Exhibit in the Neverending Glen

Applications to be part of the Neverending Glen Artists Residency in 2026 are now CLOSED

The Residency is aimed at Artists who are looking to engage in a unique experience of working with the land in a collaborative, shared, enriching way. It is for those interested in creating site specific artworks, interacting with the landscape and exhibiting outdoors.

Artists will showcase their work in a unique and diverse outdoor art exhibition in The Neverending Glen as part of Kelburn Garden Party Festival.

This Residency will support 6 artists for two weeks to live together at Kelburn, collaborate, and expand their own practice in the setting of the Neverending Glen.

• Week 1 March 19th-26th: Working collaboratively in an intensive playful workshop led by renowned Artist Sue Hill, followed by a period of self-directed research and development investigating the rich landscape of the Kelburn Glen. This week will result in Artists developing a concept/idea for a site-specific piece of art that they will create in their own time to be installed in
• Week 2 23rd-30th June: Artists will work with our team to install their art pieces (running alongside the set-up of the main festival site) followed by working together with Sue Hill to create a collaborative piece that will be shared in the Neverending Glen Program during the Festival.

Artists will be expected to produce one self-generated work of art as well as one piece of group/collaborative art. All the works will all be installed and/or performed as part of Kelburn Garden Party Festival 2026.

In return Kelburn offers the chance to exhibit work in one of the most unique and natural exhibition settings, as part of Scotland’s most diverse and creative festival, accommodation, mentorship, intensive workshopping, connection, community, collaboration, festival tickets and invitations to the private view of the Neverending Glen. Each artist/art group will receive £250 towards making the experience possible and the construction of the artwork.

Please read the Residency Guide before applying. We strongly advise that you visit Kelburn Estate before submitting your application.

Beneath the Surface

The theme for this year’s callout is Beneath the Surface.

This theme for the 2026 Kelburn Garden Party celebrates the joy of collective experiences, illustrating the invisible networks that hold forests and societies together: the delicate webs that connect trees to fungi, and people to each other. It’s a space for discovery, reflection, and playful subversion — celebrating what thrives unseen.

In the natural world, mycorrhizal fungi form vast underground webs linking trees in mutual exchange. These hidden fungal threads carry nutrients, warnings, and even electrical signals — creating what ecologists call “the Wood Wide Web.” It’s a living demonstration of collaboration, communication, and interdependence.

At Kelburn, that same spirit pulses throughout the festival: artists, musicians, organisers, and audiences form their own underground network of creativity and care. Beneath the Surface draws inspiration from both — the forest’s hidden biology and the pulsing community of the festival — revealing what unfolds when the secret systems of nature meet the boundless potential of human imagination.

Throughout the weekend, deep within the woods and tucked into unexpected corners, you will encounter installations, performances, sound works, and rituals that blur the boundaries between science and storytelling, ecology and myth, connection and resistance.

This theme invites you to think of Kelburn not as a series of stages, but as a living ecosystem — where art, environment, and community nourish one another. Beneath the music and laughter, there’s a deeper resonance: a profound call to gather in awareness, to slow down, listen, and notice the hidden structures that sustain our lives. 

Beneath the Surface is not a retreat from the world; rather, it is an invitation to find connections. By delving below the surface, we uncover the networks that hold our collective experience together: the friendships and collaborations that resist isolation; the collective intelligence that hums beneath systems of control.