Nau Ivanow

Nau Ivanow is a performing arts residency space host in a former painting factory. It’s a space of welcome, accompaniment, trial and error, research and investigation; a haven where artists will find the warmth they need to work unhurriedly, in good conditions, feeling like natural inhabitants rather than mere users. Nau Ivanow’s projects are underpinned by three major working axes with one common denominator, namely internationalisation, which permeates each and every one of their projects.

In a few words, Nau  Ivanow’s team is committed to:

• CREATION, by providing coverage to all the stages involved in the creative process and the entire value chain of a performing arts project. They offer the peace and quiet and the resources needed to investigate and work without the pressure of coming up with “products”.
• ACCOMPANIMENT, to help artistic companies to grow and to provide exposure for what they do. Nau Ivanow is steadfastly committed to accompanying the user without any type of meddling in artistic matters, because each company must be free to choose its own path.
• WORK WITH THE TERRITORY, as they are a space where communities can experience their creative processes and where, through the participation of these communities, a direct dialogue is established with companies, ultimately helping everyone to grow. For this reason, residencies are the main focus of what the centre does. Their aim is to provide decent working conditions while companies are being created, accompanying them at all times and providing them with the resources they need.

What makes the organisation unique?

One of the things that makes Nau Ivanow unique is its team and the accompanionship they bring to the resident companies, as well as the values that they promote and defend. Also, on the main project, what makes Nau Ivanow quite unique is the residency programme and their own definition of what/how an artistic residence should be, a definition that emerged during the EXIT Conference, a meeting held in 2017 on internationalisation and mobility, within several artistic and manager cultural professionals.

They aim to accomplish the following statement in every residency with their resident companies, so they assure them the proper conditions by hiring them while they explore and research focusing on creation timings:

• A residence must be a flexible process that takes place in a space and a time with proper working conditions, that’s adapted to the specific needs of each welcomed project.
• A flexible space that generates trust and dialogue in order to take care of the process the creator undergoes and is able to collect, share and patrimonialize the knowledge that is generated within the artistic practice.
• It must be endowed with an economic contribution that allows the creator to work properly (economic resources, with fees for the research process) and also with a human team that assists in all areas, without interference in the creation itself.
• It must be able to offer and open connection and exchange spaces that facilitate the continuity of artistic trajectory. For this reason, it should be part of a community network that includes the artist, the creation centre and the environment. The residence must be accessible through different selection processes, and must be based on creation timings and not production timings.