NAWAT FES

LIVE/WORK FACILITIES

Nawat Fes artist residents live and work in a traditional Moroccan house in the old medina, tucked away not far from a main street. Each artist has a bedroom, a private bath, and a basic studio in the house. Each studio has a large work table. The house has wifi, a laundry room, a roof terrace with a view of the medina, and a shared kitchen where artists cook their own meals. The rooms in Dar Bennis all open onto an interior courtyard, and perfect quiet in the living and work spaces cannot be assured. There are several great cafes nearby that also make excellent off-site working environments. Read more about Dar Bennis here.

RESIDENCY PERIODS

Residencies last for two months, and artists must arrive on the first day of the residency and stay through the end. Nawat Fes does not award residencies shorter than two months. The residency periods for 2024-25 are:

• FALL 2024 (Mid-October to Early December 2024)
• WINTER 2025 (Mid-January to Mid-March 2025)
• SPRING 2025 (Mid-March to Mid-May 2025)
• SUMMER 2025 (Mid-May through Mid-July 2025)

The February 15, 2024 application deadline has closed for residencies from Mid-October 2024 through Mid-July 2025. (Residencies before this time have already been awarded.) Residencies after October 2025 will be scheduled in a future application process. If you are interested in applying at a future deadline, please add your name to the Nawat Fes email list below and we will inform you when the next application cycle opens. (Please do not email us and request that we add you to the email list.)

LIMITATIONS

Each artist has a simple, private studio space in Dar Bennis that is separate from their living space. Our current facilities have some limitations for visual artists and artists working in sound. In the future, we will explore partnerships that will enable us to expand access to dedicated studio space for artists working in these media.

• Limitations of Visual Arts Studios. At present, simple visual arts studios are located in Dar Bennis. Studios do not have any special equipment. Because Dar Bennis is a shared live-work space, artists may not use materials in the studios that will create fumes.
• Limitations of studios for sound-based artists. Dar Bennis is a shared space, and we do not have facilities in which sound-based artists can play their work at full volume. Currently, musicians, composers and sound artists are welcome to apply who are able to work in the space productively using their own headphones and equipment in a way that will not disturb the other artist resident. We do not have a piano or special equipment.

ACCESSIBILITY

The Fes medina is a pedestrian zone constructed on sloping hills paved with aggregate cobblestones, and it requires a lot of walking on uneven surfaces. Artists reach Dar Bennis by walking 10 minutes downhill on one of the two main streets of the medina. It is easy to find once one is oriented to the basic layout of the medina. Dar Bennis is constructed on four levels and the staircases are narrow. There is no elevator in Dar Bennis.

• Residencies are supported by the American Language Center Fes / Arabic Language Institute in Fez (ALC Fes/ALIF), which provides housing at no cost to artist residents, along with a stipend of 12,000 Moroccan dirhams (approximately $1200) for the two-month residency, from which artists provide their own food. Half of the stipend is provided on arrival, and half at the midpoint of the residency.
• Artists are also offered the option of a complimentary 10-hour course in beginning Moroccan Arabic designed to equip artists with basic communication skills for living in the medina. Both artist residents are scheduled together. If artists wish to study further, they can pay for additional class hours through ALIF.
• Artists support the cost of their own travel, travel medical insurance, materials, any cost for mailing finished work out of Morocco, and all other costs.
• We can recommend some excellent local cooks who can come to Dar Bennis to prepare a variety of meals, including vegetarian, vegan, and gluten free options, as well as traditional Moroccan dishes.

COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT

The team and volunteers of the American Language Center Fes and the Arabic Language Institute in Fez will be available on a limited basis to help artists engage with the local community, including providing translation, when necessary. Artists specify their community engagement goals in their application and at the beginning of their residency. We have a small and dedicated team, and artists must be prepared to work independently during their residencies.

ADDITIONAL EXPECTATIONS/OPPORTUNITIES

Nawat Fes artist residents are expected to offer two opportunities for our community to engage with their work. These could be public programs such as a talk, performance, reading, lecture, workshop or concert, or an exhibition of their work during the residency. These programs are intended for local students of English and/or international students of Arabic, as well as the local community. A high value is placed on linguistic exchange between the artists and the Moroccan community in Fes, which participates in American Language Center Fes programs in English. Artists should be prepared to present their public programs in English or Arabic.

Nawat Fes artists are selected by juries, and the process is competitive. At our most recent annual deadline, we received 180 applications for 8 residency spaces. We value diversity highly within our community of artist residents. Residencies are awarded based on the quality of work submitted, diversity of cohort, the strength and interest of the proposal for intended new work and proposed public programs, and the fit of the artist within Morocco and the Fes medina.