For a month each year, nine professionals in the arts (visual arts, music, dance, theater, creative writing, and culinary arts) convene in Palazzolo Acreide, Siracusa, to work on individual projects and interact with local students and other community residents. Work done at the residency will culminate in site-specific events and exhibitions throughout this beautiful town, its stunning surrounding hills, and the superb archeological sites of Palazzolo Acreide.

Participants are hosted in private apartments throughout the historical center of Palazzolo Acreide, all within walking distance of the studio space. Each resident has a private bedroom in shared facilities. Dinner is communal and provides a time for conversation and exchange. Invited participants are responsible for their travel, materials, breakfast and lunch (which can be cooked in the apartments), and any other incidental expenses.

Residents share a large communal studio with courtyard access, located inside the historical city hall on the main piazza—the meeting point of the town. Here participants can work on individual projects and also collaborate and organize public events such as readings, performances, exhibitions, plays, concerts, and discussions. Residents can choose to work in their rooms if they prefer. Chefs will be able to meet and work with locals and learn of the Sicilian cuisine, and will have access to a kitchen. The communal studio is conceived as an incubator, laboratory, and meeting place of creative minds.

Akrai Residency is a project by Claudia Cannizzaro and Salvatore Scalora. Claudia Cannizzaro is the director of Art Omi, an international residency program for visual artists in upstate New York. Salvatore Scalora is an artist and art teacher. Active in the field of video installation and performance art, his work explores the relationship between performance and the public.