboratory for the development of the island’s creative sector. Open to all artistic disciplines, including performing arts, visual arts, and literature, it offers a dynamic space where artists, professionals, and audiences can meet, exchange, and create.

LERKA, founded in 2002, is conceived as a space dedicated to contemporary artistic experimentation, offering artists, whether emerging, developing, or established, an environment conducive to research, dialogue, and innovation. Rooted in a socially engaged and territorially grounded approach, LERKA champions local creativity, supports alternative cultural forms, recognises the plurality of artistic practices, and fosters meaningful connections with the cultures of the wider Indian Ocean region.

The selected resident will be accommodated at Cité des Arts Réunion and will work from a studio at LERKA, benefiting from immersion in a vibrant community of artists and cultural practitioners. During the residency, the resident will also have the opportunity to engage with the Université de La Réunion, including its language department, libraries, archives, and cultural centre, opening access to the island’s rich intellectual, historical, and linguistic resources.

The residency will also include participation in the Salon du Livre de Jeunesse de l’Océan Indien (SLJOI), held at the Cité des Arts in Saint-Denis and organised by La Réunion des Livres. A major literary event in the region, the fair brings together authors and illustrators from across the Indian Ocean to promote reading among young audiences through encounters, workshops, and programming that also extends into the libraries and media libraries of the CINOR territory.

  • Thematic focus Literature
  • Location Saint Denis, La Réunion
  • Dates 22 September to 30 November 2026
  • Length of stay 4 - 6 weeks
  • Apply Now

Our Space

Set in Saint-Denis, the capital of La Réunion, this residency unfolds in a dense and inspiring environment where artistic creation is nourished by cultural plurality, insular geography, and the living presence of multiple historical inheritances. La Réunion is not only a place of extraordinary natural beauty, but also a space of encounters, between languages, communities, memories, and imaginaries.

The resident will be housed at Cité des Arts Réunion, a major cultural hub for artistic production and dissemination on the island, and will have access to a working studio at LERKA, whose longstanding commitment to experimentation and intercultural dialogue makes it a particularly stimulating setting for research-based literary practice. Together, the two institutions offer both the conditions for focused individual work and the possibility of sustained engagement with La Réunion’s artistic, literary, and intellectual scene.

Residency conditions

  • The resident will be given accommodation and working place at the Cité des Arts Réunion
  • The resident’s travel costs to and from his/her home address will be covered by the French Institute in India.
  • The resident will receive a fixed stipend of INR. 60 000 per month to cover his/her food and living expenses.
  • The resident will receive a fixed residency grant of INR. 50 000 per month.
  • The resident should be willing to give up to 20% of his/her residency time to participate in lectures, workshops, conferences in local schools and local literary festivals organized by the Residency partners or the French Institute in India.
  • The French Institute in India expects the selected resident to send them a short text (1000 - 2000 words) testifying of their experience within 3 months of completion of the residency.
  • This is an exploratory residence, which means that there is no other obligation of results at the end of the residency. However, the residency program needs to be acknowledged in any artistic production resulting from the residency.

Eligibility criteria

  • The resident must have a minimum of one published book to apply.
  • Applications from self-published writers will not be considered.