Visual Artist Residencies Application Form
2020-2021 Season
PROGRAM OVERVIEW: Focus on Public Engagement
The Visual Artist Residencies at Boston Center for the Arts (BCA) supports visual art that locates itself at active intersections of public art, socially engaged art, public-participatory art, installation art, movement-based art, community arts, urban development, and arts learning.
BCA is accepting applications for its Visual Artist Residency Program, which provides studio space and additional professional and creative support for two artists or artist collectives during the 2020—2021 season. Please note: Our studio space is WORK ONLY; BCA does not provide living accommodations during its residencies.
BCA’s process-oriented residencies offer selected artists the opportunity to experiment with their craft and develop their focus or test new ideas, while also engaging in vital public dialogue in our Artist Studios Building in Boston’s historic South End. Applicant proposals are reviewed and evaluated by an invited jury with the objective of furthering BCA support of innovative, outward facing projects developed and shared on our campus.
When preparing your proposal, keep in mind that the BCA’s Visual Artist Residency Program puts special emphasis on supporting projects that involve direct engagement with the community - whether through collaborative activities, participatory public installations, performance, intervention or other imaginative activation. We seek proposed projects that have public interaction and participation as significant elements.
Although projects need not result in a physical art object or installation, if your proposal could be adapted for installation of temporary public art on the BCA Public Plaza during Summer 2020, please be sure to check the box below, confirming that you would like to be considered for the Summer 2020 Public Visual Artist residency as well as the 2020-2021 Visual Artist Residency.
The Visual Art Residency is open to applicants whose work takes a broad range of forms. We encourage applicants whose practice includes dance and movement-based aspects, theatre and writing-based aspects, as well as engagement with installation, sound, or other innovative media. A key element of any application will be the connection the artist is interested in exploring between the germination and development of a rich creative idea and its active life connecting with the community outside the artist’s studio.
ELIGIBILITY:
Artists who have been awarded a BCA Artist Residency in the past must wait three years before applying again.
International artists are invited to apply. However, all artists are responsible for their own visa, travel, living and housing expenses.
PROGRAM BENEFITS:
Studio Space: Residents are provided with a private studio in the BCA Artist Studios Building, which houses a community of nearly 50 artists, including: painters, printmakers, sculptors, filmmakers, craftspeople, writers, performing artists, and more. This is a work-only studio, no living space is provided with the BCA Visual Artist Residency Program. Selected artists will work with BCA Visual Arts staff to set up a mutually agreeable schedule for time to be spent in the studio.
Studio benefits include:
- 24-hour access to studio
- Curatorial visits and professional development opportunities organized by the BCA
- Windows and independently controlled heating unit
- Sinks and running water are available on the floor (not in the studio)
- Fourth-floor, 239 square foot space (artist will be responsible for transporting supplies to fourth floor studio - with assistance from BCA interns and visual arts staff, if needed)
IMPORTANT NOTE: THERE IS NO ELEVATOR IN THE STUDIO BUILDING, AND THE STUDIO IS ON THE FOURTH FLOOR.
FINANCIAL SUPPORT:
Two selected Visual Artist Residents each receive a $1,500 honorarium, paid out as follows:
- $1,000 will be issued at the beginning of the residency
- $500 to be paid contingent upon the program’s completion unless an alternate agreement is made between the artist and the BCA.
IN ADDITION to the honorarium, artists receive
- Up to $1,000 in reimbursements for pre-approved expenses incurred in the course of realizing the project.
SELECTION CRITERIA:
Visual Artist Residents will be selected based on:
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Strength of artistic practice (based on factors including originality, consistency, cohesiveness, serious commitment, and potential for continued artistic growth in work being created)
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Potential impact of residency on artist’s practice (based on artist’s career trajectory and proposed project ideas, and how this residency comes at a time that will have a particularly significant effect on the applicant's development as an artist)
Artist’s contribution to Equity/Diversity/Inclusion in Boston’s art community (based on information provided by applicant, does applicant represent a perspective that is underrepresented in Boston’s current arts community?)
TIMELINE:
- Submission Deadline: Friday, April 10, 2020 at 11pm
- Artist Notification: Friday, May 15, 2020
Residency Dates:
- Fall 2020-2021 Visual Artist Residency: Monday, October 5, 2020—Friday, January 17, 2021
- Spring 2021 Visual Artist Residency: Monday, February 8—Friday, May 23, 2021
Please see below for submission information. If you have any questions please contact Randi Hopkins, Director of Visual Arts: randi@bostonarts.org | 617.426.1522.
HOW TO APPLY: To apply, fill out the form below. Only applications submitted through the form below before 11pm on Friday, April 10, 2020 will be reviewed.
Required Submission Materials:
- Contact information;
- Website;
- Concept Proposal: Describe your proposed concept of a new work or the development of an existing project in 500 words or less, including discussion of how the project engages community;
- Budget: Describe how you plan to use allocated funds;
- Artist Statement/Bio: Describe your artistic vision in 250 words or less, in Word or PDF format, and upload;
- Resume: Please upload resume;
- Contact information for two professional references: Provide email address and relationship to you;
- Work Samples and Image List: Upload up to eight separate jpegs, including: three images of previous work and five concept images/sketches of the proposed concept. Please label each image as LastName_# (for example: Smith_1). Make sure numbers correlate to Image List, and that Image List contains full descriptive information for each image, including relevant artist’s name, title of work, date, media, dimensions and other important descriptive information.
- Video/Audio: Artist may submit video/audio clips and/or YouTube links for up to four works; Video files must be QuickTime compatible; audio files must be iTunes compatible. If your YouTube link requires a password, please provide it on your Image list.
- Residency Preference: If you have a preference for one of the residency time slots, let us know; and
- Consideration for Summer Public Art Residency: Let us know if you would like to also be considered for the Summer Public Art Residency.
NOTE: Submission form is not re-editable. Please have all documents, text and images ready before starting submission process. Once "SUBMIT" is entered application cannot be changed.
ABOUT BCA:
We are an incubator of new work; a celebration of process; progress in motion.
We believe in equitable access to resources, opportunities, and experiences.
We serve Boston’s working artists; patrons; neighbors—living, learning, and thriving together.