LONDON.- Gavin Turk, Polly Morgan and Emma Forrest are among the artists who are taking part in onefinestay’s first Creative Residencies programme which launched this past week in London, New York, Paris and LA. onefinestay, is inviting submissions from artists of any discipline (including fine artists, illustrators, photographers, musicians and writers) from around the world to apply for free stays across the four cities, and in return asks them to donate a unique piece of work for onefinestay’s art collection. A new category of upscale accommodation, onefinestay lets visitors live like locals by staying in a distinctive home while the owner is out of town.

For the launch of the Creative Residencies programme, onefinestay has onfirmed Gavin Turk, Polly Morgan and Emma Forrest. Gavin Turk is one of the original Young British Artists (YBAs). His work has been collected by Charles Saatchi and was exhibited in the renowned Sensation exhibition that alerted the world to contemporary British art. He is also the co-founder of the House of Fairy Tales art and education project.

Turk will be staying with onefinestay in Paris during November, and says of the opportunity: “I’m delighted to be one of the first artists to enjoy the creative residencies – I was attracted by the different spin on a traditional artists-in-residence programme. Being immersed in a neighbourhood rather than institutionalised was particularly attractive.”

Also taking part in the programme this autumn is acclaimed artist Polly Morgan, whose playfully provocative use of taxidermy has won her work a host of international admirers. Polly will be staying with onefinestay in LA. onefinestay launched in LA and Paris during September, following the rapidly growing company’s runaway success in London and New York. Also staying in LA will be the novelist and screenwriter, Emma Forrest. She has just adapted her memoir Your Voice In My Head into a feature film, which will star Emma Watson. Forrest, who currently lives in LA, is planning on using the residency to get a different perspective on the city she’s been intrigued by since moving there from London.

Inspired by other artists-in-residence programmes, a heritage of relationships between residences and artists (from New York’s iconic Chelsea Hotel to the Colombe d’Or in Provence) and the tradition for artists to have patrons, the purpose of the programme is to pair some of the unique and inspiring homes which onefinestay can grant access to with some leading artistic and creative minds, giving them an inspiring space to think.