performance residency: mophradat x buda x next

Residency at BUDA with premiere at NEXT festival: Three weeks in October/November 2025

Mophradat has partnered once more with Kunstencentrum BUDA and NEXT festival in Belgium to offer a three-week residency for a performing artist from the Arab world to finalize a new performance using BUDA’s facilities and artistic support, and premiere their work at NEXT festival at the conclusion of the residency. The selected artist (working with a maximum of three collaborators, i.e. up to four individuals in total) will have their travel and visa costs, per diem, and honoraria covered, in addition to receiving a contribution to their project’s production costs, and a presentation fee for the performance at NEXT festival.

Kunstencentrum BUDA in Kortrijk is a platform for contemporary art festivals, an art house cinema, and one of the largest workspaces for performing arts in Belgium. Founded in 2006, BUDA constructs an artistic context in which the artist’s desire to create and learn is central. It offers time and space, customized support (logistic, technical, feedback), a network of artistic and professional contacts, and the possibility of an informal presentation for a test audience. BUDA is part of NEXT Festival.

NEXT is a yearly, international performing arts festival that started in 2008 in four cities in the cross-border Eurometropolis Lille-Kortrijk-Tournai and Valenciennes, organized by six French and Belgian co-organizing artistic houses and 10 to 15 associated partners. It evolved into a collaboration platform and a landmark event for cultural and artistic professionals from all over Europe. It brings together disciplines, communities, and cultures, encourages exchange of cultural diversity, and encourages and facilitates intercultural dialogue amongst programmers, artists, festival organizers, cross-border politicians, students, and broad audience.