Monthly Archives: August 2022

Open Call: Wassaic Project 2023 Summer Residency and Family Residency Program

Application Opens: August 1, 2022
Deadline: September 26, 2022, midnight EST
Application Fee (USD): $25.00 

The Wassaic Project accepts 1 – 4 month proposals for our 2023 Summer Residency program (June – September 2023) for artists and writers. This call is for individual artists, collaborative teams, and groups of 2 or more individual artists, and artists applying through our Family Residency program. The residency fee is $900 per ~4 weeks per artist/collab group/artist team/family, which includes: semi-private studio space(s), private room in a shared house (our Family program receives a private house), access to our Wood Shop and kiln, staff support, and programming such as our Visiting Artist program, Artist Talks and Studio Visits, Open Studios, Artist Presentations, etc.

Artists in Residence are selected by a review committee composed of the Wassaic Project Co-Directors, Residency Director, and professionals in the field. They will be selected based on the quality of their work, commitment to their practice, and ability to interact positively with the community at large. 

The Wassaic Project cultivates and supports community for emerging and professional contemporary artists, writers and other creatives. Housed in historic, landmark buildings, the residency program offers nine artists each month the opportunity to live and work in the heart of a rural community. The Wassaic Project seeks artists working in a diverse range of media who want to produce, explore, challenge, and expand on their current art-making practices, while participating in a community-based arts organization. For more info: https://www.wassaicproject.org/artists/summer-residency

FAMILY RESIDENCY PROGRAM:
The Wassaic Project broadly defines “family” as a group of more than one individual where there is an in-house dependent relationship as a necessary caregiver. The Wassaic Project recognizes that artists who have caregiving relationships, as providers or recipients, often opt-out of peer community building for practical reasons. The Wassaic Project aims to provide accommodations which increase access to our residency program. 

Examples of caregiving may include, but are not limited to: parent/child (parent is caregiver),
child/parent (child is caregiver), partner/partner (where one partner is a supportive caregiver of the other and cohabitation is required for caregiving), a recipient of caregiving, a self-selection into this application for separate and additional housing space by identifying as a family applicant.

2023 SUMMER RESIDENCY PROGRAM DATES:
June 1 – 25, 2023
June 29 – July 30, 2023
August 3 – 29, 2023
September 7 – October 1, 2023

STUDIOS + FACILITIES + ACCOMMODATIONS:
Artists-in-residence will receive an adaptable semi-private studio space in the historic Maxon Mills. All studios are ~100 square feet. Artists-in-residence will have 24-hour access to their studio and accommodations which include a private bedroom in a shared house (complete with common spaces, 1–2 full bathrooms, fully stocked kitchen, etc). Artists participating through the Family program will receive a private house. Artists-in-residence also have access to workshop facilities, including a wood shop and a ceramics studio. 

PROGRAMMING:
Two to three times a month, artists-in-residence are invited to sign up for one-on-one studio visits with Visiting Artists/Critics. Our embedded critics, Ghost of a Dream, also make group studio visits each month, along with our Director of Artistic Programming and additional WP staff. Artists-in-residence are invited to participate in a monthly evening of artist’s talks and presentations, as well as Open Studios towards the end of their residency.

FINANCIAL INFO:
The actual cost of each residency is $5,000 per month, which includes a semi-private studio, private bedroom, full use of our facilities, visiting artist program, studio visits, insurance, and staff support. In an effort to serve and support emerging artists, we attempt to subsidize residencies for all individual artists who do not have other forms of support. Thanks to the generous support of donors and grants, the artist’s contribution for the winter residency program is $900 per a 4-week period.
We also offer need-based financial assistance to artists-in-residence for whom it would be impossible to attend without financial support. Financial need is self-reported by artists in their applications. We ask that artists who are in a position to fully contribute towards the residency fee please do so.

FELLOWSHIPS:
The Wassaic Project offers the following Fellowships:

The Work and Family Fellowship offers no-fee residencies and $500 honorariums to several artists-in-residence per year participating in the Family Residency program.
The Sustainable Arts Fellowship offers no-fee residencies and $500 honorariums to several artists who identify as Black, Indigenous or a Person of Color per year participating in the Family Residency program.

The Mary Ann Unger Fellowship offers a no-fee residency to 1 female-identifying artist who identifies as Black, Indigenous or a Person of Color per year who primarily works in sculpture.
The ArtForArtists Fellowship for Social Justice Based Practice offers a no-fee residency and $500 honorarium to 1 artist who identifies as Black, Indigenous or a Person of Color per year.

