From the 1990s onwards, the Landis & Gyr Foundation was involved in setting up the Institutes for Advanced Study in Budapest, Bucharest and Sofia. Today, its support is confined mainly to the New Europe College (NEC) in Bucharest (since 1994), and to some extent the Center for Advanced Study (CAS) in Sofia (since 2001). As a result of these long-established connections, the Landis & Gyr Foundation has at its disposal living and studio spaces in Budapest, Bucharest and Sofia, where Swiss cultural professionals can stay as part of a residency programme. We also award annual travel grants to help recipients engage more profoundly with the geographical region of East-Central and Southeast Europe.

In turn, writers and translators from that region can apply for a residency to live and work in one of the Foundation's apartments in Zug. Since the late 1990s, the four Zug apartments have accommodated more than 150 renowned artists, including Olga Tokarczuk, winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature, and the Booker Prize winner Georgi Gospodinov. Zug, the apartment building and its surroundings have frequently featured in texts written there. Guests from East-Central and Southeast Europe are personally invited by the Foundation.