Currently 14 active paid grants, fellowships and residencies taking place in France, across AI, arts, film, journalism, research, tech and cross-disciplinary practice. Many are open to applicants of any nationality; check each entry for residency and citizenship requirements. Hand-curated and updated weekly. Browse the list below, or use the interactive desk for filtering and shortlisting.
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Launched in 2025, this research and creation residency explores the links between contemporary art, psychiatry and the human sciences. It is expressly not a therapeutic programme. It seeks artists whose practice resonates with the notion of the clinical, meaning a situated approach that works closely with lived narratives and specific contexts, and that engages with questions of care. The selected artist receives tailored support from Albertine de Galbert, a clinical psychologist and exhibition curator, including four to six working sessions, alongside networking and meeting time with programme partners. Outputs include an ongoing online journal, a mid-residency open studio, and a closing presentation (exhibition, public talk or publication) defined with the artist. Applications go by email as a single PDF of no more than 15 MB to residence@francoiseartmemo.fr, and require a two-page CV, a ten-page portfolio, a two-page statement of intent, and a letter of recommendation from an institution or a curator. A jury of four to six art and psychiatry specialists decides, with results announced in September 2026.
The Fondation Francois Schneider's Contemporary Talents competition, themed The Earth for this edition, awards EUR 15,000 per laureate (including acquisition of the work; EUR 8,000 for editioned works) plus an exhibition at the foundation's centre in Wattwiller. ELIGIBILITY: professional artists internationally, in SCULPTURE AND INSTALLATION only (video or digital work alone does not qualify). NOTE: the 23 August 2026 deadline is from a listing site; the organizer page only states the call runs June to August, so verify the exact date before applying.
The European AI & Society Fund is launching Building Narrative Power, a EUR 2 million funding and learning programme to counter Big Tech's dominance over how AI is understood, and to help people and communities shape new ways of thinking and talking about the technology they want. The Fund's strategy is to build the power of the public interest community to shape the direction of AI in Europe; narratives are central to creating the conditions for a greater say over how AI is adopted and used. THREE THEMES where research shows the public already feels strongly: (1) DATA CENTRES: as the EU aims to triple data centre numbers in the next five to seven years, pollution, energy prices and compromised grid access have mobilised communities across the political spectrum; proposals should explore narrative questions that move communities beyond resistance towards engagement in shaping data centre expansion. (2) AI AND JOBS: 57% of the public in a recent study expressed concern about how AI will change employment, more pronounced among lower-income people, and the concern is not only displacement but the quality and nature of work, autonomy and dignity; proposals should move the debate from generalised anxiety into a mobilising issue that shapes the future of work. (3) YOUNG PEOPLE: beyond the strident social media ban debate, young people encounter AI in education, friendships and future careers, and their wider views are rarely heard; proposals should build narratives that help young people shape the technologies that will influence their lives. LEARNING PROGRAMME: grantees join a community of practice, sharing experiences across issues and places, supporting each other through delivery and reflecting on which strategies and stories have most salience, with findings feeding back to the Fund and other funders. ABOUT THE FUNDER: the European AI & Society Fund is a pooled fund with 18 funding partners that mobilises a public interest community in Europe to fight for AI that serves people, society and planet; it takes no EU, government or Big Tech money. ELIGIBILITY: this call is only open to organisations in Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Republic of Cyprus, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland; applications from the UK, the Western Balkans and other non-European countries are not accepted. Guidance for applicants and a full application-form preview are published so you can prepare a draft before submitting. HOW TO APPLY: create an account on the Fund's application platform Optimy (link in the guidance documents) and submit the first-stage application before 31 August 2026. KEY DATES: call launched 16 July 2026; information sessions 22 July, 29 July and 24 August 2026 (11:00 to 12:00 CET); first-stage deadline 31 August 2026; unsuccessful applicants notified 16 October 2026; shortlisted applicants invited to submit a detailed proposal on 19 October 2026, due 16 November 2026; funding decisions notified 14 December 2026; grants start February 2027. Questions to info@europeanaifund.org; an FAQ covering eligibility, coalitions, non-profit status and what the grant can be spent on is published at the bottom of the programme page.
