2025: Our Year in Review

This year Cove Park welcomed 300 artists, creative practitioners and researchers, travelling to us from across Scotland and the UK, and from Australia, Brazil, Canada, Finland, Flanders, France, Honduras, Iceland, Indonesia, Italy, Lebanon, the Netherlands, Pakistan, South Korea, Sweden, Taiwan, the US, and Vietnam.

It's been an enjoyable and productive year, with numerous highlights including Bernat Klein Fellowships, Bridge Awards Residencies, Counterflows/Cove Park Residency, Creative Producers Residency, Fuel Residencies, and the Springboard Local Assembly on Climate Action, amongst many others.

Cove Park was awarded Multi Year Funding from Creative Scotland this year, allowing us to continue our programme of Annual Awarded Residencies, supporting local, national, and international artists to research and produce new work, and to develop further our Engagement programme of workshops, events, and special projects.

Music has been a particular focus, with residencies and recitals including the Pakistani vocalist Muslim Shaggan and the Palestinian pianist and composer Faraj Suleiman, recipient of the first Bagri Music Award. We saw return residencies for music artist, DJ, and broadcaster Nabihah Iqbal, cellist Jessica Kerr with Glisk Quartet, and pianist and composer James Ross. We were also delighted to begin a new partnership with the Glasgow-based contemporary music festival Counterflows and to welcome Scottish Ensemble here again for the Bridge Awards Residencies.

Cove Park's work with musicians, sound artists, and music organisations connects to our plans for a new Bridge Awards Sound Studio. This acoustically treated and soundproofed Studio will significantly enhance our future work with musicians and sound artists and we are grateful to The Bridge Awards for making this wonderful project possible. The architect appointed to work with us on Sound Studio will be announced in January 2026.

The announcement of Sound Studio coincided with our 25th anniversary programme and a series of open days, special events, and projects. We are grateful to all those that generously shared their work with visitors during the summer and autumn - including Jude Barber and Lousie Welsh, Sayan Chanda, Hugo Llanes, Demelza Kingston, Heather Parry, and Harrina Räinä - and to Matthew Arthur Williams for producing the beautiful limited edition print 77°F, available from our Shop.

Cove Park's Engagement programme offered a range of events including Saturday Studio and Project Studio and the Springboard Local Assembly on Climate Action, maintaining our collaborative work with our local community. Cove Park's Curator of Engagement, Emma Henderson, also took part in a staff exchange with our NAARCA partner Artica Svalbard, delivering a programme of workshops for the community in Svalbard.

We are very grateful to all of the artists who took part in our residencies and special projects this year, and to all the national and international partners working with us on our unique programme of Awarded and Open Residencies. Our partners this year included:

Academy of Fine Arts Uniarts Helsinki, Artica Svalbard, Bagri Foundation, Bernat Klein Foundation, Business of Broadway, Busan Cultural Foundation, Capital Theatres, Common Guild, Counterflows, Creative Kernow, Cryptic, Flanders Literature, Fuel Theatre, Glasgow School of Art, Glasgow Short Film Festival, Goethe Institut Glasgow, Konstfack University of the Arts, Craft, & Design, LUX Scotland, Maggie's, Magnetic North, MARSM, Narsaq International Research Station, Platform, Playwrights' Studio Scotland, Producer Hub, Royal Conservatoire Scotland, Saari Residence, Scottish Ensemble, Scottish Graduate School of Arts & Humanities, Scottish Sculpture Workshop, Skaftfell Art Centre, The Work Room, Tramway, Tricky Hat, and Varuna the National Writers' House of Australia. 

Finally, we would like to thank the Friends, Patrons, and the trusts and foundations who make our work possible. We look forward to welcoming you all here again in 2026.

Images: above, Bernat Klein Symposium, March 2025; below, artist Sayan Chanda, July 2025 (photography, Tommy Ga-Ken Wan). 

Faraj Suleiman - The Film

We are excited to share a short film by Clubhouse Paradiso showcasing the inaugural Bagri Music Award recipient, the internationally acclaimed Palestinian pianist and composer Faraj Suleiman.

