Aside from the application process, which depending on where one is applying can be very bureucratic and lengthy, the main difficulty I face is not so much getting into a residency, but especially how to survive between residencies. It is not always so easy to jump from one residency to the next, often there is "dead" time between the two, and since the money alloted for a residency is usually dedicated to a specific project, and does not generate any benefit such as unemployment relief in the home country, how do we survive (i.e eat, pay rent) between two residencies? If we have some kind of job, then we don't have the time to leave for long residency periods. Given the way I work, I need to spend time (5-6 months) in the place where I'm gong to execute the project. So I think that at the European level, this should be addressed. How can an artist sustain his practice during his off time, between residencies. I know in France we can always fall back on a form of state welfare, but it is somewhat of a schizophrenic situation, and it is looked down by the rest of society. As far as I am concerned not something viable.
The other main difficulty I see in successfully applying to residencies is finding a place that is in tune with what we do (and vice versa) If our work is off the beaten track, we might be able to find some residencies, but there is definitely going to be some off time, during which we still need to survive. Creating structures during which we can create and be paid for this, is great, but we also need to think about the "in between" time. Actors and musicians can apply for unemployment between gigs, but visual artists can't, because all of the visual world is based on the idea that we sell our work, and live off that profit. However there is an increasing number of visual practices that are now immaterial and do not aim at being sold and collected. I think these new practices can strive at residencies, but the transition phase between two residencies need to be addressed.