Cheries-Cheris, France's largest LGBTQIA+ film festival, screens at MK2 cinemas across Paris. Films must have an LGBTQIA+ theme or perspective. Regular deadline 31 August 2026 (USD 8 shorts / USD 20 features); late deadline 20 September 2026 at higher fees.
DRIFT (Dance and Research In The Future Time) is a four-year Creative Europe cooperation between ten European organisations, led by Theatre de Liege and Maison de la danse. The distinguishing feature is that it funds artistic research rather than production: you are expected to arrive with questions, not a finished piece you already intend to make, and reviewers read every section of the application through that lens. STRUCTURE: each of the ten partner organisations selects one choreographer from its own country, forming a cohort of ten. Over the programme you get an Onboarding Lab, two weeks of residency with your national partner, three collaborative Online Labs, a Festival Lab in Tunis, individual artistic and curatorial mentoring, and a work-in-progress showcase at the Biennale de la danse in Lyon, all backed by a EUR 20,000 research budget that covers your fees, travel, accommodation and any collaborators. SECOND PHASE: after a further evaluation, five of the ten artists may receive co-production support and touring across the DRIFT network. That phase is separate from this application and is not guaranteed. ELIGIBILITY: professional choreographers in contemporary dance or performance, at a mid-career stage, meaning an established national practice but not yet fully established internationally. You must be based in Belgium, France, Germany (Berlin region only), Greece, Norway, Italy, Spain, Ukraine, Tunisia or Portugal, and you apply through the partner organisation representing your country of residence, not centrally. Good English and availability for all programme dates are required. The country list is strict, so check it before you start. TIMELINE: applications opened 1 July 2026 and close 31 August 2026; selection through September; results 9 October 2026; programme runs November 2026 to September 2027.
PAUSE is the French national programme for the emergency hosting of scientists and artists in exile, created in 2017 and run from the College de France. It co-funds a stay at a French higher education or research establishment or at a cultural institution so that a researcher, doctoral candidate or artist at risk can keep working, and it also supports their family. ELIGIBILITY: applicants must be able to prove status as a doctoral student (with a thesis in progress interrupted by the emergency), researcher, teacher-researcher or artist-teacher in their country of origin; must be in a crisis situation because of the security situation in that country or because of persecution or fear of persecution on grounds of ethnicity, religion, political convictions, opinions or sexual orientation, or the content of their research or teaching; and must be forced into exile or have been in France for less than three years. HOST REQUIREMENT: a French host institution is mandatory and submits the application; eligible hosts are institutions under the French higher education and research ministry, EESPIG private institutions, and structures supported by the Ministry of Culture. PAUSE publishes a list of at-risk candidates looking for a host, which institutions can use to find a match. The call opens at the end of August 2026 with a deadline of 24 September 2026.
La Résidence of the Festival de Cannes (part of Cinéma de Demain, formerly La Cinéfondation) invites 12 directors each year to write their screenplay in Paris. The programme provides a place of residence in the heart of Paris, a personalised programme accompanying the writing of their scripts, and a collective programme of forums with film industry professionals. The 12 directors from the two annual sessions present their projects at the CNC pavilion in Cannes, giving 10-minute presentations to an audience of professionals and a jury of three film industry personalities; the CNC then awards a EUR 5,000 grant to one director from each session, based on the project that most inspires the jury. The Cinef & Résidence offices serve as a hub where directors meet and schedule private meetings with potential producers. ELIGIBILITY: open to young filmmakers who have made one or several short films and no more than one feature film; candidates must NOT be residents or citizens of France. Selected filmmakers must stay at the Résidence in Paris for the full session. SESSIONS: two per year, each lasting four and a half months, the first running 15 March to 31 July and the second 1 October to 15 February. Artistic fields: film, writing, interdisciplinary. Deadline: 30 September 2026 at 16:00 UTC. Free to apply.
