Arquetopia, International Artist Residency in Southern Mexico

Founded in 2009 in Puebla, southern Mexico, Arquetopia is an award-winning, Mexican official nonprofit foundation promoting Development, social transformation and productivity through artistic, cultural, and educational programs. The core of the Foundation is Sustainable Development through four principles embodied in all of Arquetopia’s programs and activities: social awareness, shared responsibility, innovation, and local networks development. Arquetopia is experienced in negotiation and reinvestment of resources for local arts development in Mexico with the following features: social scope; quality; synergy; collaboration; innovation; viability; reciprocity; and respect for local knowledge.

ARTIST-IN-RESIDENCE PROGRAMS

Our Artist-in-Residence Programs offer competitive professional opportunities for emerging and mid-career, national and international artists, designers, curators, art historians, art educators, and cultural researchers age 25 and over.

Our programs are based on a non-exploitative model promoting social consciousness. Residents are strongly encouraged to explore various ways of cultural exchange as part of their artistic and/or research goals and to actively engage in critical discussions as part of their residency experience. As Arquetopia’s mission is to promote social transformation, understanding Mexico’s context, and specifically Puebla and Oaxaca’s cultural complexity, is key for a successful cultural exchange. We welcome artists, designers, curators and historians from diverse backgrounds and disciplines who are interested in creating work or inspired by art, elements, techniques or processes that are specific to Mexico and/or unique to Puebla or Oaxaca. 

In contrast to vacation rentals and B&B’s marketing themselves part-time as quasi art residencies, both Arquetopia and Arquetopia Oaxaca have always been professional spaces exclusively for artists and include structured programs; a network of collaborative workspaces, institutions, and studios; and project support.