What we do

Villa Aurora

The Villa Aurora is an international meeting place and artists' residency, fostering German-American exchange in the fields of literature, music, art, and film. The Villa functions as a living memorial to the great artists and intellectuals who found refuge from Nazi Germany in Southern California. It also reminds us of the important role these exiles played in shaping the art and culture of their new home.


Appropriately, the core activity of the Villa Aurora is its Artists-in-Residence Program, which each year brings up to sixteen individuals for three-month stays at the Villa. These artists and writers are not required to be German citizens but must be living and working in Germany to qualify to apply. Villa Aurora provides space and time to work to its residency grant recipients, introduces them to the public with screenings, exhibitions, concerts and readings and supports them with a network of contacts to important local arts and cultural institutions and to mediating organizations in North America.

 
In addition, every year the Villa offers the "Feuchtwanger Fellowship," which provides a residency of up to twelve months to a writer who is being persecuted today. The Villa Aurora "Feuchtwanger Fellowship," like the Villa Aurora as whole, stands as a reminder that efforts to stifle freedom of expression did not end with the fall of National Socialism but, in fact, occur daily around the globe.


Villa Aurora offers cultural events in collaboration with local partners and, based on the transatlantic presence in both Los Angeles and Berlin, presents programs showcasing the cultural exchange between both "Sister Cities" and between Germany and the United States.

 
This dual presence - the Villa Aurora Artists Residence and Historic Landmark in Lion and Marta Feuchtwanger's former home in Los Angeles as well as the Villa Aurora Forum in Berlin - sets Villa Aurora apart from other international arts and cultural institutions.

Financing

Funds to buy the Villa Aurora in Pacific Palisades, as well as most of the cost of renovating the building and launching the grant program came from the Berlin State Lottery Foundation. The German foreign office also contributed money to enable us to buy the villa.
The Villa Aurora program is currently funded by the German foreign office (AA) and the Federal Representative for Culture and Media (BKM).

Internships

Internships of three months (or more on request) are available at the Villa in Los Angeles. You support the staff in a range of administrative tasks, event management, membership, guided tours and assist the resident artists in their everyday life. Our interns meet and work with interesting   people from the arts, culture, politics and academia.

A combined internship of three months Berlin and three months L.A., or vice versa, is also possible.

Details you will find here.

Villa Aurora Los Angeles

As a residence for artists, the Villa Aurora in Los Angeles is a place where German, European and American cultures cross paths as well as a meeting place for intellectuals and artists. One important aim of our programs is to hook our grant recipients up with important cultural institutions in L.A. as well as helping them develop a network of contacts in North America.
The activities of the Villa Aurora in Los Angeles are built around three pillars: the resident artists program, the event venue and keeping alive the flame of Germany's cultural exiles.

 



 

Villa Aurora Forum Berlin

"Making Cultural Exchange Visible" is the maxim for all activities of the Villa Aurora Forum in Berlin.

The Forum is responsible for the management of the overall budget of public funds and organizes the annual jury selection of the residency recipients. With its annual May 10 event, the Forum commemorates the anniversary of the 1933 book burnings. During the yearly social event -the "Villa Aurora Night"- the newly selected artists are presented to the public and the results of the artists' work created in Los Angeles are shown in screenings, exhibitions, readings and concerts. The Forum also realizes a variety of publications and events which reflect the artistic projects created at Villa Aurora.