Enjoy Contemporary Art Space invites Expressions of Interest for our 2027 Summer Residency at the historic Rita Angus Cottage. This six-week residency, running from late January to early March, offers a practitioner the time, space and support to develop an ambitious project while living in Te Whanganui-a-Tara Wellington.

We welcome proposals from Aotearoa-based artists who are several years post-tertiary study or already established in their practice. The residency is designed to support artists who are ready to undertake a concentrated period of research, experimentation or project development with depth, ambition and criticality.

Enjoy will prioritise proposals that are experimental, speculative, materially or conceptually ambitious and critically engaged. We are particularly interested in artists seeking to push their practice forward, whether through new methodologies, dialogue with place, interdisciplinary methods or the development of significant new work.

Applicants are welcome to consider the histories, environment or cultural significance of the Rita Angus Cottage; however, a direct dialogue with Rita Angus’s own artwork is not required. We encourage responsiveness to place, context and time — interpreted broadly and in ways that are meaningful to each artist’s practice and intentions.

The residency includes:

Accommodation and a studio/workspace at the historic Rita Angus Cottage, including access to all household amenities, power and wifi

Logistical, curatorial and research support from the Enjoy team

A $3000 stipend, plus travel to Te Whanganui-a-Tara Wellington from within Aotearoa

A subsequent project with Enjoy, which may take the form of an exhibition, screening, publication, etc.

About the Rita Angus Cottage:

Located in Thorndon, the Rita Angus Cottage is a site of national significance and a unique part of the cultural fabric of Aotearoa. Home to Rita Angus from 1955 until her death in 1970, the cottage and surrounding landscape informed some of her most iconic modernist works — portraits, studies of the garden and magnolia tree, landscape views and self-portraits that have become central to this country’s art history.

The cottage, named Fernbank Studio by Angus, remains a remarkable environment for creative work. Thoughtfully maintained and upgraded over the past decade, it retains its historic character while providing comfortable working and living spaces. The cottage is listed as a Category 1 historic place with Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga.

Since 1985, the Rita Angus Cottage Trust has facilitated more than forty artist residencies at the site, offering a rare opportunity for focused creative development within one of Te Whanganui-a-Tara’s most storied artistic settings.

How to apply:

Please submit a single PDF labeled with your first and last name containing:

A project or research proposal outlining your aims for the residency and how it will support the development of your practice (one page max)

A short biography and CV

Up to eight supporting images or samples of previous work

(Optional) Reflections on how your project may connect to the cottage, its histories, or its environment

 

Applications should be sent via email to sophie@enjoy.org.nz. Proposals are due 5pm, Sunday 27 September. Applications are reviewed by Enjoy’s Kaihautū Director and Kairauhī Curator in collaboration with the Rita Angus Cottage Trust. You will be notified of the outcome of your proposal by Sunday 11 October.

RESEARCH ASSISTANCE

Need help with your research? Drop into Enjoy between 3.30pm and 5.30pm any Thursday where we can help you navigate our library.

We can help you find relevant books and texts from our collection of over 1300 books and periodicals from Aotearoa, the Pacific, and abroad. Enjoy's collection is expansive and includes several books from art theory, philosophy and art reference books to exhibition and artist publications, including niche, one-off and handmade gems unique to our collection.

Alongside our library, our archives not only include documentation and ephemera from Enjoy's twenty-two year history of exhibitions and events, but also from galleries and projects all over Aotearoa spanning decades.

Free WiFi, tea and coffee provided.

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