Three-week grassroots bamboo and natural-building residency
Applications NOW OPEN!
Residency dates: Thursday 17 September to Thursday 8 October 2026
Application deadline: Monday 14 September 2026
Location: Bamboo Creative Bali Eco-School, Belega, Bali, Indonesia
Program cost: Rp450,000 per day, including basic meals
Accommodation: Shared dorm with a shared bathroom
Places available: Four
We have just shared a personal update about the next chapter of Bamboo Creative Bali and our emerging Vital Light Villages vision.
As part of this next stage, we are inviting applications for a three-week Resident Artist Program at our grassroots Eco-School in Belega, Bali.
This is an opportunity for artists, makers, designers, craftspeople, natural builders and practical creative people who want to learn bamboo skills by working alongside our local team on a real, evolving community site.
The Belega Eco-School is not a polished resort or a finished campus. It is a living workshop and demonstration site where bamboo building, traditional knowledge, natural materials, creative reuse and inclusive community design come together. Participants will learn through hands-on contribution while helping us move the site into its next phase.
Depending on the work underway, the residency may include:
- introductory bamboo handling, preparation, tools and safety;
- practical bamboo building and joinery skills;
- earth walls, light-clay-straw and ecobrick applications;
- lime and natural floor finishing;
- roofing, stairs, pathways, landscaping and site finishing;
- creative use of local and recovered materials;
- exploration of accessible, sensory-friendly and inclusive spaces;
- documentation, design, art, craft or storytelling connected with the project; and
- cultural exchange and learning with Balinese craftspeople and our wider community.
We are particularly interested in applicants who are curious, adaptable and willing to participate in everyday site life. You do not need to arrive as a bamboo expert. We value genuine interest, practical engagement, respect for local knowledge and a willingness to learn and contribute.
The residency may suit:
- visual and installation artists;
- architects, designers and design students;
- craftspeople and furniture or product makers;
- natural builders and sustainability practitioners;
- photographers, filmmakers, writers and storytellers;
- educators and community-development practitioners; and
- people exploring regenerative, inclusive or circular-economy projects.
This is a small, grassroots residency rather than a conventional institutional art program. The cost is Rp450,000 per day and includes basic meals and accommodation in a shared dorm with a shared bathroom. Only four residency places are available. Transport, payment arrangements and any other practical details will be discussed clearly with shortlisted applicants before a place is confirmed.
To apply, complete the application form below and include links or a small sample of relevant work. Applications close Monday 14 September 2026. The selected resident or residents must be available to begin on Thursday 17 September 2026 and participate through Thursday 8 October 2026.
Read the story behind this next phase: https://bamboocreative.org/2026/09/08/newadventure/
Residency Program Details
The overall aim of this project is to provide a community space for young people and adults with disabilities to be and feel included in community life and activities: Tactile experiences with mud and clay, bamboo and recycled material modeling and crafts, weaving, and other right-brain activities, developing our imaginations and at a local level maintaining traditions and promoting the value of bamboo as a sustainable material/resource and to enable it’s revival and enhancement in ‘developing’ countries.
Our Resident Artist programs compliment this through development of local projects and partnerships which focus on local environmental programs and sustainability initiatives to improve local economic livelihoods and help contribute to our special disability program.
If someone comes to mind, please share this invitation with them.
Typical Daily Schedule
The residency day is structured around two focused three-hour activity blocks, with shared meals, daily site responsibilities and time for rest and informal creative exchange.
Program Timing
8:00–10:00 am Breakfast shift, shared cleaning and/or yoga
10:00 am–1:00 pm Morning activity block: bamboo skills, building, making or project work
1:00–2:00 pm Lunch
2:00–5:00 pm Afternoon activity block: practical work, collaborative projects or creative development
5:00–7:00 pm Rest, shower and personal/free time
7:00–9:00 pm Dinner, craft session, local outing or film night
After 9:00 pm Personal time and quiet hours
The exact activities may change according to the stage of work, weather, materials, visiting craftspeople and the needs of the group. Participants should be ready for a practical and flexible rhythm rather than a rigid classroom timetable.
Our diet is fresh Indonesian-fusion food with vegan/vegetarian options. Our in-house stays include basic meals and accommodation.
Application Form
Applications close Monday 14 September 2026.
We offer a sliding-scale contribution approach to make this learning accessible to the everyone (Please communicate whatever way you feel you can pay/contribute). We are committed to finding ways to collaborate which are mutually beneficial for everyone… offering support for special needs families also to be included and experience a supportive family environment. Programs are tailored to individual needs and requests – so get in touch to discuss your needs and ideas.
We rely on others sharing their knowledge with us; We rely in/on good-will; We are encouraged to have a spirit of gratitude within ourselves; We believe in paying it forward, balancing the feminine and masculine outlooks to gain peace and prosperity. More than anything, we want to nurture people who genuinely care and are prepared to commit the time to learn a skill and work together with other humans in a harmonious way and help to share these skills and knowledge that can make our world TRULY Sustainable… and that means helping 70-80% of the world’s population who live on less than $10/day access what has been termed “The Sustainable Building Material of the Future”.
Bamboo Building Internship
VIP Day Internship
Day Workshop One on One Instruction for developing your skill and/or bamboo product. Purchase as a gift and redeem anytime between now and June 2025 (choose location – Denpasar or Belega). Book via email/form. Available Tues – Sat
A$75.00
See Also:
Bamboo courses
We also offer bamboo courses/workshops if you’re interested to come and work with us and learn about building with bamboo and natural/recycled materials in a comprehensive way.
OUR Story…
Prior to living here in Bali my daughter and I lived in the Philippines (Palawan) where we stayed with several families for nearly a year… Living in Palawan, I witnessed local living conditions and wondered why bamboo wasn’t being used more by local people. When helping a family to build a small homestay house in Palawan (Salacot area), termites were a huge issue and wreakers of mass destruction without heavy chemical treatment. Also bringing water to homes from nearby water sources to save time and energy manually carrying water was an issue (no electricity in this area). When I came to Bali in mid-2016 I met Djuka Montenero (Farmers Yard Hostel founder) through HelpX and became fascinated with Indoneisan bamboo building techniques.
I realised that Bali was the place to learn about bamboo and helped Djuka build a Lumbung (traditional rice barn)-style room from bamboo which later became the basis for this “Sky-Kubu” design. I returned again in 2017 and started this bamboo project with local craftsmen and volunteers and started cottoning on to local skills and knowledge…
I progressed to bamboo after realising that living INSIDE Earthships may not be so desirable in tropical environments (due to insufficient ventilation and high humidity) and having started my dreaming for disability community design back in 2013/14, with the intention of having an Earthship base and then a bamboo structure (main living space) above which could be evacuated in the case of a cyclone… However I couldn’t quite convince the locals here on the car tyres aspect … So decided to just focus on the bamboo structure and learn Everything I could about this material and to keep sharing along this journey.
It’s not the skills themselves… it’s the Environment we create practicing them… maybe not quite like a knitting circle (I don’t know I’ve never been to one… but those crocheting circles in Australia seem quite dangerous and all with those Anti-Coal Seam Gas Nanas going around crocheting trees and pushbikes). But it’s this “Being” state, and Being together which nourishes me, bringing me out of my “isolation”… and being welcomed into a sense of connection and in working with others which feels like family (familyful – my new word for the day)…
It’s not rocket-science raising a special-needs child/person, but in the society I came from living in in Australia, opportunities to live and work this way are/were rare. In Asia, there just seems to be more people around and a more natural inclination for people to offer to help each other and more of a sense of “ease” in general.
I hope to return to Palawan again and stay with the families in the beautiful and relatively unspoilt area of the hillsides behind Napsan (probably now like Bali was 30 years or so ago) and bring what I have learned and support their ability to access sustainable renewable technologies which can help improve living standards/ ease/access to things we take for granted in the western world – like running water and light at night. Our Outreach Programs are aimed at contributing to a more in-depth study and practice of making technologies available and to promote sustainable practices in developing regions – to assist in disseminating knowledge and skills which can help make our world more sustainable. See our Outreach Projects page for more info.
Bamboo Creative Bali 