Residencies are the main focus of Nau’s work; all the projects conducted there share a clear and steadfast commitment to engage in research and experimentation in live arts, striving at all times to create or maintain decent working conditions throughout the companies’ creation process, while also providing them with assistance and resources so that they can bring their projects to fruition. 

Nau Ivanow sees a residency as: 

“a flexible process conducted in a given work space and time that provides adequate conditions adapted to the specific needs of each hosted project. Therefore, a flexible space that generates trust and dialogue in order to foster the creative process and gather and share the knowledge generated in artistic activities and make it part of the collective heritage. It must receive a financial contribution that enables creators to work in adequate conditions (financial resources, with fees for the research process) with a team that accompanies them in all areas, albeit without interfering in the creative process. It must be able to provide and open up spaces for connection and exchange that facilitate the continuity of artistic careers and must therefore be part of a community network that includes the artist, the creation centre and the setting. Residencies must be accessible through different recruitment mechanisms and must be based on creation time rather than on production.  “

Nau Ivanow’s resident companies programme is a strategic commitment to the long-term mentoring of new or up-and-coming live arts companies. The program runs for a four-year term, providing a stable and well-structured framework for companies to develop their artistic and professional project in depth and with sufficient time and resources.

During this period, the actual companies plot their own path through different programmes that all seek to consolidate a sustainable creation ecosystem in which the companies and their members can grow and become active stakeholders in the cultural sector.

This programme is based on a public call for projects in the course of which two companies are selected and become an active part of Nau’s community. The programme has two main cornerstones: