Rupert is an independent, not-for-profit art, residency and education centre based in Vilnius since 2012.
Rupert's programmes aim to create opportunities for discussion and collaboration between local and international artists, arts organisations, other creative fields, and academics. Acting as a platform, the Centre aims to ensure a dynamic exchange of knowledge, artistic practices and ideas, and to translate these emerging forms of collaboration, meanings and dialogues into concrete artistic, social or community projects, artistic productions, exhibitions and other tangible outcomes.
Rupert's activities consist of three main programmes - Residency, Alternative Education and Public .
Rupert's Alternative Education programme aims to bridge the gap between art education and professional creation by providing a platform for young and promising artists to launch their international careers. The programme promotes knowledge exchange and seeks to complement the academic field with self-learning practices, while mobilising individual creators into a community.
The Alternative Education Programme is a non-degree, para-academic learning programme. Each year, a small group of people are selected to take part in the programme and are given the opportunity to realise their own projects and to receive the practical and theoretical support they need. The programme engages participants in an activity-based learning process, culminating in the presentation of their projects.
The Rupert Residency Programme is dedicated to Lithuanian and international artists and thinkers: artists, curators, writers, researchers and other creative practitioners. The programme offers the opportunity to create and live in Vilnius for one to two months, to carry out individual projects and to engage in the contemporary art field in Vilnius and the region.
During the residency, participants are invited to join Rupert's alternative education and public programmes, and to take part in lectures, discussions and workshops with international and local curators, artists and researchers. They can also become mentors and initiators of activities within Rupert's programmes, with the help of the Rupert curatorial team. The Rupert curators are responsible for introducing the residents to the local cultural scene and providing them with relevant advice. An open call for applications to the Rupert Residency Programme is launched once or twice a year. Participants are selected by a jury composed of members of the Rupert team and invited art experts.
The Rupert-curated public programme runs in parallel to the educational and residency programmes and consists of open and free lectures, workshops, seminars, exhibitions and accompanying events both in Lithuania and abroad. International and Lithuanian art professionals, world-renowned artists, curators, philosophers and art researchers are invited to develop each year's theme within the framework of this programme. The public programme aims to present new works and artistic experiments, to involve the general public and professionals in their fields in the processes of contemporary art.
Rupert programmes are free of charge.
