The French Institute in India and the French Embassy in India have launched the fourth edition of the Villa Swagatam cross-residency programme, a flagship initiative designed to foster long-term artistic and literary dialogue between France and South Asia. Applications are invited from French and Indian applicants for the 2026-2027 programme. Applications are open until May 31.
Launched in 2023, Villa Swagatam is a platform for creative exchange, bringing together a growing network of residencies across France and South Asia. Through immersive residencies ranging from one to three months, the programme supports artists, translators, writers, designers and researchers seeking to engage deeply with new cultural environments and develop collaborative projects. At the heart of Villa Swagatam lies a dual thematic focus that shapes both its identity and its impact: literature and arts and crafts.
Thierry Mathou, Ambassador of France in India, emphasises: “The creators who join the Villa Swagatam family are true passeurs: they build bridges between places, practices, and perspectives, whether encountering the ecosystem for the first time or returning to it with a fresh vision. Each edition brings an extraordinary range of projects, which are shaped by these encounters. We are delighted to welcome a new cohort and eager to see the dialogues and forms that will emerge during the India-France Year of Innovation 2026.”
Over the first three editions, Villa Swagatam has supported almost 100 residents, generating a dense web of collaborations across literature, visual arts, craft traditions, design, and translation. Beyond the residency itself, these experiences often open doors to some of the most significant cultural platforms across the world, ranging from the India Art Fair, Kochi-Muziris Biennale, 1-54 Marrakech to the Kerala Literature Festival and Littérature Live in Lyon. Residents are not only immersed in local contexts, they are propelled into vibrant professional circuits where their work gains visibility, dialogue, and new trajectories.
In France, Villa Swagatam strengthens its engagement with contemporary artistic experimentation through new collaborations with the Musée d’Art Contemporain de Lyon (macLYON), which will host a residency centred on ceramics at the crossroads of art and technique, and the Fondation Thalie in Arles, internationally recognised for its pioneering work in biodesign and sustainable creative practices.
This edition also marks the launch of its first literary residency on the island of La Réunion, a French overseas territory in the Indian Ocean with deep historical and cultural connections with India. The residency is hosted by Banyan – Centre d’art contemporain de la Cité des Arts de La Réunion and Lerka (an experimental space for contemporary artistic research and creation), and will host an Indian author whose project explores and reactivates these enduring ties.
For this edition, Villa Swagatam is also introducing its first research residency in collaboration with the Institut d’études avancées de Nantes, inviting Indian scholars, thinkers and researchers to propose a project at the intersection of the humanities, new imagineries, and contemporary global challenges.
In South Asia, Villa Swagatam continues to explore the dialogue between tradition and innovation through a new partnership with StoneX Global, offering a residency anchored in stone and marble, materials that carry both architectural memory and contemporary sculptural potential.
A new literary residency is also being launched in New Delhi with Red House, a family-run cultural centre housed in a repurposed industrial site. Continuing its spirit of expansion to residencies in South Asia, for the first time, Villa Swagatam extends its network to Bhutan. Further, in Bangladesh, the programme welcomes the Cosmos Foundation, opening access to a rich and dynamic ecosystem of crafts, where artisanal knowledge and contemporary creation intersect.
Finally, this edition introduces an ambitious new format: the Itinerant literary residency. Conceived as a curated, multi-sited journey, it will offer one resident the opportunity to develop a project across four to six cities in India, engaging with a range of contexts, collaborators, and publics.
Villa Swagatam includes 30+ residencies, organised into three thematic and geographic categories.
