This exchange project is organized with Footscray Community Arts in Melbourne, Australia. For this year’s iteration, the project invited the Melbourne-based contemporary dance artist Ngioka Bunda-Heath to Japan

Residency Period: August 15–September 11, 2023 (Japan)
Residency Venues: Morishita Studio (Tokyo), Sapporo Tenjinyama Art Studio
Invited Artists:
Ngioka Bunda-Heath (Australia)
Mayunkiki (Japan)

The artist Mayunkiki, a member of the traditional Ainu vocal group MAREWREW and active at festivals both in Japan and overseas, and Kanoko Tamura, who heads Art Translators Collective and works in contemporary art and the performing arts, were invited to Australia.

Residency Period: March 7–April 4, 2024 (Australia)
Residency Venue: Footscray Community Arts (Melbourne)
Participating Artist and Arts Manager:
Mayunkiki (Japan)
Kanoko Tamura (Japan)

This exchange project is organized with Footscray Community Arts in Melbourne, Australia. For this year’s iteration, the project invited Uncle Larry Walsh of the Footscray Community Arts Indigenous Advisory Group and Dan Mitchell, Footscray Community Arts’ senior producer, to Japan.

Residency Period: August 28–September 10, 2022 (Japan)
Residency Venues: Morishita Studio (Tokyo), Sapporo Tenjinyama Art Studio
Participating Artists and Art Managers:
Uncle Larry Walsh (Australia)
Dan Mitchell (Australia)

The artist Mayunkiki, active at festivals both in Japan and overseas and a member of the traditional Ainu vocal group MAREWREW, and Kanoko Tamura, who heads Art Translators Collective and works in contemporary art and performing arts, were invited to Australia.

Residency Period: February 27–March 14, 2023 (Australia)
Residency Venues: Footscray Community Arts (Melbourne), POWERHOUSE-GALANG (Sydney)
Participating Artists and Arts Managers:
Mayunkiki (Japan)
Kanoko Tamura (Japan)

This exchange project is held in partnership with the artist collective Mapped to the Closest Address. The Japan-based Shuntaro Yoshida and Maharu Maeno collaborated with the Germany-based Alex Viteri and Catalina Fernández.

In this project, which was launched in 2020, Mapped to the Closest Address conducts research gathering different voices and stories from people they have met in Tokyo and Berlin (a gardener, arborist, community garden members, farmer, winemaker), and from friends and family. Turn off the house lights, a dance performance interweaving past, present, and imaginary landscapes, along with those voices and narratives, was staged by the Berlin collective in March 2022. For fiscal 2022, Alex Viteri and Catalina Fernández were invited to Tokyo, where they collaborated with Shuntaro Yoshida and Maharu Maeno.

Residency Period: August 3–September 14, 2022
Residency Venue: Morishita Studio

Participating Artists:
Alex Viteri (dramaturge)
Catalina Fernández (lighting and sound designer)
Shuntaro Yoshida (dancer, choreographer, contemporary dance and performance researcher)
Maharu Maeno (artist, performer)
Violeta (videographer, performer)

This dance exchange project is organized jointly with Comune di Bassano del Grappa (Italy), La Briqueterie – Centres de développement chorégraphique nationaux du Val-de-Marne (France), the National Kaohsiung Center for the Arts (Taiwan), and West Kowloon Cultural District (Hong Kong).
From September 2021, four artists participated in digital residencies hosted by each of the partner institutions, with the results presented in December. The Saison Foundation invited Daisuke Muto to discuss with the participating artists about the social natural of choreography and approaches to dance through the theme of choreography and ecosystems.

The following artists participated: Aina Alegre (France/Spain), Chan Wai Lok (Hong Kong), Federica Dalla Pozza (Italy), and Yen-Fang Yu (Taiwan).

This exchange project is conducted in partnership with the artist collective Mapped to the Closest Address. The Japan-based Shuntaro Yoshida and Maharu Maeno visited and worked with the Germany-based Alex Viteri and Catalina Fernández. The pandemic prevented Viteri and Fernández from reciprocating and coming to Japan, so the second part of the residency was held online. As a practice for disentangling awe, beliefs, and discord over nature, the artists recorded environmental sounds and filmed landscapes to create a sound installation. The Berlin collective held a performance that was streamed online.
　
[Participating artists]
Alex Viteri
Catalina Fernandez
Shuntaro Yoshida
Maharu Maeno
Violeta

This exchange project is organized with Footscray Community Arts, an arts center in the suburbs of Melbourne, Australia. Since the pandemic prevented the foundation and Footscray Community Arts from sending artists to take part in residencies, an online symposium, “Looking Back on 50 Years of Indigenous Cultural and Artistic Activities in Australia and Japan,” was organized instead to encourage understanding of the state of cultural and artistic activities among indigenous peoples in Japan and Australia.

