Application Brief: Creative Practitioner in Residence 2026

The Creative Practitioner Residency is a six-month residency programme for an artist, creative practitioner, or collective to respond to the Atlantic Worlds gallery located in the National Maritime Museum.

The residency invites critical and creative engagements with Atlantic histories, exploring how artistic practice can open new ways of interpreting the collection. At its core, the residency aims to support research-led artistic practices.

Working in dialogue with the Engagement, Curatorship and Research, Collections Management and Exhibitions departments, the selected resident will be supported to explore the Museum's collections and archive through their own creative methodology and research interests. This collaborative approach also creates opportunities for shared learning between the resident and museum staff.

We welcome practitioners working across a range of disciplines and approaches, and other forms of creative inquiry that expand how maritime histories are understood and shared.

Royal Museums Greenwich (RMG) comprises the Royal Observatory, Cutty Sark, National Maritime Museum, Queen’s House, and the Prince Philip Maritime Collections Centre. Together, we are dedicated to enriching people’s understanding of the sea, the exploration of space, and Britain’s role in world history.

The residency will run for six months from September 2026 to February 2027.

The focus for the residency will be on developing a creative response to the Atlantic Worlds gallery in the National Maritime Museum.

The Atlantic Worlds Gallery explores the histories and cultures of the Atlantic world, tracing the movement of people, ideas, goods, and cultures across continents, while revealing histories of violence, inequality, resistance, and creativity that emerged through these encounters and continue to shape our world today.

We welcome proposals that engage creatively and critically with the gallery, whether by drawing connections across different themes and collections or by exploring a particular object, material, archive, or idea in depth. We are particularly interested in projects that bring historical collections into dialogue with contemporary questions, communities, and creative practice, expanding how Atlantic histories are understood and experienced.

Applicants are encouraged to explore the Museum's online collections, subject guides, and Atlantic Worlds resources when developing their proposals. We recognise that applicants will have varying levels of familiarity with collections research, so proposals are not expected to identify specific objects in advance. Applicants do not need prior experience of working in the museum sector, an existing relationship with RMG, or detailed knowledge of the collections.

The selected artist or collective will receive:

• Access to a dedicated studio space in the National Maritime Museum available seven days a week from 09.00 -17.00 (due to the location of the studio in the centre of the museum, we are restricted to only dry materials in this space).
• Access to the Museum’s collections, archives, library and research resources.
• Opportunities to work alongside and receive support from the Engagement, Curatorship and Research, Collections Management and Exhibitions departments. The residency will be led by the Creative Participation Producer in the Engagement department.
• Mentorship opportunity.
• Opportunities to connect with public programmes and audiences across the Museum.
• The opportunity to become a critical friend/s to RMG after the end of the residency.
• The first month of the residency will focus on an induction to the Museum, including an introduction with key staff including library and archive, curatorial and engagement.

• To support research-led artistic practice within an institutional context.
• To enable critical engagement with collections, particularly those shaped by colonial histories.
• To create opportunities for exchange and shared learning between the resident and RMG staff.
• To recognise lived experience, and community knowledge as valuable forms of research and interpretation.
• To explore how contemporary artistic practice can contribute to new understandings of maritime heritage.

Areas of Enquiry

We encourage artists to investigate the Atlantic Worlds Gallery and collections through their own creative practice, research interest or methodologies. The following areas of enquiry offer examples of some of the questions and approaches the residency might explore. These are intended as starting points rather than prescribed areas of research, and applicants are encouraged to develop their own questions and approaches.

Archives and Visibility

• How do collections frame historical narratives?
• What role do photography and image-making play in shaping historical narratives?
• What might become visible through a closer reading of collections and archives?
• How can artistic practices reveal, challenge or expand existing interpretations?

Material Memory

• What forms of memory are held within materials, objects, and collections?
• How do objects carry traces of care, displacement or extraction?
• What can material histories reveal?

Maritime Movement and Circulation

• How might artistic practice create alternative encounters with maritime history?
• What histories of movement, migration, trade, labour, and exchange emerge through maritime collections?
• What stories do objects carry across time and place?

