Two Together: Porthmeor Studios Residencies 2027

The 2027 Two Together: Porthmeor Studios Residencies offer the opportunity for three pairs of visual artists to undertake a shared residency at the historic Porthmeor Studios in St Ives, Cornwall, to enable exchange and learning.

Artists from Devon or Cornwall are invited to apply with another UK-based artist. 

Applicants are encouraged to consider how you will benefit from working together, how your practices connect, and why this residency is timely for you both, as well as how a shared studio space will benefit each of you. The residency necessitates process-led experimentation. We are interested to see practices, ideas and projects developed through an engagement with materials and materiality.

Continuing Freelands Foundation's commitment to supporting the relationship between making and learning, this residency offers artists an opportunity to invite a new person into their practice. Selected pairs will work alongside one another in Porthmeor’s Studio 5 across a month-long residency.

Two Together: Porthmeor Studios Residencies is held in partnership with the Borlase Smart John Wells Trust.  

The Two Together residencies emphasise exploration, experimentation and shared learning, allowing artists to focus on creative growth and exchange through making.

We are seeking joint applications from two visual artists—one of whom must be based in Devon or Cornwall–who do not already work together in an existing partnership. 

Each pair will have access to a large, shared studio, shared accommodation, travel support and a stipend to cover living costs for one month. Artists will be encouraged to document their experience, though there is no expectation of final work(s) or resolved outcomes. 

Residents will receive:

• Use of Studio 5 at Porthmeor Studios (shared with your collaborator). 

• Accommodation in St. Ives, Cornwall (shared with your collaborator). 

• Travel expenses covered to and from St. Ives, Cornwall. 

• £2,000 stipend per artist to participate and cover living costs during the residency. 

• Support from Porthmeor Studios and Freelands Foundation. 

• A unique opportunity to learn from and experiment with another artist in a supportive, process-driven environment. 

• Artists must be based in the UK, with a studio-based visual arts practice. 

• Applicants must have at least 5 years of professional practice (five years after graduating from BA, or equivalent experience). 

• Each application must include a collaborator.  

• One artist must be based in Devon or Cornwall. 

• Artists who are in an existing creative, professional or personal partnership are not eligible to apply together to this opportunity. This includes artist collectives or duos.   

• Artists currently enrolled in formal education (e.g., BA/MA/PhD programmes) are not eligible. 

• Artists who are employees, trustees or funders of BSJWT or Freelands Foundation are not eligible for this opportunity.  

• Both artists must be available for at least one of three proposed residency months: March, May, and September 2027. The residency dates will be agreed with successful applicants. 

Freelands Foundation is committed to making the application process for our grants as accessible as possible. Please refer to the Guidance Document for access support provisions. 

If you require additional assistance or information please email [email protected] with the subject line ‘Two Together: Porthmeor Studios Residences 2026 – Access’ or call our team on 0203 598 7081.

Application Information Session

Date: Thursday 12 November 2026
Time: 1–2pm

To support you with the application process, there will be an online information session co-hosted by Visual Arts South West. This will allow you to hear from artists that have previously been awarded the residency, who will share their experiences during the session. There will also be the opportunity to ask questions to the artists, BSJWT and Freelands Foundation about the Two Together residencies.

Please register your attendance in advance. (Link coming soon).

• Alexandra House – Director of Borlase Smart John Wells Trust (BSJWT).

• Désirée Coral – Artist.

• Hugh Frost – Artist and Two Together 2026 resident.

• Rosie Hermon – Curator at Freelands Foundation.

Porthmeor Studios in St Ives, Cornwall, has been a nurturing and generative space for artists’ practice for decades – providing studios for local artists and artist residency opportunities. Recent residency artists include Sadia Pineda Hameed, Rebecca Moss, Rae-Yen Song, Rana Begum, Nicholas Deshayes, Lubaina Himid, Richard Long, Katy Moran, Veronica Ryan, Daniel Sinsel, Noorain Inam, and Hannah Quinlan & Rosie Hastings. Working in partnership with the Borlase Smart John Wells Trust (BSJWT), who manage Porthmeor Studios, Freelands Foundation has created a residency opportunity for artists in this unique space.

Freelands Foundation champions art education, believing in the intrinsic value of art and that making is fundamental. At Freelands Foundation we create programmes based on testing approaches that support the different ways that artists learn. Both Freelands Foundation and BSJWT recognise the vital role that the studio can play as a space for learning, making and experimentation, and how developing networks and opportunities for artists to collaborate with their peers around the country can support artist development over the short and longer term. 

^{Image: Artists Leomi Sadler and Hugh Frost reflect on their recently completed Two Together Residency at @PorthmeorStudios. Photography by Alban Roinard.}