Dear resident artists, we look forward to welcoming you to our home and our community at Rimbun Dahan!
Before you confirm your acceptance of this residency, please ensure you are comfortable with the following terms and conditions.
During the period of your residency, Rimbun Dahan will provide:
- Private fan-cooled accommodation, including water and electricity, with a bathroom and kitchen. [In some cases, the kitchen may be shared with 1 other resident artist.] The kitchen is fully equipped with crockery (plates, bowls), cutlery (knives, forks, spoons, chopsticks), utensils (knives, spatulas, graters, cutting boards, can openers, etc.) and equipment, including fridge, stove, rice cooker and toaster.
- For visual artists, a private fan-cooled studio, including sink, with water and electricity. For performing artists, the use of the Dance Studio. For writers, unless you specifically require a separate studio, we will provide you with a large writing desk in your accommodation.
- A living allowance of MYR1,000 per month, for the two months of your residency. The allowance will be paid in MYR cash upon your arrival at Rimbun Dahan at the beginning of each month.
- Access to on-site facilities including clothes washing machine, swimming pool, Taman Sari vegetable garden, tennis court, library, and shared office space (WiFi equipped).
- Guidelines for living at Rimbun Dahan before your arrival, and orientation upon arrival to our site, facilities and operations.
- Cleaning of your accommodation every 2 weeks. All other cleaning is up to you.
- Transport to a local supermarket once a week, if required.
- Occasional optional social mixers and excursions to local cultural events with other resident artists.
- Occasional optional guided introductions to the heritage buildings, indigenous garden/arboretum, permanent collection of artworks, and the heritage textile collection. Please ask for these if you are interested, or if you have specific curiosities.
For artists coming from beyond Peninsula Malaysia, you are responsible for booking and paying for your flights to Malaysia. Rimbun Dahan will provide the following travel stipend for your second month of residency. This will be paid to you in MYR cash, upon your arrival at Rimbun Dahan for your second month. No travel stipend is provided for your first month of residency. The travel stipend amount is as follows, depending on your country of residence:
- MYR600 for Brunei, Cambodia, Myanmar, Philippines or Indonesia (other than Jakarta).
- MYR500 for Thailand.
- MYR400 for Jakarta.
- MYR300 for East Malaysia.
Rimbun Dahan does NOT provide:
- Meals or groceries. You can choose to eat at nearby restaurants, or buy your own groceries and cook in your own kitchen.
- Art materials or funding for art materials or artistic collaborators. We will provide trips to nearby art material stores.
- Transfers between KL International Airport and Rimbun Dahan. This costs MYR85 per trip, so please budget this.
- Any other local transport costs.
- Travel visas, and any costs for procuring and maintaining travel visas, including short trips out of Malaysia to neighbouring countries.
- Airconditioning or WiFi in accommodation or studio spaces.
Our expectations for resident artists:
- Resident artists will use the residency to engage in the development of their artistic practice. The resident is NOT required to fulfil the artistic proposal as submitted in the application, although this is preferred.
- Rimbun Dahan should be your primary home and full-time work place for the duration of your residency. This includes sleeping here at night, and being here on weekends. Occasional trips into the city are fine.
- Malaysian artists should not be carrying on full-time or substantial part-time work (i.e. more than 2 days per week) in the city. Please discuss this with the residency manager if you plan to be away regularly.
- Southeast Asian artists are encouraged to travel within Malaysia during their stay, but such trips should not be longer than a few days and should be discussed with the residency manager.
- Resident artists are expected to participate in 1 scheduled Open Day during their residency. Open Days invite the public to visit the studios of the artists to meet the artists and experience the art works being developed. On Open Days, the artist is expected to be on site and available to share in discussions about their art with visitors. The format can be discussed with the residency manager, and depends on the genre of the artists: for example, performing artists may offer a workshop or studio performance, writers may give readings. An Open Day is NOT guaranteed, however. Other than Open Day, the residency does not offer any kind of exhibition or performance production.
- Visual artists are expected to leave 1 artwork that has been made at Rimbun Dahan for our Permanent Collection. Selection can be decided by the artist, or the artist may invite the residency manager to discuss the selection of the work. If you are planning to make only one single work during the course of your residency, then you should discuss this requirement in advance with the residency manager.
- You are welcome to use your residency to create work for future exhibitions, performances, publications, etc outside Rimbun Dahan. Resident artists are expected to acknowledge the Rimbun Dahan Residency as a source of support when work created here features significantly in the first instance in any exhibition, performance, publication or other dissemination to the public. Please request the Rimbun Dahan logo to include in any collateral. Thank you!
An Important Note About Malaysian Immigration, for Non-Malaysians
Non-Malaysian resident artists are responsible for their own immigration/visa status. We do not provide work visas for resident artists. ASEAN passport holders are usually given a Short Term Social Pass (this is a tourist pass, not a work visa) by Malaysian Immigration automatically on entry, which usually lasts only 30 days. Myanmar passport-holders may be required to apply for a tourist visa.
Your two months of residency at Rimbun Dahan are separated by at least 1 month, in which you are expected to return home, or travel to another country. So far, Malaysian Immigration has granted a second 30 days of stay for our ASEAN guests under these terms without difficulty. However, please be aware that Malaysian Immigration is unpredictable, and may refuse entry for the second 30 days without reason. They may also decide to allow you entrance, but give you less than 30 days to stay in Malaysia.
Other than issuing a letter of support for you to show to Immigration when you arrive, we have no capacity to affect their decision. If Immigration refuses to allow entry for the second month of your residency, we will support the remainder of your residency as much as we can. For example, by shifting your residency to another date, enabling you to carry out an Open Day remotely, or storing your personal luggage and art materials until you can collect them or arrange their transfer. Please understand that this very seldom happens, but it is always a risk.
Cancellations, and Other Issues
The full term of a Southeast Asian Arts Residency in 2026 is 2 months (60 days).
If you choose to cancel your residency at Rimbun Dahan before you arrive for your first month, please let us know as soon as possible, so we can use our resources to support other artists.
If you choose to cancel your second month of residency, you may do so. However, your residency will be counted as incomplete, you will not be involved in an Open Day, and you will not be included in our archive of former resident artists.
If personal circumstances disrupt the plans for your residency — for example, due to illness or misfortune to yourself or your family, or unforeseen opportunities arising — we will try to accommodate your changes as much as possible. If we can, we will shift your residency to dates that are possible for you. However, please be aware that our resources are limited and our accommodation schedule is busy; we may not be able to offer you many alternatives.
Acceptance of Terms
These terms will be laid out in a Letter of Offer, which we will send to you once we have fixed the dates of your residency next year. Your signature on the Letter of Offer will indicate your acceptance of these terms.
If you have any questions or concerns about the terms & conditions of this residency, please do not hesitate to discuss this with the residency manager by email at arts@rimbundahan.org, before you sign the Letter of Offer.