The residency exchange with Centro de las Artes de San Agustín Etla (CaSa) in Oaxaca, Mexico, was CAST’s first venture in hosting international residencies, developed with generous support from Art Fund. The programme encouraged artists from both countries to make relationships with museum collections in the areas they were visiting. Nicola Bealing’s visits to museums in Oaxaca are described in the illustrated text she wrote following her visit. During his stay at CAST Santiago Rojo visited Tate St Ives and the Barbara Hepworth Museum as well as the Museum of Cornish Life in Helston. He also engaged with Cornwall’s mining and quarrying heritage.
In 2018 Mexican artist Laureana Toledo was invited to be part of the Groundwork programme of international contemporary art organised by CAST in partnership with Kestle Barton, Newlyn Art Gallery & The Exchange and Tate St Ives. Laureana came to CAST in July 2018 to present her moving image work Order and Progress (2013-2018) with a live score. During this visit she talked about CaSa, the arts centre founded by her father, the celebrated Mexican artist Francisco Toledo, and suggested that it might be possible to set up a residency exchange with CAST. In February 2019 Teresa Gleadowe visited CaSa, a former textile factory converted into an impressive centre of art education with fine exhibition spaces. During this visit she met with Laureana Toledo and with Daniel Brena, director of CaSa, who welcomed the idea of an exchange. It was agreed that the scheme would start with a visit by a CAST studio holder.
Painter Nicola Bealing was invited to visit CaSa to initiate the exchange in February 2020, returning from Mexico shortly before the start of lockdown. In June 2023, after an extended delay because of the pandemic, CAST welcomed artist Santiago Rojo from Oaxaca for the second part of the exchange, a month-long residency in Cornwall. In addition to the funding from Art Fund, Santiago Rojo’s residency at CAST was supported by Sistema de Apoyos a la Creación y Proyectos Culturales (SACPC) from the Mexican Department of Culture.