Residency Programme
Motor House Arts is set in the Arts and Crafts village of East Rounton, North Yorkshire. The village's deep roots in the social and aesthetic radicalism of the Arts and Crafts movement provide a critically generative context for contemporary practice and research, while its position within one of England's most dynamic cultural regions ensures that engagement extends well beyond the historical landscape.
Our residency programme is designed for serious practitioners, shaped in close dialogue with each partner institution's research context and academic goals, and embedded within one of England's most culturally rich regions, with direct access to some of its most significant sites and collections.
Residents have full access to all studios and workshop facilities throughout their stay. The Motor House offers up to four double rooms on-site, with additional off-site accommodation available for larger cohorts or extended placements, and with a wide variety of catering options to suit all needs and schedules.
Participants have access to an exceptionally rich cultural landscape, spanning major collections, independent arts organisations, and significant historic sites. We arrange transport throughout the region to ensure this breadth of resources can be fully integrated into the programme, informing site-specific workshops, critical debates, and collaborative exchange.
Arts and cultural organisations in our region
The Auckland Project - A flagship cultural and regeneration initiative in Bishop Auckland itself, encompassing the Spanish Gallery, the Mining Art Gallery, Faith Museum, Auckland Castle, and Auckland Park, together representing one of the most ambitious cultural projects in England.
Factum Foundation and The Cylinders Estate - In 2024, Factum Foundation London acquired the Cylinders Estate in Elterwater, in Cumbria’s Lake District, the site of the renowned German refugee artist Kurt Schwitters’ final major artwork, the Merz Barn.
Grizedale Arts - An innovative and internationally recognised residency and commissioning organisation in the Lake District, known for its commitment to socially engaged and site-specific practice.
Yorkshire Sculpture Park - An internationally renowned open-air gallery and indoor spaces set within 500 acres of 18th-century parkland in West Bretton, housing major works by Henry Moore, Barbara Hepworth, James Turrell and many others.
The Hepworth Wakefield - A major art gallery in Wakefield, with outstanding exhibitions and collections of modern and contemporary art, in a new David Chipperfield building.
The Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art - One of the largest contemporary art spaces in the UK, situated on the Gateshead Quayside, presenting major national and international exhibitions across four floors.
Harewood House - An 18th-century country house near Leeds with interiors by Robert Adam, surrounded by Capability Brown-designed landscape gardens and hosting a programme of contemporary art alongside its historic collections.
Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art (MIMA) - An art gallery and museum presenting modern and contemporary art alongside a significant permanent collection, with a strong commitment to engaging the local community.
The Bowes Museum - A French château in Barnard Castle, housing a world-class collection of European fine and decorative arts including works by Goya, El Greco and Canaletto.
Shandy Hall - The former home of Laurence Sterne, author of Tristram Shandy, in Coxwold, North Yorkshire, a place of great literary and architectural character, housing the world's most complete collection of Sterne's published works.
Laing Art Gallery - Newcastle's most long-established public art gallery, housing an important collection of British paintings, sculpture and decorative arts from the 18th century to the present day.
Shipley Art Gallery - A Gateshead gallery of considerable distinction, holding one of the finest provincial collections of Dutch and Flemish Old Master paintings in the UK, alongside a programme of contemporary craft.
Beamish, The Living Museum of the North - An open-air museum set across 350 acres in County Durham, recreating life in the North East across four historic periods from the 1820s to the 1950s.
Durham Cathedral - One of the great Romanesque buildings of Europe and a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
The Biscuit Factory - The UK's largest independent contemporary art, craft and design gallery, located in a converted Victorian warehouse in Newcastle's Ouseburn, with a constantly evolving programme of work by emerging and established artists.