To be considered for the Work and Family Fellowship and Sustainable Arts Fellowship:
In your application, please take some time to reflect on the ways in which care and caregiving, whatever those words mean to you, come through (or might come through) in your work. It’s okay if this isn’t something you’ve considered before. We think of these Fellowships as a starting point towards building a future where artists shape the way society sees and values care.

All applicants are considered for the Mary Ann Unger Fellowship and the ArtForArtists Fellowship for Social Justice Based Practice and do not have to complete any additional information on their application.

APPLICATION REQUIREMENTS:
Contact information
1–10 work samples
CV (3 pages max)
2 references
$25 application fee

Proposal: We believe our residency works best as a creative laboratory untied to outcome. We would like to hear about what makes you curious, what you are interested in investigating, and what your jumping off point would be. (200 words max)

Optional question: We want to look at your work according to your definition of success. Are there additional criteria that you would like the panel/us to consider when reviewing your work? For example: What do you consider to be a successful piece or process? If you work with a community, the artistic product may not be the sole or most important creation of the work. Are there other impacts and creations in your process we should focus on? Please share any documentation that could bring us close to these impacts—interviews, testimony from participants, writing about the work, images from an event, etc.

REVIEW:
Artists-in-residence are selected by a review committee composed of the Wassaic Project Co-Directors, Director of Artistic Programming, and professionals in the field. Residents will be selected based on the quality of their work, commitment to their practice, and ability to interact positively with the community at large. 

NOTIFICATIONS:
Notifications will be sent out in early December.

MORE INFO:
https://www.wassaicproject.org/artists/summer-residency
https://www.wassaicproject.org/artists/family-residency
https://www.wassaicproject.org/artists/applications

Open Call: Wassaic Project 2023 Summer Exhibition


Application Opens: August 1, 2022
Deadline: September 26, 2022, midnight EST
Application Fee (USD): $25.00 

The Wassaic Project is currently holding our annual Open Call for our 2023 Summer Exhibition for artists of all mediums, including: 2D work, sculpture, video, new media, site-specific installation, performance, text, poems, essays, publication-specific work, etc. If selected, your work will be showcased alongside a diverse range of pieces and performances in and around historic Wassaic and Maxon Mills. The Wassaic Project’s 2023 Summer Exhibition will be free and open to the public every weekend from May 20 through September 24, 2023. Artists interested in creating a site-specific installation for the 2023 Summer Exhibition are also eligible for an Exhibitions Fellowship to help realize their work. Fellows will be offered a no-fee residency for 1 – 4 weeks in April or May 2023. Artists interested in making site-specific work for the exhibition should still apply regardless of whether or not they are interested in or able to be in residence in April or May. The Wassaic Project cultivates and supports community for emerging and professional contemporary artists, writers, and other creatives. Housed in historic, landmark buildings, the residency program offers 10 artists each month the opportunity to live and work in the heart of a rural community. The Wassaic Project seeks artists working in a diverse range of media who want to produce, explore, challenge, and expand on their current art-making practices, while participating in a community-based arts organization.

For more information:
https://www.wassaicproject.org/artists/summer-exhibition-faq 2022 

Summer Exhibition:
https://www.wassaicproject.org/exhibitions/a-tournament-of-lies 2021 

Summer Exhibition:
https://www.wassaicproject.org/exhibitions/if-you-lived-here-youd-be-home-by-now 2021 

Summer Publication:
https://www.wassaicproject.org/exhibitions/secret-of-the-friendly-woods


About Wassaic Project

wassaicproject.org

Wassaic Project exists to provide a genuine and intimate context for art making. We hope to strengthen local community by increasing social and cultural capital through inspiration, promotion, and creation of contemporary visual and performing art.

Wassaic Project cultivates and supports community for emerging and professional contemporary artists, writers and other creatives. Housed in historic, landmark buildings, the residency program offers nine artists each month the opportunity to live and work in the heart of a rural community. The Wassaic Project seeks artists working in a diverse range of media who want to produce, explore, challenge, and expand on their current art-making practices, while participating in a community-based arts organization.

REVIEW PROCESS:
Applicants are evaluated by our Co-Directors — Eve, Bowie, and Jeff — and our Residency Director, Will. Artists are selected based on the quality of the work and how well a given piece fits alongside other pieces selected for the show.
Don’t overthink this — there’s no one thing we’re looking for, and we’re always open to creative new uses of Maxon Mills as an exhibition space.

APPLICATION REQUIREMENTS:
Contact info
CV or publication list (3 pages max)
Project proposal
Portfolio
$25 application fee

PROJECT PROPOSALS:
We accept four types of proposals for our 2023 Summer Programming: ready-to-hang work, site-specific installations, temporary installations/performances, and publication-specific works. Your application can include multiple proposals.
For all proposals, include:
– A formal description of the work you would like to show.
– A three-sentence conceptual description of the work you would like to show or your artistic practice more generally.

