SAM Residencies is a museum-run  programme committed to supporting the development of innovative artistic and curatorial practices that respond to current global discourses. Developed in line with SAM’s vision of engaging local and international artistic communities across a wide range of disciplines, the programme will feature four residency types to support emerging and innovative practices, facilitate collaborations, and widen public understanding of art. The studio-based residencies will be open to artists, curators, art organisations and artist-run spaces, as well as community and education-focused art practitioners.

Designed to engage both the art community and the public at large, SAM Residencies will actively involve local communities and the public through a diverse lineup of activities. For the art community, it serves as an incubator for new approaches to artistic and curatorial practices through supporting dialogue within and beyond the field of contemporary art. It offers a platform for artistic experimentation and encourages the exchange of ideas and opportunities for future collaboration, as well as network building. The Residents will also be encouraged to interact with or involve local communities and the public in different ways, through presentations and programmes such as open studio visits, talks, and workshops.

These residencies will be open to those based in Singapore or internationally, and will take place in physical spaces in Singapore. Each residency will take place between a period of one and six months.

Residency Programmes

• Artist Residency – open to artists and collectives who are looking to develop artistic practices and emergent modes of art-making.


• Community & Education Residency – open to practitioners who explore the relationship between art practice and forms of gallery education or whose core practice engages with local communities or the public in various ways.


• Curatorial & Research Residency – open to curators and researchers who are working on new modes of curatorial thinking and research process.


• EX-SITU: Art Spaces Residency – for art organisations based in Asia, including in-dependent non-profit art organisations, artist-run spaces, and community-led initiatives, exploring innovative ways of activating public spaces to engage with the local art scene and public.

A fully funded programme, SAM Residencies will support Residents with:

• 1 x return airfare on economy class
• Monthly stipend of SGD$1,500
• Housing allowance
• A studio space OR co-working space
• An "ideas lab" – a shared space where anyone is free to post (physically), respond, explore and flesh out ideas-in-progress
• Support from the museum and the Residencies team in the form of (but not limited to) institution resources and expertise, network building, opportunities for public engagement, and a scaffold for interaction and exchange

Open Call

SAM Residencies is launching its first open call from 9 December 2020 to 28 February 2021. Find out more here.

Hero image: Bounpaul Photyzhan, Lie of the Land (2017) (behind the scenes), as part of Imaginarium:To The Ends of the Earth; image courtesy of Andrea Fam.