AIR Wro is a legacy programme of European Capital of Culture Wrocław 2016. It is dedicated to residencies, study visits and international cooperation. Its main purpose is to support and promote activities of individuals representing various fields of art and culture or active in border areas between them, interested in cooperating with representatives of local communities and environments as well as eager to build international cultural relations.
From 2017 AIR Wro dedicates its projects to contemporary culture and urban identity – the urbanity defined as a set of characteristics, issues and tasks related to the particular city, but also a city conceived as common space – jointly stated, produced and built. Common for a specific group of inhabitants, but also for inhabitants of different cities concerning specific topics and phenomena. The concept of the city is intended to form the starting point for activities related to research and analysis of modern cities, diagnosis and reflection on their condition and the level of public and civic awareness of their inhabitants, their involvement and participation in urban projects and initiatives, a sense of co-responsibility for a shared space – understood as public sphere and, at the same time, community of inhabitants.
AIR Wro invites for residencies, among others, artists, curators, researchers, journalists, activists and animators interested in artistic, cultural and social projects, which are inspired by urban and grassroots movements or urban activism, are dedicated to current urban issues and problems, for instance, public space, urban greenery, environmental protection and ecology, are related to civic and cultural education, social issues and cultural policy, and which serve the idea of mediation and searching for good practices and solutions for modern cities.
There are few modules of AIR Wro carried out within each year: open call for residencies and study visits in Wrocław and abroad, Culture of Mobility – programme, which supports the mobility of local operators, competition open for NGO sector from Wrocław and Lower Silesia, which enables the possibility of organising residencies and study visits to them, and AIR Wro Talks – meeting of professionals active in the field of residencies, mobility and international cooperation from across Europe.