Panelists
Vicki Couzens (Artist, Footscray Community Arts Indigenous Advisory Group)
Dan Mitchell (Senior Producer, Indigenous Cultural Program, Footscray Community Arts)
Masahiro Nomoto (Director of Culture Promotion Department, Upopoy National Ainu Museum and Park)

Support was provided for creativity-focused research by artists working in and outside Japan in the fields of dance or performance. The participants engaged with different themes by conducting literature reviews and fieldwork, and then taking part in sessions to share those processes with the other artists. Online workshops and final presentations were held to share the artists’ distinct practices, methods, and training with the general public.

This study group searches for the importance and roles of artist residencies in the performing arts. For this fiscal year, it explored the theme of possibilities and challenges for artist residency networks and partnerships, and the sustainability of artist residencies after the pandemic. It shared attitudes and issues related to running and producing performing arts residency programs, and exchanged opinions on future approaches and directions.

This symposium series considers the role of and new possibilities for artist residencies in the performing arts. This year, it focused on initiatives specific to public halls and theaters, and elucidated the situation and significance of residencies in such institutions.

A dance exchange program in partnership with Comune di Bassano del Grappa in Italy, La Briqueterie Centre de développement chorégraphique national du Val-de-Marne in France, Weiwuying National Kaohsiung Center for the Arts in Taiwan, and Freespace, West Kowloon Cultural District in Hong Kong.
In FY2020, five artists from different cultural and historical backgrounds toured the digital residencies hosted by each partner institution from September 2020, and presented their results in December 2020.

An exchange program with the art collective, “Mapped to the Closest Address.”
In FY2020, “Open Forest Launch”, a digital residency connecting art activities in Tokyo and Berlin, was hold.
　
[Participating artists]
Alex Viteri
Catalina Fernandez
Shuntaro Yoshida
Maharu Maeno

Online Research Residency is a program that supports research with a view to creative work, providing an opportunity for artists to broaden the scope of their creative activities and deepen their connections with artists working in Japan and abroad.
In parallel with their own research, participating artists took part in group sessions where they could share their research process online with other participating artists. In addition, online workshops and presentations of the results were held to share the artists’ own dance practices and methods, research ideas, and methodologies.

Performing Arts AiR Meeting is a program aimed at promoting artist-in-residence programs for the performing arts in Japan.
In February 2021, a symposium was held at TPAM 2020 (International Performing Arts Meeting in Yokohama) to clarify the reality and significance of artist-in-residence as a local place in today’s globalized society.

Museum of Human E-motion is a dance exchange program between The Saison Foundation (Japan), Comune di Bassano del Grappa (Italy), La Briqueterie – Centres de Développement Chorégraphique du Val-de-Marne (France) and National Kaohsiung Center for the Arts (Taiwan). Teita Iwabuchi, Sorour Darabi (Iran / based in France), Masako Matsushita (Italy) and Ming-Hwa Yeh (Taiwan) worked at Morishita Studio in December 2019. Each organization hosts a residency program, Italy in August, France in September 2019, Taiwan in December 2019 and January 2020.

The Performing Arts AiR Meeting aims to promote the artist-in-residence programs in performing arts in Japan. In February 2019, the foundation co-sponsored and held a lecture and symposium at TPAM 2019 (International Performing Arts Meeting in Yokohama) for information sharing and networking of the artist-in-residence programs in performing arts In fiscal 2020, a meeting was held at Nagano Prefecture’s small theater, Sai no Kaku in December 2019, to deepen understanding of the artist-in-residence production and management, and support of the resident artists. In February 2020, in collaboration with the International Performing Arts Meeting in Yokohama, at TPAM 2020 (International Performing Arts Meeting in Yokohama), a roundtable was held to discuss why AiR is so indispensable “now,” introducing examples of the artist-in-residence programs which artists or producers have “personally” started.

Kiseki – Trajectories is a dance exchange program between The Saison Foundation (Japan), Comune di Bassano del Grappa (Italy), La Briqueterie – Centres de Développement Chorégraphique du Val-de-Marne (France).
Teita Iwabudhi, Giorgia Nardin, Satchie Noro worked at Morishita Studio in February 2018. The program continues and each organization hosts residency program in Italy in August and in France in September 2018.

Exchange program with Colectivo La Perdición based in Barcelona, Spain.