Residency in Austin, USA – The House of Songs

These conditions are planned for each individual stay, but accommodation and workspace are not funded by the grant. This is included in the agreement between the Swedish Arts Grants Committee and The House of Songs.

Varies depending on the applicant’s preferred length of stay and the residency programme’s ability to host. Is typically 4-8 weeks.

The grant is for professional artists in the field of music.

The amount of the grant depends on how long the stay is and includes, in addition to the grant, a standardized travel cost. For a stay of four weeks, the grant holder receives SEK 40,000.

The Swedish Art Grants Committee covers costs for the grant and the international collaboration partner contributes with personnel resources for coordination and administration so that the composer has the opportunity to develop and deepen their artistry.

You must be a professional artist in the field of music, such as a musician, composer, music producer or conductor. Musicians can use any instrument, including bass, vocals, electronics or ouds. A music producer refers to a record producer who receives copyright royalties for musical production.

To be considered a professional artist, you must earn a living entirely or partly from your artistic activities and regularly present your art to an audience or in an artistic context.

You must be a resident in Sweden or practice most of your art here.

You can be a foreign citizen and apply for our stipends and grants, but you must be a resident in Sweden or primarily practice your art here. If you are a Swedish citizen but live abroad, you must be able to demonstrate that most of your artistic activity takes place in Sweden.

You must not be a student for more than 50 per cent of your time when an award decision is made.

This means being enrolled in any type of studies, from undergraduate studies to doctoral studies and post-graduate education. You can be studying when you submit your application, but when a decision is made you cannot be enrolled for more than 50 per cent for a course or programme.

You must not owe any unpaid Swedish taxes or fees to the Swedish Enforcement Authority or be declared bankrupt.

This means that you cannot owe a debt on your Swedish tax account that has been passed on to the enforcement authority. This does not apply to other types of debts or charges from public organisations or private companies.

You must not have received de minimis aid exceeding a total of 300,000 euros during the last three-year period.

Stipends and grants from the Swedish Arts Grants Committee are subject to the provisions of the European Commission Regulation (EU) 2023/2031 on state funding, also known as de minimis aid.

The application for residency abroad is open once a year. See the application deadlines.

You apply by logging in to “My pages”.

In order to submit an application, you need to answer all the questions marked as mandatory in the form and attach work samples. Please note in particular that the description of the stay must be written in English, so that information can be understood by our collaboration partners.

Applications must be submitted by 14.00 CET on the application deadline.

Work samples are mandatory
Choose a current audio sample that is representative of you both in terms of quality and repertoire. Examples of audio samples include a live recording, published material or another publicly presented work. It must contain a total of at least 20 minutes of music. Your audio sample must not be older than three years.

File format: mp3, with at least 320 kbps bit rate and 44.1 kHz sampling rate

Total length of audio files: at least 20 minutes

Can I submit my application on paper?
We recommend using our e-service to submit your application. It makes it easier for you to ensure that your application was registered and it allows you to follow your case via “My pages”.

Application on paper

When we receive your application, we verify that you meet all the formal requirements. Members of the decision-making group for music will then read your application. The members are practising artists or experts in the field of music. At least three people read each application. The decision is made by the review panel for music.

If a member has a conflict of interest in relation to an applicant, that member is forbidden from participating in the review process or award decision for that application.

How we avoid conflict of interest

How is your decision made?
We select grant recipients based on the quality of artistic activities and the applicant’s financial need. This means that we assess the quality of the work samples and reference material that you submit. At the same time, we make an assessment of your financial need. This can mean, for example, that we do not prioritise an applicant who has a high income or has recently received other grants or stipends.

In our selection, we aim to distribute the grants to artists in different parts of the country and across a variety of artistic expressions.

No later than one month after the residency grant has ended, a written report of how the residency has worked and what the residency has meant for one’s own artistic work must be submitted to the the Swedish Arts Grants Commitee, in order to form the basis for further development of the international composition residencies. If necessary, the parties may request a partial evaluation.

As a condition for the grant, if the residency changes significantly or if it is canceled for any reason, the Swedish Arts Grants Committee and the international partner must be contacted immediately. Such changes must be approved by the Swedish Arts Grants Committee and the collaboration partner, otherwise it may mean that the residency grant or a part of it must be refunded.

The grant is exempt from tax.