Who Are We?
S-AIR was established in 1999 with partial funding by the Agency for Cultural Affairs, to run an artist-in-residence programme in Hokkaido. Since it was approved to be a non-profit organisation in 2005, S-AIR started a collaborative residency project with ICC, in which we have been building networks with Japanese and international artists as well as art institutions in Japan and overseas. Since 2011, S-AIR has been supported by the Agency for Cultural Affairs. Our associated programmes have also been supported by various funding bodies including the City of Sapporo, Pola Foundation and Japan Foundation.
Residence Programmes
Programmes for International Artists
Since its establishment S-AIR has hosted 92 artists in total from 36 countries & regions (as of March 2017). From 2008 for 5 years, S-AIR hosted 10 artists in total from countries in Asia and Oceania for JENESYS (Japan-East Asia Network of Exchange for Students and Youths) Programme funded by Japan Foundation.
Since 2011, S-AIR has been hosting 3 artists and one curator/researcher each year mostly on an exchange basis.
Programmes for Local/ National Artists: S-AIR Award
Alongside of hosting international artists in Sapporo, the S-AIR AWARD was set up in 2006 to offer residency opportunities for local artists to live and produce art work abroad using the network that S-AIR had been building up. In 2011, the award was also open for a non-local artist. Until the end of March 2016, the award have been given to 23 artists.
Other Projects
S-AIR have organised different projects such as ‘Art Akebono 04-05’ and ‘Artist-in-School’ (now run by AIS Planning) with a new approach, in which the idea of residency has been taken into an educational environment including community centres and elementary schools. In 2004, S-AIR was involved in the organising of ‘Art NPO Forum in Sapporo’, and has been regularly initiating and running various cultural projects such as concerts, workshops, art projects.
Whilst many organisations use their own spaces to run residency programmes, S-AIR is unique in such a way that it does not run any space except residential rooms and studios for international artists. This is why S-AIR can work flexibly case by case according to the type of projects and to artists’ requirements, which is one of the strong characteristics of S-AIR. Through this flexible process, new project opportunities always arise naturally with other institutions and organisations, which leads to a wider network. For this, S-AIR has achieved its reputation as a leading coordinator in cultural projects in Sapporo and in Hokkaido.
S-AIR will continue to commit itself in researching art activities and in developing its established links in Japan and internationally whilst initiating cultural projects that would bring out the most of the regional characteristics of Sapporo.
(As of November 2017)
Staff
Hisashi Shibata
Director / University Lecturer, Director
Kyoko Tachibana
Programme Director
Rie Kawakami
Assistant Programme Director
Contact Us
Naebono Art Studio 2F, North 2 East 15-26-28, Chuo Ward
Sapporo 060-0032 JAPAN
http://www.s-air.org
https://sairblog.wordpress.com/
info@s-air.org
TEL ＋81-11-299-1883