Our major new residency programme is designed to support artists and cultural professionals whose work has been impacted by war and conflict.

Delivered in partnership with Arts Council England, Creative Scotland and Arts Council of Wales/Wales Arts International, the programme brings nine artists and cultural professionals from Lebanon, Yemen, Palestine and Ukraine to take part in residencies at leading cultural institutions across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Running until July 2026, the residencies take place at prominent institutions renowned for their expertise in supporting artists across diverse art forms, from contemporary art to literature and film. Each residency lasts between four and twelve weeks, and is tailored to meet the specific requirements of both the host organisation and the visiting creative professional.

About the 2025 residencies

About the host

Llenyddiaeth Cymru | Literature Wales is a charity dedicated to supporting writers at every stage of their journey. They have extensive experience of hosting writers at Tŷ Newydd, their headquarters and Wales' National Writing Centre.

Tetiana (Tania) Rodionova – Ukraine

Tania Rodionova was born in 1990 in Khmelnytskyi, Ukraine. She is a translator, poet, and curator and manager of cultural projects. Tania is the founder of the VERBatsiya translation group and the director of the TRANSLATORIUM Literary and Translation Festival. Since 2022, she has been the head of the NGO of the same name. In 2023, she established the BAZHAN residency in Kamianets-Podilskyi for poets and translators, where she also serves as curator.

Her published translations include works by Timothy Snyder, Dorothee Richter, Pascal Gielen and Maksym Eristavi. Alongside the VERBatsiya translation group, she has translated poetry by American Beat Generation poets and poems by the Latvian text group Orbita. Since 2022, she has been actively translating Ukrainian war poetry into English. Some of her own poems have been translated into English, German, French, Polish and Lithuanian. She currently lives and works in Kyiv, Ukraine.

Tetiana's residency takes place October – November 2025.

About the host

Ulster University is the UK and Ireland's University of the Year 2025. The Belfast campus is home to the Belfast School of Art, the oldest School of Art on the island of Ireland, which celebrated its 175th Anniversary in 2024. It also hosts Ulster Presents – a civic arts programme of local and international artists' work across Northern Ireland.

Anastasiya Gruba – Ukraine

Anastasiya Gruba is a Ukrainian screenwriter and director from Kyiv. She graduated from the Kyiv National I. K. Karpenko-Karyi University of Theatre, Cinema and Television with a degree in Film and Television. Since 2017, Anastasiya has been a member of the NGO CUC. She is the screenwriter and co-writer of several Ukrainian feature films, documentaries and television series.

Anastasiya has also participated in prestigious programmes such as the European Short Pitch, Munich Film Up and the Global Media Makers LA Residency. Her feature film project was showcased at the Ukraine in Focus pitching session during the Marché du Film in 2023 and at the Baltic Event Co-Production Market in 2024. Additionally, her debut short film, Driving Lessons, was nominated by the Ukrainian Film Academy for Best Short Film of the Year at the Golden Dzyga Awards 2025.

Anastasiya's residency takes place October – November 2025.

About the host

Cove Park is an international residency based on an outstanding 50-acre rural site in Argyll on Scotland's west coast. Its programme of residencies, commissions and collaborative projects respond to and promote the diversity of contemporary artistic practice. Cove Park supports artists, creative practitioners and researchers to develop and produce ambitious, innovative and ground-breaking new work.

Yasmine Rifaii – Lebanon

Yasmine Rifaii is an artist born in 1995 from El Mina, Lebanon. Her work spans editorial, curatorial, architectural and visual art disciplines. Yasmine is the Creative Director of Haven for Artists, a Beirut-based feminist cultural organisation dedicated to knowledge production through exhibitions, publications, and a growing international artist network. She is also the co-founder of Al Hayya, a print magazine and online platform dedicated to Arab women, where she served as Editorial Director and Co-Creative Director for issues 1 through 4, which featured contributions from hundreds of voices.

Care is central to her practice, both as a guiding principle and a field of exploration, shaping her understanding of how we relate to one another, to art, and to the collective. Her most recent work is a publication titled I will always be looking for you - A Queer Anthology on Arab Art, co-edited with Nadim El Choufi and published by Haven for Artists. The anthology brings together the work of 31 visual artists and 24 commissioned writers from the Arab speaking world and its diaspora, foregrounding queer subjectivities within Arab artistic discourse.

Yasmine's residency takes place October – November 2025.

2026 Host Institutions

The following institutions will host residencies in 2026. More details about the artists and residency dates will be announced very soon.

  • Pier Arts Centre 
  • Moniack Mhor 
  • Edinburgh Sculpture Workshop
  • ACME Studios
  • Delfina Foundation
  • Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art

About the 2023 Pilot Project

This initiative builds upon a successful pilot project held in Scotland in 2023 during the UK/Ukraine Season of Culture, which was delivered by the British Council in partnership with Creative Scotland and Ukrainian Institute. 

Among those selected to take part were cultural manager Veronika Skliarova, writer and translator Ostap Slyvynsky, curator Kateryna Rusetska, graphic artists Kristina Yarosh and Anna Khodkova (EtchingRoom1), and artist Ruslan Luchko. The residencies were hosted by Cove Park, Moniack Mhor, Hospitalfield and Edinburgh Sculpture Workshop.

Each residency provided valuable time and thinking-space allowing participants to develop their work, take advantage of facilities, workshops and events, and to link up with Scottish-based creatives to build lasting connections across the creative sector in the UK.

The impact of these initial residencies has extended well beyond 2023, leading to ongoing collaborations and new projects, including a collaboration between artists and curators in Ukraine and a poetry translation workshop bringing together young poets from Ukraine and Scotland.

Watch a video about the 2023 residencies
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