Call for short films (1-10 minutes) involving human/AI hybrid creation, from the We Are Human Foundation in Paris. Three cash awards: Grand Prix EUR 5,000, Best Screenplay EUR 3,000, and an Ethics Award EUR 2,000. ELIGIBILITY: international, applicants 18+; films must have been completed after 1 June 2025 and involve human/AI hybrid creation; a mandatory Ethics Notebook accompanies each submission. No submission fee. Festival screening at Forum des images, Paris, on 24 November 2026. Apply via FilmFreeway; deadline 30 September 2026.
Columbia University's Institute for Ideas and Imagination brings a cohort of scholars and artists to Reid Hall in Paris for an academic year (September 2027 to May 2028), with a USD 75,000 stipend, housing, and research support. The creative-arts category explicitly includes visual and sound arts and film alongside writing and composition. ELIGIBILITY: any nationality, but artists must not be permanently residentent in the United States (Netherlands-based artists qualify). Deadline 30 September 2026.
Founded by the artist and philanthropist Jerome Hill, the Camargo Foundation has run this residency in Cassis on the Mediterranean coast since 1971, and more than 1,500 fellows have been through it. Fourteen fellowships are awarded per cycle, split roughly seven artists and seven scholars or thinkers, which is the point: the interdisciplinary cohort is the programme, not a side effect. IMPORTANT: the Foundation has stated that this is the FINAL fellowship awarded through a public open call before it moves to a new selection process from 2027, so if you have been meaning to apply, this is the cycle. RESEARCH, NOT PRODUCTION: this is deliberately structured as a research residency. You propose a project or line of inquiry, which can be development of a new work, research preceding future creative work, or a broader investigation in your practice. Visual artists are explicitly reminded that research is prioritised over production, and the Foundation supplies no art materials, technical equipment or artwork shipping, so anything needing extensive fabrication is a poor fit. Fellows lead one resident session built around their own research or methodology, and attendance at these sessions is mandatory for everyone. Optional public Open Studios and introductions to organisations across the Aix-Marseille-Provence region are also part of it. ELIGIBILITY: professional artists, scholars and thinkers of any nationality. Artists should have at least five years of professional practice and a mature body of work evidenced by exhibitions, performances, publications, awards or grants. Performance artists, theatre directors, choreographers, multidisciplinary artists, writers, filmmakers, composers and visual artists are all eligible within their categories. Collaborative applications of up to three members are accepted. APPLICATION: four separate written responses covering the project, the research questions, why Camargo specifically, and why now in your career; reviewers are reading for a coherent research trajectory rather than a production proposal. An applicant webinar runs 1 September 2026. Deadline 1 October 2026 at 17:59 EST / 23:59 CET; notifications April 2027.
Residency programme run by the Institut francais de Paris with the Cite internationale des arts, one of France's largest international artist mobility programmes, supporting nearly seventy artists and cultural professionals each year. It offers furnished individual live-work studios in the Marais for 3, 6 or 9 months across four quarterly windows between April 2027 and April 2028 (arrivals 9 April 2027, 9 July 2027, 8 October 2027, or 7 January 2028), plus access to an auditorium, exhibition spaces, rehearsal studios and shared printmaking, screen-printing and ceramics workshops. The Institut francais covers the monthly cost of the studio; the artist's nominating partner organisation submits the application and must provide a stipend of at least EUR 1,100 per month plus international travel, insurance and visa fees. ELIGIBILITY: established artists and cultural professionals of any nationality who have lived outside France for at least 5 years, with an active professional practice, a clearly defined research or creative project, and professional-level French and/or English; open across disciplines (theatre, dance, performance, visual arts, music, literature, cinema, architecture, design, digital creation, photography, fashion, crafts, curating, and more). IMPORTANT: artists cannot apply directly - a partner organisation (French cultural network abroad, or a French or foreign cultural organisation) must nominate and support the applicant, committing financial and professional support before, during and after the residency. Applications open 1 July 2026; free to apply. Deadline: 8 October 2026, 11:59 PM CET.
