Residential art centres and their understanding of freedom in rural areas

This novel study in interpretive rural sociology draws on recent discussions of the role of art in rural areas, and specifically focuses on the case study of rural residential centres for artists. As the numbers and popularity of arts residencies in rural and peripheral locations grow, we examine what artists both seek and acquire from rural residencies. Artists and managers of residencies emphasize freedom as a key value associated with rural residential centres: yet what does “freedom” mean for them? Using approaches based in interpretive research and cultural sociology, we reconstruct the ways through actors in the field use the term “freedom” to make sense of their experience. We identify four key contradictions that relate both to the benefits and to the drawback of the perceived freedom of rural residencies: autonomy vs. disconnection, ideal working environment vs. solitude, authenticity vs. exhaustion and refuge vs. colony. These contradictions are experienced and negotiated by artists and artistic residential centres managers in their everyday lives. The qualitative analysis is based on a set of interviews conducted in rural residential centres in the Czech Republic and on a content analysis of the materials published and produced by the centres themselves.