News

Saari Residence

13.05.2021

Record number of applications for Saari Residence 2022

The annual application round for the Saari Residence in March 2021 resulted in a record number of applications from around the world. The majority of the applications came from Finland and Europe, and most of the applicants represented the visual arts.

In March 2021, a total of 802 applications were submitted for the Saari Residence for 2022, of which 119 were applications for group residencies and 683 for individual residencies. The applications came from 77 countries.

Many (43%) of the applicants to the Saari Residence represent the visual arts, although the distribution of sectors of art in individual and group residencies was very different. Nearly 50% of the applications received for individual residencies came from representatives of the visual arts, while the corresponding figure for group residencies was only 10%. The second largest (24%) number of applications came from representatives of the performing arts, with a clear focus on group residencies. As much as 66% of the applications for group residencies came from representatives of the performing arts, while they only accounted for 17% of the applications for individual residencies. The third highest number of applications came from the audiovisual arts (13%), followed by literature (12%) and music (8%).

As in previous years, western countries were the most heavily represented in this year’s round of applications, with Finland at the top of the list, followed by Germany, the United Kingdom, the United States, Iran, the Netherlands and Italy.

A big part of the applications for individual residencies came from Finland (25%), followed by Germany (11%). Other countries with a high number of applications include the United Kingdom (5%), the United States (5%) and Iran (4%). The majority of the applications for group residencies came from Finland (58%), while 7% came from Germany and 6% from the UK.

Most of the applicants for individual residencies belong to the age group 36–50 (40%), followed by applicants in the age group 27–35 (39%), while 9.6% were 51–65 years old, 9.5% were 21–26 years old, 1.3% were over 66 and 0.45% were 16–20 years old.

The majority of the applicants were women (61%), while there were clearly fewer male (33%) and nonbinary (6%) applicants.

The award rates of recent years have ranged between 3.7% and 8.3%, and the award rate for 2022 will be lower than average due to the renovation of the main building, which will continue into late summer in 2022. Due to the renovation, we have had to turn some of the accommodation and workspaces into offices.

Thank you to all the applicants for your fascinating applications! Residencies for 2022 will be published on 16 June. We will send an email to every applicant with information about the decisions made.