Sacatar

A fifteen-minute walk from the historic city’s center of Itaparica leads to the Instituto Sacatar, an art residency created in 2001 by Taylor Van Horne and Mitch Loch on the island of Itaparica.

“One of the reasons that I think this program is special is the fact that it is in Itaparica, which is an ancient, historic city and a beautiful place: it is located in the center of the "Baia de todos os Santos" and in the center of the Recôncavo Baiano, an area of great influence of the black culture. Salvador is considered the city with the highest percentage of black inhabitants outside of Africa. Therefore, this massive presence of our black Recôncavo influences a lot the local culture and in several areas such as the faith, culture and music. They make the Recôncavo a driving force of culture in Brazil,” explains Augusto Albuquerque, Sacatar’s Administrative Manager.

The foundation welcomes creative people from all over the world and from a wide range of disciplines to discover and enjoy the rich cultural heritage of the state of Bahia.

“In fact, Sacatar breaks a bit of the formality of the Fine Arts. It is a residency open to any creative proposal, not only to artists, but to researchers in general,” indicates Augusto Albuquerque.

Since its inception, Sacatar has been involved with countless communities, organizations, schools, museums and cultural entities in the region and internationally, where it presents cultural programs, exhibitions, performances, lectures and educational opportunities.

“It seeks to create a connection between the resident artists, the artist community and the community itself of Itaparica and Salvador. Many people consider the Sacatar residency program to be very special,” shares Augusto Albuquerque.

Sacatar offers about 30 to 40 residency grants per year with free time, space and an appropriate atmosphere for the creative challenge of producing new work. Each resident is entitled to a private bedroom, weekly laundry and room services, all meals except on Saturday evenings, Sundays and Brazilian holidays, a personal studio suitable to the artist’s discipline, and logistical support to interact with the local cultural and artistic community. In addition, they will have the opportunity to socialize and collaborate with other artists from different disciplines, nationalities and age groups in a historic 9,000 m² property in front of a beach of fine white sand and calm waters, with an incredible view of the All Saint's Bay.

In the last two decades, Instituto Sacatar has awarded more than 400 residencies to national and international artists and has participated in hundreds of collaborations and community exchanges between Brazil and the rest of the world.

“Sacatar was created because the creators of the foundation see the artist as a unique person in the world. A person with a talent, a person with a vocation and abilities that not everyone has, nor exercises. Art has the power to communicate, art has the power to disturb, art has the power to awaken, art has the power to make people think. So any initiative that encourages, that stimulates the existing artists and makes art, is an initiative of resistance,” concludes Augusto Albuquerque.

Artists can sign up to Sacatar’s newsletter on their website and follow their social medias for news about current and past artists, activities program, and the annual open-call modalities and selection process.