An Autumn Art Auction / Residency-Swap

So, I had the idea of staging a local art auction to raise money for local artists to make a living but also to set up a fund to help our local artists by paying their travel expenses when undertaking residencies internationally. The idea is that the auction takes a small commission and uses this money to help artists swap their places of residence with an artist from another country, inside or outside the EU. The residencies will last for one week only because restricting them in this way makes it possible for a wider range of artists to gain experiences of residencies, be they in employment, parents etc. Artists will be chosen on merit alone, with no ideological conditions, as the object is not to prescribe the outcome but allow artists the freedom to respond to the experience in their own way. Any work created for these residencies will be exhibited in a duel exhibition, contrasting the artists work. This way we can allow a cultural interaction to happen in a more organic way, as well as allowing artists to express themselves outside the usual prescribed commission-based opportunities.
I have been inconversation with a few possible venues in Southend and hopefully will have more information soon but feel free to comment and give opinions of how you think this idea might work.