Residenze Lievito: A New Open Call for Young Artists and Curators in Valdichiana
“Bonum facere,” to make good. It is from the Latin root of the Italian word bonifica, land reclamation, that the second cycle of Residenze Lievito takes shape: the program devoted to contemporary research and creation promoted by La CAP Re|Hub in collaboration with the IPERCUBO gallery.
The new cycle is titled “Rendere buono. Corpi, immagini, narrazioni in movimento” (“Making Good: Bodies, Images, Narratives in Motion”) and will bring four artists and one curator between the ages of 18 and 35 to the Valdichiana Senese, the Siena side of the Chiana Valley. The call is open until October 31, 2026, and is aimed at those working in the contemporary visual, performing, choreographic and audiovisual arts.
The idea is to question the very meaning of “making good”: caring, repairing and restoring connections, but also intervening, altering and rewriting something that might otherwise have taken a different course.
An Old Farm Estate Becomes a Residency for Contemporary Art
At the heart of the project is La CAP Re|Hub in Sinalunga, born from the restoration of an old farm estate in the Valdichiana Senese. Here studios, lodgings and shared spaces live side by side in a single place, in an effort to narrow the distance between the time spent working and the time spent living.
The five participants will be able to spend several months on the estate, developing their work through a path of research, training and exchange. Each resident receives free accommodation, a €500 monthly stipend for food and travel, and a production budget to develop their projects.
The metaphor chosen to tell the story of the whole project is the one in its name, lievito, Italian for yeast: something that needs time to ferment, grow and transform. It is an approach that tries to step away from the speed at which cultural production is so often demanded, making room for the process instead.
From the Canale Maestro della Chiana, a Reflection on the Land
The second cycle finds its starting point in a concrete feature of the landscape: the Canale Maestro della Chiana, the valley’s great drainage canal, a land reclamation project that helped turn a once-marshy territory into one of Tuscany’s farming areas.
This is where the question behind the new residency comes from. When can human intervention be considered a form of care? And when, instead, does it mean imposing order on nature?
Land reclamation thus becomes a lens for thinking about care, repair, rewriting and intervention in the landscape, bringing a chapter of the Valdichiana’s history into a contemporary reflection. The program will combine workshops, lectures, field visits and moments of discussion. The mentoring program will involve Laura Lamonea, artistic director of ArtVerona and of the Festival Video Sound Art; curator Angel Moya García; Marta Equi Pierazzini, lecturer and researcher at Bocconi University; and Lorenzo Balbi, director of the Musei Civici di Verona, the city’s civic museums.
Ten Residencies Between 2026 and 2027
The upcoming cycle is the second chapter of a broader project. In total, Lievito offers ten grants, spread across two cycles and set aside for eight artists and two curators.
The first cycle, “Ripensare l’aia” (“Rethinking the Farmyard”), brought together Roxy Ceron, Marco Mandorlini, Angelica Racco, Thelonious Stokes and curator Federico Rudari around research centered on the body, images and narrative. The project is developed and curated by Silvia Giordano, director and founder of La CAP, together with Matteo Graniti, co-founder and director of IPERCUBO. The residencies are funded through Tuscany’s PR FSE+ 2021/2027, the regional program of the European Social Fund Plus, as part of Giovanisì, the Region’s initiative for young people. Overall, the regional program supports 12 projects across eight provinces, with 24 residencies for 168 young artists and curators between 2026 and 2027.
How to Apply for the Second Residenze Lievito Open Call
Applications for “Rendere buono. Corpi, immagini, narrazioni in movimento” are open until October 31, 2026.
The residency will take place in 2027 at La CAP Re|Hub – Podere La Capacciola, Sinalunga (SI), in the province of Siena, and will close with a final exhibition scheduled for July 3 and 4, 2027.
Information and the full call for applications are available on the official Residenze Lievito website.