Alternative Ways of Knowing

• How might lived experience offer different perspectives on the collection?
• How might creative practice offer different ways of researching and interpreting collections?
• How might oral histories, memory and storytelling create new encounters with maritime histories?

Public Histories and Participation

• What perspectives and forms of knowledge might emerge through working with communities?
• How can participation become a methodology for reading the archive?

This programme is delivered by the Engagement Department at RMG. Audience centred approaches, participatory practice and cross-departmental working are key to our practice.

Outcomes will be developed collaboratively throughout the residency and may include open/closed events as well as artwork, research material, public conversations, and experimental documentation. The resident will be expected to contribute to a public programme to share their research, with support from the Creative Participation Producer.

The resident is expected to attend an induction in September with key stakeholders from the Museum as well as regular catch ups with the Creative Participation Producer and other representatives across RMG throughout the residency.

RMG hopes to document the residency process through film and photography and will develop a legacy page on the website within the Residencies section.

Practical Considerations

The residency will take place between September 2026 and February 2027. There is no fixed expectation for the number of days the resident works on site each week. Instead, we ask applicants to propose a working pattern that is appropriate to their practice and enables them to fully engage with the residency over the six- month period. 

We expect the resident to attend key meetings, induction sessions and agreed public programme activities, while the remainder of the residency schedule will be developed collaboratively.

Access to a dedicated studio space in the National Maritime Museum is available seven days a week from 09.00 -17.00. Access after 17.00 may be possible with advance notice. The studio is located in the Museum and therefore is restricted to dry materials only. Creative Practitioners are welcome to also work in other locations they have arranged themselves.

RMG is very limited on flexible display space and sadly full exhibitions are not feasible. There is limited space available in the Atlantic Worlds gallery, but staff will work collaboratively with the resident to explore all possibilities.

To apply you do not need:

• prior experience of working in museums
• an existing relationship with RMG
• a fully developed final artwork
• detailed knowledge of the collections

We are interested in your creative practice, curiosity about the themes of the residency and the ways you explore ideas through your work. 

Research might take many forms, including making, material experimentation, image-making, performance, sound, conversation, archival research or other creative approaches.

How to apply

Please submit a proposal by 3rd August 2026 at 9am. Submissions should include:

Proposal (Maximum 2 sides of A4)

Your proposal can be shorter than two pages. The maximum page limit is intended to give applicants space to explain their approach in the level of detail appropriate to their proposal.

• Approach: Tell us how you would respond to the brief and themes of the residency. We are interested in your initial ideas, areas of enquiry and the creative approaches you might use.
• Collections: Outline themes, types of materials or items in the collection you would be interested in exploring.
• Delivery: Tell us how you would approach working across the six-month residency, including how you might structure your research and creative development. Please confirm you can commit to the residency period.
• Budget: How you would allocate the £5,000 material budget and costs for the project.

Portfolio

Please include up to 3 examples of relevant previous work that demonstrate your creative practice and approach.

Experience (Maximum 1 A4 page):

• Tell us about the relevant experience, skills and ways of working you would bring to the residency. This may include experience of research, collaboration, public or cultural projects, or developing work over an extended period.
• References: Two contacts for people willing to give references for your work. (References will only be contacted for selected applicants).

We want the application process and residency to be accessible. If you require reasonable adjustments or access support to apply, interview or participate in the residency, please contact participation@rmg.co.uk.

We welcome applications in alternative formats where this supports an applicant's access requirements. Please contact us to discuss this before the application deadline. 

Access needs and reasonable adjustments can be discussed with the selected resident when planning the residency and working pattern. Access requirements will not affect the assessment of your application.

Applications open: Wednesday 8 July 2026 

Deadline for applications: 9am on Monday 3 August 2026 

Interviews: week commencing 10 August 2026 

Programme starts: September 2026

Residency ends: 1 March 2027

Residency Fee from September 2026 – February 2027: £12,000

The fee will be divided by 6 and paid monthly in instalments of £2,000

Materials Budget: £5,000

Deadline: 3 August 2026 at 9am