A note about any special circumstances you anticipate around the installation of your work. We have limited equipment available, so we need to know in advance if you require anything specific.

For ready-to-hang work proposals:
Please outline any special circumstances you anticipate around the installation of your work. We have limited equipment available, so we need to know in advance if you require anything specific.

For site-specific installation proposals:
Please include completed past works, drawings and/or style references, and explain how the piece will look or function.

Artists interested in creating a site-specific installation for the 2023 Summer Exhibition are also eligible for an Exhibitions Fellowship to help realize their work. Up to five fellows will be offered a no-fee residency in April or May, and will be considered full participants in our residency program.

No separate application is needed for the Exhibitions Fellowship, and acceptance of the fellowship — should it be offered — is entirely optional. Artists interested in making site-specific work for the exhibition should still apply regardless of whether or not they are interested in or able to be in residence in April or May.

For temporary installations or performances for the Summer Festival Program:
Please explain how the piece will look or function.

For publication-specific works:
Please explain how your work will activate the printed publication. This can range from essays, prose, or poetry to more experimental print projects. For example, our 2020 Summer Exhibition book featured essays and poetry from our artists alongside a flipbook of animation frames in the top right corner of each page and an inserted pop-up piece.

Portfolio
Provide 1 to 10 work samples, including title, year, medium, and dimensions, and anything else we should know.

Size requirements: images, up to 5MB each; video, up to 250MB each; audio, up to 30MB each; PDFs, up to 10MB each

If your work is time-based or has video documentation, you may also link to media from YouTube, Vimeo, and SoundCloud.

NOTIFICATIONS:
Notifications will be sent out in early December.

We Make Tomorrow 2022

We Make Tomorrow summit 2020 video. For the audio-described version, please watch here.

The buzz is building for the return of our action-focused one-day summit We Make Tomorrow on October 13th in Birmingham. Sliding scale tickets for both in person and online attendance are on sale now (including complimentary and concession rates) and we share our first speaker and programme preview below. 


What To Expect
Credit: An excerpt from Zadie Xa’s artwork ‘Ancestral undulations and the transmission of knowing’, previewed at We Make Tomorrow 2020

We Make Tomorrow 2022 is Julie’s Bicycle’s biggest event, inviting people to connect with the projects, individuals, and ideas that are making change and leading on creative climate action.

25+ cross-cultural speakers: 
>>  
An intersectional line-up of inspiring speakers and contributors, including artists, activists, cultural commentators, scientists, policymakers, producers, curators, writers and communicators.

Visual arts interventions: 
>> Discover artists exploring the relationships between art, social justice, imagination and liberation from the creatives at MAIA.

Musical performances: 
>> Woven together with lively performances from talented musicians via cross-cultural folksters Nest Collective.

Intimate workshops: 
>>  Put your learning into action with workshops on personal resilience and wellbeing, and creating sustainable doughnut cities

Inspiration on Creative Climate Leadership: 
>> Meeting courageous individuals reimagining the possibilities for a fairer future.

Community & connection: 
>>  Plenty of space for discussion, networking and reflection with others working towards Creative Climate Action, with delicious vegetarian and vegan sustenance provided during break times.

A 600-strong community of participants: 
>>  300 joining us in person and 300 participating online to discover, question, and gather hope together. 

Changemakers retreat space: 
>>  A dedicated oasis of calm hosted by our friends at Craftivist Collective, with 6 action stations to reflect, digest and get creative throughout the day.


Exploring Climate Justice
Photo Civic Square’s Co-Creation Week

The We Make Tomorrow 2022 programme will include sessions on the following topics:

We need one another

What is needed now? A conversation about leading climate action with care, honesty, and respect.

Making justice work

What can be learnt from those who’ve stepped up against the odds to take action on climate, changing the conditions around them?

Funding climate justice

Does financial decision-making reflect values that integrate justice? Exploring principles and frameworks for funding climate justice in our work.

Our place in the world

Learning from local placemaking that tackles creative climate action, leveraging our role as cultural catalysts in local climate policy and civic activism: when to step up and when to step aside?

We don’t care when your net zero target is!

How do we challenge the ‘net zero’ tag without losing the critical 1.5 degrees limit on warming? What imaginative responses might culture make to reach net zero locally, nationally and globally?

Adaptation and upheavals

How can cultural organisations respond to social and physical upheavals, adapt, thrive and build resilience to climate impacts?

