Currently Amathongo has two available vacancies for artists, filmmakers, musicians, writers, or researchers. Both are private self-contained spaces. The single cottage is best suited for a single person. The larger cottage is suitable for small families or friends / colleagues traveling together.

All residents also have access to the main house.

There is no demand or expectation on outputs for the residency. Residents are also welcome to rest and enjoy their time in our environment with our community, or privately. If you would like to share your finished or unfinished work publicly or privately, let us know in your application what you have in mind. We’d love to discuss options!

The Amathongo community includes prolific artists, storytellers, filmmakers, organizers, musicians, activists, gardeners, librarians, and intellectuals. We are deeply embedded in the progressive community of South Africa and the African motherland. We want to support you in finding all the resources, useful contacts, inspiration, and information you need to thrive during and after your stay with us. And of course, we can’t wait to learn from you!

Costs (quoted below in South African Rand) are on a sliding scale depending on the financing of the resident, according to one’s means:

Single cottage: R6000 – 9500 / week |||| R18000 – 30000 / month

Larger cottage: R8000 – 12500 / week |||| R23000 – 39000 / month

Prices include electricity, water, secure parking, Wi-Fi, main-house facilities, pool, braai area, and creative spaces. All finances support the Amathongo community.

The Amathongo community is intergenerational, making it a great place for both solo residents looking for occasional pleasant company, as well as residents with children. (There are various childcare options we can assist with, at varying costs.)

At Amathongo, we make an intentional effort to boycott companies implicated in genocide. We are proud active participants in Kensington Palestine Solidarity Group and other progressive and radical groups across the city, country, and continent.

We are still building our website. For more information, contact us.

  • We are looking for residents who in some way are curious about at least one of our ACAB approach principles: afrofuturism for all, commoning, anarcha-feminism, and borderlessness. You don’t need to be familiar with afrofuturism, or identify as an anarchist or socialist, for instance. But you’ll need to respect the practices of the residency while here, in order for all of us to have a cooperative, good time.

    We don’t strictly adhere to artistic or intellectual disciplines or forms at Amathongo. However, mediums which require heavy equipment (such as pottery wheels & kilns) may prefer to find other residencies. You can inquire with us about nearby outlets for your medium if you are not sure. We do personally know several artisinal hubs in our area.

    Our workspaces are intended to be modular. You can share notes about your workplace preferences ahead of your arrival, or as you arrive, and we will do our best to accommodate them within reason.

  • No. Residents may also use the time to rest.

  • We do want to assist our residents in showing past work, works in progress, or ideas for future work that may be seeking collaboration, feedback, financing, or other support. Sometimes we arrange this within our space, and other times we arrange this through our partners at other community venues, book stores, spaces, parks, institutions, and businesses.

  • We provide pick-up and drop-off at the airport, bus station, or train station, included in the cost of any stay that is at least one week.

    For your other movements, use of apps like Bolt and Uber is possible in Johannesburg, but we prefer to refer you to our community members directly, whom we trust, for safe and reliable transportation throughout the wider metropolitan area. One of our core team members runs a transportation service with competitive costs.

  • We make intensive effort to make Amathongo safe for everyone who steps foot within its spaces, especially those who are queer or transgender. While we can’t say the broader Johannesburg is entirely safe for everyone all the time, it is considered to be one of the better places on the continent to be LGBTQ+. We encourage you to reach us with any questions, if you have concerns.

  • On weekdays, the house is generally quiet. Mondays are cleaning days, so there are generally more people around. Weeknights have the occasional common meals shared amongst members, neighbors, and friends.

    Weekends often include children members of our community playing in the common spaces. These times can be much noisier. We encourage the children to be mindful of the weekend peace of our residents, but remember, kids are meant to be kids!

    Our block is generally quiet with very little traffic. Walk a few blocks and you will find the bustle of everything Johannesburg has to offer, and any services you might need which are not provided by the residency directly.

  • The larger cottage is accessible to most. The shared studio working spaces are also accessible. Not all spaces at the whole property are accessible.

    We are very open to learn about your needs and see whether we have all that is necessary to support you.

  • Absolutely. However, for the peace of the regular residents, they must not come and go between 22:30 and 08:00 without prior agreement.