Mophradat has partnered with Kunstencentrum BUDA and NEXT festival in Belgium to offer a three-week residency for a performing artist from the Arab world to finalise a new performance using BUDA’s facilities and artistic support, and premiere their work at NEXT festival at the conclusion of the residency, all of which will take place October/November 2025.
Kunstencentrum BUDA in Kortrijk is a platform for contemporary art festivals, an art house cinema, and one of the largest workspaces for performing arts in Belgium. It offers time and space, customised support (logistic, technical, feedback), a network of artistic and professional contacts, and the possibility of an informal presentation for a test audience. BUDA is part of NEXT Festival. NEXT is a yearly, international performing arts festival that started in 2008 in four cities in the cross-border Eurometropolis Lille-Kortrijk-Tournai and Valenciennes, organised by six French and Belgian co-organising artistic houses and 10 to 15 associated partners. It evolved into a collaboration platform and a landmark event for cultural and artistic professionals from all over Europe.
Applicants must be working with contemporary forms of performance (classical theatre, community theatre, and classical western dance such as ballet and so forth are not eligible). Unconventional projects dealing with experimental forms and/or concerned with progressive discourses are encouraged to apply. Applicants must be in the final development phase of their projects by September 2025 and have confirmed co-producers and/or a financing plan, as this residency only partially contributes to the production costs.
The selected artist (working with a maximum of three collaborators, i.e. up to four individuals in total) will have their travel and visa costs, per diem, and honoraria covered, in addition to receiving a contribution to their project’s production costs, and a presentation fee for the performance at NEXT festival.