Earlier this year, Cove Park announced a two-year partnership with the Bagri Foundation to launch Sound Series, a new programme of residencies bringing international musicians to the UK.

The Bagri Foundation works within a network of leading cultural organisations that champion artistic excellence and provide extraordinary artists from across Asia, wider visibility on the global stage. The Bagri Music Awards makes possible two Sound Series residencies at Cove Park, the first in 2025 and the second in 2026, alongside live performances.

Faraj’s residency in November this year and two solo performances – at Cove Park and at the Mackintosh Church in Glasgow – were developed in close collaboration with MARSM, the London-based event producer and dynamic digital platform amplifying the vibrant musical culture of the Arabic-speaking world.

Image: Film still, Faraj Suleiman, Clubhouse Paradiso.

Ecologies in the Making: Sculpting Futures
Artist Announcement

We are pleased to announce that the recipient of the 2026 Ecologies in the Making Residency is Roy Boswell. Now in its 5th year, this 16-week residency if offered in partnership with Academy of Fine Arts Uniarts Helsinki and Scottish Sculpture Workshop, and is supported by Saastamoinen Foundation.

Roy Boswell is a sculptor from Helsinki whose work is concerned with the durational qualities of materials. Their work combines objects with music and organised sound, performance traditions, writing, and dramaturgy. Longer lasting materials like stone are placed side by side with fast-paced materials like a song or a beam of light - and the work emerges out of the friction between the intersecting temporalities. 

We look forward to welcoming Roy to Scotland in June next year.

Image: Love Island 2, Roy Boswell (photography, Liisa Mudist) 

Call for Applications
Interweaving Threads Residency 2026

The year-long project Interweaving: Scotland and Norway through Dress launched in October this year with a special two-day event in Edinburgh addressing the similarities and differences between traditional Norwegian and Scottish dress and textiles. The project partners are The Norwegian Institute of Bunad and Folk Costume, Arts & Culture Norway, MUHO, National Museum of Scotland, Cove Park, art historian Dr. Kitty Corbet Milward, and curator and anthropologist Maja Musum.

We are delighted to announce the call for applications for the Interweaving Threads Residency, a new programme for textile artists, designers, and makers based in Scotland and in Norway. The programme will support one artist/designer/maker based in Scotland and one based in Norway. Both artists/designers/makers will be awarded residencies at MUHO in Norway in April 2026 and at Cove Park in May 2026, in addition to the opportunity for supported research including access to national and regional archive and dress collections in Norway and Scotland, plus support required for the development of new work.

More information is available here and the deadline for applications is 5 January 2026.

Image: Courtesy of NBF/Laila Durán.

Call for Applications
Bridge Awards Residency 2026

The call for applications for the fourth year of The Bridge Awards Residencies is live!

In collaboration with The Bridge Awards, Cove Park is pleased to offer a further five fully funded residencies in May 2026 for artists based in Scotland whose careers have been impacted by a breast cancer diagnosis and who have undergone successful treatment and are up to five years in remission.

The Bridge Awards Residencies will run in parallel for ten days from 4 May - 14 May 2026. People based in Scotland, at any stage of their creative career, and working in any art form or creative discipline, are eligible to apply. This year, former applicants are also welcome to apply.

The aim of the residency is to provide the artist, writer, creative practitioner, or researcher with the time and space to reconnect with their creative practice within the peaceful, supportive, and inspiring context of Cove Park. Further information on this programme and details of how to apply is available here. The deadline for applications is 12 December 2026.

We are very grateful to The Bridge Awards and to Maggie's for their ongoing support and help, and to Scottish Ensemble for continuing to work with us on this programme.

Image: Cove Park's Bridge in Spring (photography, Alan Dimmick)

Call for Applications
RSA Residencies for Scotland, 2026

We are delighted to be one of 19 organisations taking part in RSA Residencies for Scotland 2026 and to share news of the open call for applications to this programme.

RSA Residencies for Scotland is an artist-led scheme providing valuable research and residency opportunities for artists. It forges important networks with centres of artistic excellence across Scotland, ranging from traditional residency venues to specialised production facilities.

