Your residency in not the outcome. It's the beginning of what comes next.
FAR is a place-based residency for self-directed artists who want Fez to shape both their work and where it leads next.
Fez provides the context, challenge, and inspiration. FAR provides the structure, guidance and personal support.
The Medina challenges the way you see your work. What you choose to do with that is where FAR comes in.
Our role is to help you explore new ideas and make the most of your time in Fez. Through structure, guidance and personal support, FAR helps you develop projects and a clearer direction for what comes next.
Our role is to help you explore new ideas and make the most of your time in Fez. Through structure, guidance and personal support, FAR helps you develop projects and a clearer direction for what comes next.
A different type of residency
Most residencies give you space to create. FAR helps you build.
As a place-based organisation, we use the cultural and artisanal heritage of the Medina as the foundation for every programme we offer. By connecting artists with the Medina's creative community, we help them build relationships, develop projects, and create opportunities to support the next steps in their practice.
As a place-based organisation, we use the cultural and artisanal heritage of the Medina as the foundation for every programme we offer. By connecting artists with the Medina's creative community, we help them build relationships, develop projects, and create opportunities to support the next steps in their practice.
Explore with Purpose
Our location sets us apart
The Medina is not simply the background and setting for your time with us.
Its people, craftsmanship and cultural context become part of how you think, research and develop your work.
We'll connect you with artists, artisans, and local creative communities so you experience the Medina as an artist, not as a tourist.
The Medina is not simply the background and setting for your time with us.
Its people, craftsmanship and cultural context become part of how you think, research and develop your work.
We'll connect you with artists, artisans, and local creative communities so you experience the Medina as an artist, not as a tourist.
Develop with
Support
Support
No two artists arrive with the same goals.
Because we work with a small number of artists, support is personal rather than standardised.
Each artist is encouraged to define what they want from their time in Fez, whether it's to connect with artisans, develop a project, or strengthen their career.
Our flexible residency, immersion, and retreat options are then tailored around their practice, interests and intended next steps.
Because we work with a small number of artists, support is personal rather than standardised.
Each artist is encouraged to define what they want from their time in Fez, whether it's to connect with artisans, develop a project, or strengthen their career.
Our flexible residency, immersion, and retreat options are then tailored around their practice, interests and intended next steps.
Build What
Comes Next
Comes Next
The best residencies don't end when you leave.
They should help you develop knowledge, new ideas, and the confidence to support your practice after you return home.
Through individual support and guidance, we help you develop the knowledge and confidence to turn ideas into opportunities.
We encourage you to leave with momentum, not just memories.
They should help you develop knowledge, new ideas, and the confidence to support your practice after you return home.
Through individual support and guidance, we help you develop the knowledge and confidence to turn ideas into opportunities.
We encourage you to leave with momentum, not just memories.
At FAR, we believe artists have more influence over the future of their practice than they often realise. Through entrepreneurial thinking and the CARES Framework, we encourage artists to approach their work with intention, developing projects that strengthen and develop both their creative practice and its future direction.
The CARES Framework
Being successful as an artist isn't only about creating work. It's also about making decisions that shape where your practice can lead.
CARES encourages artists to take ownership of their direction, think entrepreneurially, and recognise that the opportunities of tomorrow often depend on the choices of today.
Don't wait for opportunity, build it.
CARES encourages artists to take ownership of their direction, think entrepreneurially, and recognise that the opportunities of tomorrow often depend on the choices of today.
Don't wait for opportunity, build it.
Contact refers to the moments where your work is actually met, not just where it appears. It asks you to notice how, where, and on whose terms people meet your work, and whether it is being met too quickly, too thinly, or without context.
Audience refers to the people your work is actually oriented toward, not everyone it could reach. It asks you to notice who recognises the work, who stays with it over time, and whether those encounters are aligned with what the work needs to continue.
Response looks at what follows an encounter. Not likes or praise, but whether interest has somewhere to go. It asks you to notice whether projects lead to conversation, return, or relationship, or whether they reset to zero each time.
Exchange looks at what comes back to support the continuation of your practice. Not just money, but whether time, energy, care, or resources return in ways that allow the work to keep going, or whether it relies on constant personal subsidy.
Sustainability is about whether your practice can keep going without wearing you down. It looks at pace, energy, and alignment over time, helping you notice what’s being sustained, what’s being depleted, and whether this way of working is livable.
CARES offers a different way of approaching your practice.
Less about waiting for opportunity, more about creating it.
Less about chance, more about intention.
Don't wait for opportunity, build it.
Less about waiting for opportunity, more about creating it.
Less about chance, more about intention.
Don't wait for opportunity, build it.