Seeing the big picture: creative climate justice

How do we practice solidarity and connect injustices to build equitable, healthy, and regenerative systems for our planet, here and internationally?

Making space for wellbeing

What does personal resilience mean, and what makes a caring, healthy environment in which we can thrive?

A legacy that matters

Creating legacies now: which frameworks and relationships can support ongoing change?

The full programme will be announced soon. 


Meet Our Contributors
Speakers include:

Ahdaf Soueif, novelist and political and cultural commentator

Alistair Gentryartist, activist and researcher

Amahra Spence, Co-Founder and Creative Director, MAIA

Cecilia Vicuna, poet, artist, filmmaker and activist

Emma Blake Morsi, Multi-Disciplinary Producer, and Director of Rising Arts Agency

Eric Njugunayouth climate justice and human rights organizer

Fehinti Balogunactor and writer

Feimatta ContehEnvironmental Sustainability Manager, Manchester International Festival

Gillian Burkebiologist, presenter, public speaker, and writer

Harpreet Kaur Paul, researcher and lawyer

Helen Starrworld-building curator

Ian Solomon KawallCEO of May Project Gardens

Immy KaurCo-Founder and Director, CIVIC SQUARE

Islam Elbeitimusician, cultural curator and radio presenter

Janet VaughanCo-Artistic Director of Talking Birds

Jessica SimCo-Founder of Nadas Istanbul

Lou Byng, Creative Director, CIVIC SQUARE

Magid Magidrace and climate justice activist and author

Nathan Thankihuman ecologist and writer

Noga Levy-Rapoportyouth climate activist, organiser, and speaker

Nonhlanhla MakuyanaCo-Founder of Decolonising Economics

Pravali VangetiWorld Heritage Education Programme Coordinator, UNESCO World Heritage Centre

Raj Palcurator/historian and activist

Saleemul HuqDirector, International Centre for Climate Change and Development

Zahra Davidson, Chief Exec and Design Director, Huddlecraft

…and more!

Further speakers and performers will be announced in the coming weeks. Full speaker bios can be found on this page.


Friends of We Make Tomorrow include:

Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery 
The Climate Heritage Network
Culture Declares Emergency 
The Happy Museum 
LIVE Green 
May Project Gardens
Music Declares Emergency
The National Museum Directors’ Council
The Theatre Green Book 


With warm thanks to our supporters and sponsors for this event:

This event is run in partnership with Arts Council England as part of the environmental sustainability programme.

Good Energy is a pioneering, clean energy company whose purpose is to power the choice of a cleaner, greener future for everyone. Its mission is to help one million homes and businesses cut their carbon by 2025. It supplies customers with electricity from a community of over 1700 renewable generators, helps tens of thousands more generate their own clean power and is accelerating clean transport too. The company has a long history of working with the arts and cultural sector.

Sustainable Wine Solutions began its journey in 2002 as Borough Wines with its refillable wine on tap concept. Today Sustainable Wine Solutions are the true champions of sustainability within the drinks industry, with their fully circular business model supplying zero waste wines with UK’s only refill Kegs and the first Bottle Return Scheme, directly invested in tackling packaging and transport of wine (the biggest source of emissions in the wine industry), plus working with sustainably led winemakers.

IFACCA – Mondiacult 2022 Open Mic

Calling artists, cultural professionals, arts organisations, networks, academia and all who care about the future of arts and culture – contribute to a global cultural policy dialogue and share your reflections on:

  • one issue of most urgent concern on the sustainability and resilience of the arts, culture, heritage and creativity
  • one action policymakers should take to effect positive change in this area
  • a possible solution that already addresses this concern.

Send your responses via video or in writing through:

WhatsApp, Google Forms, or Twitter

Submissions close 21 August 2022 (11.59pm Mexico City time; check your local time here).

Please share this call widely with your networks. The more voices from around the world, the better.

For more information, see the Share Your Voice – Virtual Global Open Mic website.

Please note that submissions may be shared publicly by Open Mic partner organisations.

Share Your Voice for MONDIACULT 2022: Virtual Global Open Mic is delivered by the Ministry of Culture of the Government of Mexico, IFACCA, the Tijuana Cultural Center (CECUT), the North American Cultural Diplomacy Initiative (NACDI), the Universidad Panamericana (Mexico) and the Universidad Iberoamericana (Mexico).

Submissions to the Open Mic will strengthen the dialogue amongst Ministers of Culture from around the world at MONDIACULT 2022 by sharing the civil society perspectives crucial for shaping balanced, inclusive and relevant cultural policies.

