The Leisure & Cultural Services Department announced that it is calling for proposals for the Residence Programme & Work Presentation@Suomenlinna from today until September 18.

Co-organised by the department’s Art Promotion Office (APO) and the Helsinki International Artist Programme (HIAP), the scheme will have one participant selected to undertake a residence programme and work presentation in Suomenlinna, Finland, tentatively scheduled from April 15 to July 15 next year.

It is anticipated that the programme will offer Hong Kong artists and cross-disciplinary talent the opportunity to engage in creative activities and artistic exchanges in a locality very different from their own, so as to bring together unique ideas and showcase the appeal of Hong Kong art to viewers around the world.

The programme is now inviting creative proposals in visual art or cross-disciplinary media. Those interested should submit a proposal no later than 8pm on September 18 to the APO’s Exchange & Extension Unit at Oil Street Art Space, 12 Oil Street, North Point by post or by hand. The APO will announce the result on its website in November.

Suomenlinna, inscribed on the United Nations Educational, Scientific & Cultural Organization World Heritage List in 1991, is a cluster of islands situated off the coast of Helsinki, Finland. The natural landscape and well-preserved historical relics there have enhanced the islands’ status as a cultural destination in Europe.

The HIAP, an art organisation in Suomenlinna founded in 1998, has been organising art exhibitions and cultural events in the local community. It invites and supports artists from all over the world to take part in its residence programme, bringing together global and local creativity and enabling artistic dialogue among multiple perspectives.