Pau Mural Residency: Halles-Republique Car Park

The Pau Bearn Pyrenees agglomeration community (CAPBP) and the City of Pau have launched a call for projects for an artist residency. The goal is to create a mural in the underground Halles-Republique car park in the heart of Pau, in southwestern France. Applications are open and close on 13 July 2026 at midnight.

The project takes the form of an artist residency, transforming a public car park into an artistic surface. Full details of the terms, the scope of the intervention, and the selection criteria are available on the official City of Pau website, pau.fr. The amount of the residency and the conditions for paying the selected artist were not specified in the available sources at this stage, so applicants should consult the official call documents for those details.

The project is part of the 100% EAC label (Artistic and Cultural Education), held by the CAPBP. Obtained in October 2022 for five years, the label aims to expand access to culture for all residents of the area, especially young people. Placing a mural in a neighborhood public facility such as an underground car park fits this logic of bringing art outside traditional walls.

The CAPBP also runs Le Bel Ordinaire, a contemporary art space in nearby Billere on the site of former abattoirs, created in 2014, which regularly organizes artist residencies. This new call continues that cultural policy. Street art and urban murals have multiplied in France's mid-sized cities in recent years, often led by local authorities as part of cultural-education programs or the renewal of public space.