GRANT
OTAOLA UBIETA
2026
PERIOD: 15 OCTOBER 2026 – 15 JANUARY 2027
The purpose of this call for applications is to select an artist to develop their artistic project as the recipient of the 2026 Otaola Ubieta Grant, which will be administered by the Bilbao Arte Fundazioa Foundation.
The Otaola Ubieta Grant aims to support the internationalisation of artists residing in the Basque Autonomous Community and to contribute to their training and professional development. To this end, it offers a three-month residency at the Istituzione Fondazione Bevilacqua La Masa in Venice (Italy).
The call is open to artists who have developed a project as residents of the Bilbao Arte Fundazioa Foundation’s grant programme up to the 2025–26 academic year, and who are registered as residents of the Basque Autonomous Community.
Terms and conditions of the call for applications: (.pdf)
Submission deadline: 26 April 2026
About the Otaola Ubieta Grant
Created by Pablo de Otaola in 1990 as a tribute to his father Juan, its aim is to contribute to artistic training and support the creative work of visual artists residing in the Basque Autonomous Community. In 2014, this scholarship was awarded the Gure Artea Prize, presented annually by the Basque Government for its contribution to the promotion of the visual arts in the Autonomous Community of the Basque Country.
About the Fondazione Bevilacqua La Masa
The history of the Fondazione Bevilacqua La Masa dates back to 1899, when Duchess Felicita Bevilacqua (1822–1899), widow of General Giuseppe La Masa, decided to bequeath her estate and her palace to the City of Venice. Her will formed the basis for the Foundation’s subsequent statutes, which still refer to it today. Thus, a fertile ground for artistic experimentation outside the major international exhibitions was established in the city of Venice, aimed at artists at the beginning of their creative journeys, with a view to capturing and stimulating emerging creativity.
Over the years, the Bevilacqua La Masa Foundation’s activities have moved to various locations. It is currently divided into four sites: the Gallery in St Mark’s Square (the main exhibition space); the Palazzetto Tito (organisational and administrative offices); the Sala del Camino (secondary exhibition hall); and the Palazzo Carminati and the Cloister of SS. Cosma and Damiano (artists’ studios).
Jean-Michel Basquiat, Louise Bourgeois, Joseph Beuys, Milton Glaser, Shirin Neshat, Frida Kahlo, Sonia Delaunay, Maya Bajevic, Yoko Ono, William Kentridge, Hiroshi Sugimoto, Jim Hodges, Enrico David, Stefano Arienti and Peter Doig are just some of the international artists to whom the Foundation has dedicated exhibitions since 1999, the year of its centenary. Held in the same spaces dedicated to collectives of emerging artists, the retrospectives form part of the activities coordinated by Bevilacqua la Masa alongside conferences, presentations, seminars and screenings.