Launch Pad LaB is an artists’ residency program established in 2018 on the grounds of La Boissière, an ancestral home in rural southwest France. Developed by the owner, contemporary art collector and philanthropist Veronique de Champvallier Parke in collaboration with Sarah Lee Elson of Launch Pad, Launch Pad LaB offers artists the space and time for research and experimentation. The program provides the possibility to consider or produce a new body of work, to collaborate with others, or to generate responses to the local environment. The opportunity is aimed at artists established in a dedicated practice for whom a hiatus from the daily demands on their time and energies can make a difference in their creative productivity. Located in the countryside, Launch Pad LaB invites artists to engage in a quieter and more isolated environment that will ideally launch a new development in their practice. Twice a year, each edition of the residency accommodates up to four artists for 6-8 weeks, with housing, separate studios, transportation, and a stipend.

Veronique de Champvallier Parke and Sarah Lee Elson lead the selection process. While artists are expected to use the time productively, a finished work of art at the end of the residency is not expected. Each edition of Launch Pad LaB features collateral events, bringing the artists’ research and processes to the attention of invited curators, collectors, other artists and professionals in the art world.

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