Open to visual artists at all stages of their careers, the emphasis is on enabling a period of research, development and production, as well as on the acquisition and exchange of new skills and experiences. Artists can apply for funds of up to £5,000 and are responsible for managing their own residency, in discussion with the partner venue. 

The deadline for applications (via the RSA's website) is 18 January 2026.

Image: Studio H (photography, Tracy Bloxham)

 Open Programme
Subsidised Winter Residencies 2026

As part of our ongoing commitment to provide subsidised rates for our Open programme, we are delighted to continue our popular Subsidised Winter Residencies between January and March 2026. 

We welcome artists, cultural practitioners, writers, and researchers – from every creative and academic discipline – able to meet the costs of a residency through, for example, the direct support of their own academic institutions or via awards from public funders or foundations.

Residencies are self-directed and designed to ensure those taking part have the time and facilities required to develop their own work. Cove Park’s small and dedicated professional team are happy to support the research and work of all our residents, and are available for informal conversations and meetings, in preparation for and during the residency period.

Applications are accepted on a rolling basis. Learn more and apply here. 

Image: The Jacobs Building in Winter.

 Recruiting Now:
Site, Facilities & Compliance Manager

We are seeking an experienced buildings manager to oversee Cove Park’s 50-acre site and facilities. The Site, Facilities, & Compliance Manager is responsible for the maintenance, development, and safety of Cove Park’s 50-acre site and facilities. This includes health and safety, security, and the servicing of all facilities to ensure they meet the needs of the organisation, our residents, visitors, and team.

If this role is of interest, please refer to our Recruitment Pack. The deadline for applications is 5pm on Monday 26 January 2026.

Image: the interior of the Jacobs Building at Cove Park.

Kirkmichael Community
Development Group Open Day
17 January 2026, 10am - 12pm

Join Cove Park and local jewellery designer Caitlin Hegney for a fun, drop-in workshop where participants will create brass plant tags and decorative pieces to brighten up garden and house plants.

Using simple hand tools, participants will hammer and emboss brass to make a unique design to take home. Each piece takes around 10–15 minutes, making it perfect for families, children, adults, and anyone curious about trying something a little different — no prior jewellery-making experience needed. 

This workshop is free and everyone is welcome. It takes place at the Kirkmichael Centre, Helensburgh. Find out more here.

Image courtesy of Caitlin Hegney. 

Friends of Cove Park

Cove Park is proud to have a growing community of supporters who believe in the vital work we do to promote national and international cultural exchange and ensure our local rural community has access to innovative and creative learning opportunities as well as protecting the biodiversity of our site.

By becoming a Friend of Cove Park, you will help us to enrich arts, culture and creativity in Argyll and across Scotland, support the global exchange of ideas through our artist residences and save the natural heritage of Cove Park as a space for everyone to enjoy. Wherever you are, you will know your donation is making a vital contribution to the work of Cove Park and our support of artists. If Cove Park and our work means something to you, please consider becoming a Friend today. Learn more and join here. 

If you are based in the United States, you can join our American Friends of Cove Park, our tax-effective annual giving programme. 

Image: Demelza Kingston Studio Visit, April 2025. 

Space Hire 2026

Space Hire welcomes arts organisations, companies, and community groups to Cove Park for meetings and away days. Recent Space Hire participants include: The Common Guild, Comhairle nan Leabhraichean / The Gaelic Books Council, Glasgow International, Missing in Architecture (Glasgow School of Art), The Mount Stuart Trust, Rhubaba, Scottish Opera, and the University of Glasgow (Contemporary Art & Curation).

Our new Space Hire pack contains more information with images of our beautiful spaces and what we offer. 

Please submit an enquiry form or contact Nicola Jamieson directly for more information and to discuss your specific requirements. 

Scottish Ensemble hired The Monument Trust Room at Cove Park for our Staff Away Day in September 2025. The opportunity to go somewhere beautiful, inspiring, and different from our day-to-day setting was just what our team needed to get our thinking caps on. We were given a very warm welcome from Alexia and her team, and made to feel at home right away. We’ll be back again next year!

James Hardie, Chief Executive, Scottish Ensemble

Image: Monument Trust Room (photography, Paul Tyagi)