Trade your space for an artist's time, skills, and stories.
Artaway connects hosts with a spare room, a studio, a garden shed, or a barn to traveling artists looking for time and space to make their work. The exchange is flexible — an artist might run a workshop, leave a piece behind, lend a hand with the garden or kitchen, or some mix of all three. No money changes hands.
How it works
List your space
Describe the room, studio, or workspace, the dates you're open, what you can offer (accommodation, meals, materials, internet), and what you'd love to receive in return — practical help, a workshop, an original artwork, or a mix. Takes about 15 minutes.
Artists apply
Traveling artists find your listing and apply with a short message. You already have their bio and portfolio on their profile — read it, ask questions, accept or decline. No cash, no platform commission.
Host the exchange
The artist stays for the time you agreed on, contributes what you agreed (a few hours a day of help, a workshop, a piece of work), and uses their free time to make their own work. You both keep what you traded for. They keep the time and the story.
How it looked for one artist
Iara Vida is a Brazilian artist whose practice centers on earth pigments — paints made from the dirt and clay she gathers from the landscapes she travels through.
Over twelve months she did five exchanges across four countries — Spain, Portugal, the UK, Morocco — each one through a platform like this one. In Bristol, she spent a week gathering earth from the region and turning it into a mural for her host. In Morocco, she built an installation out of found local materials.
No fees changed hands. What she got was studio space, a place to stay, time and materials to work, and stories she's been telling ever since. What the hosts got was an original body of work, a documented process, and an artist's energy in their space for a week or a month.
“Each exchange pulled me out of my comfort zone and taught me something new. I consider myself a different person now.”Read Iara's full journey across 4 countries
Ready to list your space?
Add your space in a few minutes — the room, what you can offer, what you'd love to receive. Artists can start applying right away.
Why hosts love the exchange
No cash out, real value in
You won't write a check. You'll get help with the things you've been putting off, original work or workshops if those are part of the trade, and the presence of a working artist in your space for a week or a month.
Free during early access
No listing fees, no subscriptions, no commission on whatever you agree with the artist. We're early-stage and focused on growing the network, not monetizing it.
You pick who fits
Read profiles, browse portfolios, message candidates before deciding. Nobody shows up unannounced — every exchange starts with a conversation.
What kind of space fits
A spare room in a flat, a guesthouse bungalow, a studio apartment, a room above a café, a barn in a field, a cabin in the mountains, a studio you're not using this month. The format is flexible — one night to one season, accommodation only to full room and board. What matters is that you can host an artist on-site for the time you agree on. Artaway stays free during early access and we don't take a commission on anything you arrange.
Prefer a conversation first?
Not ready to list yet? Tell us a few lines about your space and what you'd love to trade, and we'll get back to you within 48 hours with concrete next steps.