Global art prize celebrating how art is made, open to artists worldwide working in any medium or art form. Instead of a traditional application form, artists submit a digital presence (website, portfolio or social profile) linked through a .ART domain that documents identity, process and work as one continuous record. PRIZES: Grand Prize (USD 15,000 cash); Artist Residency Award France (one month at Chateau du Fresne, near Paris); Artist Residency Award Spain (residency at Anfitrion, Marbella); Publication Award (editorial coverage in Whitewall Magazine, the campaign's media partner); .ART Domain Award (USD 10,000 premium .ART domain name). ELIGIBILITY: individual artists and artist collectives from all backgrounds (cultures, ethnicities, gender identities, abilities); 18 or older at time of submission; open to artists from all geographic regions with no restrictions on nationality or place of residence. Multiple entries permitted, as long as each submission (single artwork, series or overall practice) is presented on or linked to a SEPARATE .ART domain. NOTE: a .ART domain is required for submission; this is the de facto entry mechanism. ANNOUNCEMENT: winners revealed during Art Basel Miami on 3 December 2026. DEADLINE: 1 November 2026. APPLY via the .ART Award site.
The European Media Art Platform (EMAP/EMARE) is a network of leading European media-art organisations offering fully funded two-month production residencies for artists working with digital media, including media art, bio art and robotic art. Each residency provides a EUR 4,000 grant to the applying artist (including subsistence), a EUR 4,000 project budget, host-provided accommodation, travel covered according to EU ceilings, and access to technical facilities and media labs; a collaborating artist receives an additional EUR 2,000 (EUR 6,000 total for a duo). Residencies take place at one of 15 host institutions across Austria, France, Slovakia, Portugal, Belgium, the Netherlands, Slovenia, Croatia, Spain, Italy, Cyprus, Greece, Latvia, Germany and Poland. ELIGIBILITY: applicants must be EU residents or taxpayers in an EU member state, or residents/taxpayers of one of the eligible non-EU countries (Netherlands-based artists qualify). Undergraduate and Master's students are not eligible; PhD candidates and emerging artists of any age and academic background may apply. IMPORTANT: applicants must apply as a duo or collective, or propose a collaborative project, rather than as a purely solo applicant. The 2027 open call runs from 3 September 2026 to 6 November 2026 at 14:00 CET. Apply online at call.emare.eu. No application fee.
Residency programme run by the Art Explora Foundation with the Cite internationale des arts at its Montmartre site, supporting work that engages scientific and technological exploration and the major social and environmental issues of the present. Residents receive a studio-apartment of around 50 sqm, a monthly living grant of EUR 1,000, a production grant of up to EUR 3,000, and a round-trip travel grant, plus access to production facilities and local networks. Two tracks are offered: a SOLO programme for artists and writers across visual arts, performance, digital practices, literary and other experimental disciplines, and a COLLECTIVE programme for duos or collectives working collaboratively on interdisciplinary, experimental or research-based projects, for which a single studio-apartment designed for collaborative work hosts two residents sharing a bed, and only one member should submit the application. Eligible artistic disciplines are visual arts, performance and live arts, digital arts, curatorial practices, and writing and literary practices; eligible research fields are humanities, social sciences, cultural studies and history, technological innovation, and ecology. No output is required at the end of the residency, but participation in the Open Studios is mandatory. ELIGIBILITY: artists, artist collectives, researchers, curators and writers of all nationalities, no age restriction, with a minimum of five years of professional activity and works or research exhibited at national or international level. The Cite lists 20 to 22 residencies per year on this programme. Deadline 6 November 2026, 23:59 Europe/Paris. Questions: residences@artexplora.org. FLAG: the grant figures above come from the open-call text supplied to the desk; neither the Cite nor Art Explora publishes amounts on the programme page, so confirm them, along with the exact deadline, before applying.