Rooted between the shores of Lake Maggiore and Lake Orta, in the Piedmont region, in a highly suggestive landscape context, CROSS Residence works by opening a fertile dialogue between performing arts, cultural heritage and the territory understood as community and meeting of ecologies.

CROSS’ activities take place in an extended geography of public squares, villages, lakes, woods, waterways, mountains, and paths, between the town of Verbania (province od Verbano Cusio Ossola) and the village of Ameno (province of Novara):

Verbania is CROSS Project’s main base. Teatro Il Maggiore, Teatro Sant’Anna and Casa Ceretti, CROSS’s official base since 2018, and other numerous spaces including Villa Giulia and Museo del Paesaggio represent the reference points for hosting international companies, dance performances and events of the contemporary scene, as well as artistic residency projects, creating a connection between the artists’ creative processes and the inhabiting communities, the neighborhoods, the surrounding naturalistic areas, and the local institutions.

Ameno hosts residency activities developed in naturalistic and woodland settings, with the intention of promoting good practices and processes that contribute to achieving environmental, social, economic and cultural sustainability goals. This is complemented by the use of the multi-purpose space Tornielli Museum, the public park Neogotico, private villas and ateliers, and thanks to the collaboration with the local community. In 2022 CROSS Project is the winner of the PNRR Attrattività dei Borghi Storici 2022-2026 with the “Quadriborgo” project, in collaboration with the Municipality of Ameno and other local realities.

Thanks to the possibility of developing year-round artistic residencies, involving inhabitants and institutions, urban and rural spaces, and specific target audiences, CROSS Residence is a window always open on the world, experimentation and research. CROSS Residence favors innovative artistic processes based on transversal languages and multidisciplinary practices capable of moving the boundaries of performing arts disciplines. It supports the work of artists and performers, and it is a project in constant evolution.

The residency programme acts as a real tool to support the production of the artists, through the possibility of declining the residency period according to different typologies: open call residencies, which interest the winner artists of the CROSS Award, allowing them to develop the proposed projects; residencies on invitation, offered to artists close to CROSS’ vision, invited to develop projects on the territory; trampoline residencies, offered to young artists giving them the opportunity to experiment with their artistic language; technical residencies, offered to artists who need spaces to perfect their projects in the last stage of creation.

CROSS Residence is directed by Antonella Cirigliano, curated by Sara Cattin, and each year has a group of Tutors who provide the artists with their skills and support the creation process.