International Heritage Residency 2026

Call for Papers: International Heritage Residency 2026

Dates: 9–16 November 2026

Location: Vilnius Academy of Arts’ Panemunė Castle, Lithuania

Application Deadline: September 18, 2026

Vilnius Academy of Arts’ Panemunė Castle, Lithuania | Artist residency, museum, gallery, restaurant, park

 

Executive Summary & Context

The International Heritage Residency 2026 is a week-long, action-oriented consultative forum dedicated to the revitalisation, sustainable adaptation, and activation of historic sites along Lithuania’s National Castles and Manors Cultural Route. Based at the historic Panemunė Castle in the Nemunas Valley, the residency brings together an international cohort of specialists to address critical management, conservation, and integration challenges facing heritage sites within contemporary cultural and logistical networks.

Initiated by Assoc. Prof. Dr. Marius Daraškevičius (Director of Panemunė Castle and Chairman of the Castle and Manor Route) and led by international heritage expert and ICOMOS member Assoc. Prof. Dr. Melinda Harlov-Csortán (Hungary), the residency bridges high-level theory with site-specific practice. Rather than generating abstract models, participants work directly with site owners, managers, local institutions to develop applied solutions and methodological frameworks suitable for site-specific case studies and broader application across European heritage networks.

 

Key Thematic Pillars

The programme focuses on four core intersections of contemporary heritage practice:

  • Cultural Routes & Landscapes: Methodologies for positioning standalone heritage assets into cohesive, sustainable network systems.
  • Stakeholder Dynamics & Communities: Navigating the rights, obligations, and needs of property owners, local populations, visitors, and underserved groups.
  • Historical Narratives & Adaptive Reuse: Reinterpreting past built environments for contemporary public utility while balancing authenticity, physical accessibility, and environmental ethics.
  • Sustainable Management & Strategic Programming: Formulating operational models anchored in site carrying-capacity, seasonal variability, and local ecological balance.

 

Individual Output & Participant Commitments

Participants are expected to actively engage in all field studies, lectures, and peer-to-peer working sessions. By the end of the residency, each participant must produce a draft research paper or professional project proposal addressing one of the core thematic areas. Dedicated writing hours, source material, and academic mentorship will be provided on-site.

Note: Participants are required to bring their own laptop computers.


Application Requirements & Eligibility

We invite applications from PhD students, post-docs, to early-career and established architects, conservators, heritage researchers, restorers, cultural managers, and spatial policy experts.

 

Required Documents (merged into a single PDF):

  • Curriculum Vitae (CV)
  • Summary or Portfolio of relevant recent publications or professional projects (last five years)
  • Motivation letter outlining your intended contribution to the residency themes

 

Submission: Send your compiled PDF to residence@panemunespilis.lt by September 18, 2026.

For programmatic or application inquiries, contact the same address.


Financial & Logistical Provisions

Provided by Organisers: On-site accommodation, all meals, local transport between Vilnius/Kaunas and Panemunė Castle, and all field excursion transit.

Participant Responsibility: Travel expenses from home location to Vilnius or Kaunas, Lithuania.

 

Organisators: Vilnius Academy of Arts, Panemunė Castle, National Castle and Manors Route.

Funded by Department of Cultural Heritage under the Ministry of Culture.

More information about the call can be found HERE.