Silvana Bahia is the first guest selected for the new residency at Lauttasaari Manor

Afro-Brazilian journalist, filmmaker and activist Silvana Bahia has been selected for the very first residency at Lauttasaari Manor. During her spring 2019 residency, Bahia will work in close collaboration with Anti-Racism Media Activist Alliance (ARMA), run by journalist Monica Gathuo and researcher Leonardo Custódio. ARMA’s proposal was one of the seven proposals the Foundation received after inviting a group of its partners to join the pilot call of the residency. The first grant call for the residency taking place between April 2019 and April 2020 is open until 15 September, 2018.

Silvana Bahia is Programme Director at Olabi, an organisation based in Rio de Janeiro that aims to democratise technologies and increase gender and racial diversity in the tech industry. Bahia also helps lead PretaLab (BlackWomanLab), a collective that mobilises Afro-Brazilian and indigenous women to engage with and develop technology against social inequalities and racism. Bahia is a guest professor and researcher on Narratives, Technologies and Diasporic Knowledge at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro.

“Silvana Bahia’s work – at the intersections of academic research, black feminist activism and the promotion of diversity in media and technology – fulfils our mission of promoting knowledge exchange and international networking concerning anti-racism media activism. We are looking forward to the three months of intense dialogue and joint activities with other actors engaged with anti-racism media initiatives in Finland,” say Leonardo Custódio and Monica Gathuo.

“I expect this residency to be an outstanding learning process, especially for the opportunity it represents for opening a dialogue with people active in Finland and other countries, and especially for those who belong to different diasporas. For me learning from people active in Finland is a unique opportunity. Even though we are in very different contexts, the issues that affect people there and in Brazil can be similar in many ways,” says Silvana Bahia.

ARMA’s mission is to combine theory and practice in developing creative uses of digital media, pedagogy and arts as a means to promote anti-racism knowledge and values in Finland. ARMA is funded by Kone Foundation.

Apply now for the residency

The Lauttasaari Manor Residency programme is Kone Foundation’s new initiative aiming to support international and collaborative projects, research and networking amongst Finnish and international art and research professionals. The residency is targeted toward organisations and working groups who wish to invite a foreign expert to work with their team in Finland for 1–4 months.

Residency guests are selected through an application process held during the Foundation’s annual grant call. The residency takes place from April 2019 to April 2020, and the grant call is open until 15 September 4 p.m. EEST. Please apply through the foundation’s online application service.