At the initiative of the Ministry of Culture, Mexico will host the UNESCO World Conference on Cultural Policies and Sustainable Development – MONDIACULT 2022, to be held from 28 to 30 September 2022 in Mexico City. The aim is to rethink cultural policies and to address global challenges and outline immediate and future priorities, and will be attended by the governments of the 193 Member States and Associate Members of UNESCO; Non-Member States and Observers; organisations of the United Nations system; intergovernmental organisations and international non-governmental organisations. MONDIACULT 2022 also opens a space for creative communities and the public at large to express ideas, concerns, interests, and contributions related to culture and cultural policies at the global level, through an open and inclusive model.


Llamando a artistas, profesionales de la cultura, organizaciones culturales, redes, académicos y toda persona que se preocupa por el futuro de las artes y la cultura: contribuya a un diálogo mundial sobre políticas culturales y comparta sus reflexiones acerca de:

  • un tema de mayor preocupación sobre a la sostenibilidad y resiliencia de las artes, la cultura, el patrimonio y la creatividad 
  • una acción o medida que deberían adoptar los(as) responsables de políticas públicas para lograr un cambio positivo
  • una posible solución que ya aborda esta preocupación.

Send your responses via video or in writing through:

WhatsApp, Google Forms, o Twitter

Se reciben contribuciones hasta las 23:59 del 21 de agosto de 2022 (hora de Ciudad de México; verifique su hora local aquí).

Por favor, comparta esta convocatoria ampliamente con sus redes. Cuantas más voces de todo el mundo, mejor.

Para mayor información diríjase a: Comparte Tu Voz para MONDIACULT 2022: Micrófono Abierto Global Virtual

Por favor, tenga en cuenta que las organizaciones asociadas a Open Mic podran compartir públicamente las presentaciones.

Comparte Tu Voz para MONDIACULT 2022: Micrófono Abierto Global Virtual es un evento organizado por la Secretaría de Cultura del Gobierno de México, IFACCA, el Centro Cultural de Tijuana (CECUT), la Iniciativa de Diplomacia Cultural de América del Norte (NACDI), la Universidad Panamericana (México) y la Universidad Iberoamericana (México). 

Estas contribuciones fortalecerán el diálogo entre los(as) ministros(as) de cultura de todo el mundo en MONDIACULT 2022 al compartir las perspectivas de la sociedad civil, cruciales para dar forma a políticas culturales equilibradas, inclusivas y relevantes.

Por iniciativa de la Secretaría de Cultura, México albergará la Conferencia Mundial de la UNESCO sobre Políticas Culturales y Desarrollo Sostenible – MONDIACULT 2022, a celebrarse del 28 al 30 de septiembre de 2022 en la Ciudad de México. El objetivo es realizar una nueva reflexión sobre las políticas culturales y hacer frente a los desafíos globales y perfilar las prioridades inmediatas y futuras que contará con la participación de los gobiernos de los 193 Estados Miembros y Miembros Asociados de la UNESCO; Estados No Miembros y Observadores; organizaciones del sistema de las Naciones Unidas; organizaciones intergubernamentales y organizaciones internacionales no gubernamentales. MONDIACULT 2022, asimismo, abre un espacio para las comunidades creativas y la ciudadanía en general para expresar ideas, inquietudes, intereses y aportaciones relacionadas con la cultura y las políticas culturales a nivel global, a través de un modelo abierto e inclusivo.

APASQ – And After/Et Après Conversations at World Stage Design 2022


These 10:00 am conversations during World Stage Design 2022 are a part of APASQ’s continuing exhibition recording industry professionals at international conferences. On the days of the recordings these conversations will be presented at World Stage Design (WSD) as a Cvent. There will also include bonus information at the end of the interviews informing WSD participants about select Ecoscenography events that will be taking place on that given day.

You can watch it live and chat here: https://vimeo.com/event/2339485 or return to this page daily for that day’s conversation.

Conversation Schedule

August 8August 9August 10August 11August 12
QuébecMarianne LavoieMarie-Renée Bourget HarveyPatrice Charbonneau BrunelleÉmilie RacineLinda Brunel
InternationalTanja BeerMona KastellVespa LaineJanis HartIngvill Fossheim

Q36: both/and

We live in times that are impure — confusing and compromised — and this requires contingent thinking and acting. What happens when artists get involved in complex, difficult issues, where different parties are involved and there might not be such a clear-cut right and wrong? Or alternatively, when the costs of ambivalence may be impossibly high? This issue is framed around both/and: the role of complicity in social-ecological systems and how to maintain a contingent – yet effective – position as an artist and ecological participant. Guest edited by Perdita Phillips.