Career Advancement & Residency Engagement Strategy
The CARES Programme
The CARES Programme is the flagship programme of Fez Art Residency, created for artists who want to actively shape the future direction of their practice.
Using Fez as both inspiration and catalyst, it provides structured support before, during and after your residency, helping you take ownership of your direction, develop structured projects, and create opportunities with the same intention you bring to making your work.
By the end of the programme, you'll have the knowledge, confidence and insight to create opportunities rather than wait for them to happen.
Using Fez as both inspiration and catalyst, it provides structured support before, during and after your residency, helping you take ownership of your direction, develop structured projects, and create opportunities with the same intention you bring to making your work.
By the end of the programme, you'll have the knowledge, confidence and insight to create opportunities rather than wait for them to happen.
- Built around the ethos and entrepreneurial spirit of FAR, the CARES Programme encourages artists to think beyond the residency itself, taking ownership of their direction and creating opportunities with intention.
- With individual support before, during and after your time in Fez, we guide you to define an outcome before your residency, use your time in the Medina to develop the project, and continue supporting you for up to six months afterwards as you work towards achieving it.
Artist experiences
- Caroline“Participating in the Fez Residency programme brought me a sense of creative freedom and purposeful collaboration. The conversations I had with Peter were valuable in helping gain clarity in approaching my career with intention and purpose.”
- Youssef“Through the FAR team, I was connected to artisans who were not only deeply skilled but also generous with their knowledge and time. These encounters helped me develop my practice in a grounded, material way, opening up real opportunities.”
- Ujammiugaq“I met very skilled people who passed on their knowledge and were happy to exchange experiences. Peter puts you in a setting of possibilities to explore and connections to be influenced by, and I brought home new ways of approaching my art.”
The Artist Immersion Week
The Artist Immersion Week is our foundational programme and where everything begins for many artists.
Whether you want to work alongside traditional artisans, find inspiration in the medinas alleyways, or develop a creative project, this programme provides a flexible foundation, and the freedom, local knowledge and support to make the most of your time here.
Whether you want to work alongside traditional artisans, find inspiration in the medinas alleyways, or develop a creative project, this programme provides a flexible foundation, and the freedom, local knowledge and support to make the most of your time here.
Artists discovering Fez
Host a Retreat
Host a Retreat has grown naturally from artists wanting to share the experience of Fez with their own creative communities.
Designed for practicing artists, educators or creative facilitators, this programme provides the local knowledge, logistical support and inspiring setting to design and lead a retreat that reflects your own practice and vision, and welcomes your own community.
Designed for practicing artists, educators or creative facilitators, this programme provides the local knowledge, logistical support and inspiring setting to design and lead a retreat that reflects your own practice and vision, and welcomes your own community.
Artists leading retreats
Longer residencies
Some projects need more than a week, and longer residencies are designed for artists who want time to explore further.
We don't run extended residency programmes, but organise and support longer stays for artists wanting learn new skills from traditional artisans, develop an extended creative project, or simply build a stronger connection with the Medina.
We don't run extended residency programmes, but organise and support longer stays for artists wanting learn new skills from traditional artisans, develop an extended creative project, or simply build a stronger connection with the Medina.
The Spirit of Fez
Fez Art Residency is an independent, artist-funded organisation. We encourage artists to see their residency not simply as a cost, but as an investment in the future of their practice.
Programme fees allow us to remain independent, keep our pricing accessible, and fairly support the people who make each experience possible.
From time to time we offer partially funded places or financial assistance. As funding is limited, priority is usually given to artists without a regular income and to Moroccan artists.
Programme fees allow us to remain independent, keep our pricing accessible, and fairly support the people who make each experience possible.
From time to time we offer partially funded places or financial assistance. As funding is limited, priority is usually given to artists without a regular income and to Moroccan artists.
Upcoming retreats
Upcoming retreats
Hosted at Dar Drouj, our artist-lead retreats are developed through our Host a Retreat programme.
We provide the base and local context - you design the programme, bring your people, and lead the experience.
Every artist looks for something different in a residency.
FAR is for artists who want something more.
If your ambition extends beyond simply making work, and towards building a project, a collaboration, an exhibition, a new body of work, or simply a clearer sense of direction, FAR may be exactly what you're looking for.
FAR is for artists who want something more.
If your ambition extends beyond simply making work, and towards building a project, a collaboration, an exhibition, a new body of work, or simply a clearer sense of direction, FAR may be exactly what you're looking for.
Meet some of our artists
Meet some of our artists
Art Residency in Morocco: A Guide for Artists
A collection of articles exploring what it means to live, work, and develop as
an artist in Fez and within the wider context of Morocco.
If you're ready to use your time in Fez to build something that continues beyond the residency, we'd love to hear from you.
