Africa Centre’s Artist in Residency Programme 2017 for African Artists (Funded)

Application Deadline: December 15th, 2017

Africa Centre is now accepting applications for its 2017 Artist In Residency (AIR) Programmes. The Africa Centre are offering residencies in Australia, Brazil, Spain, Italy and the United States. We are seeking high calibre African artists, in different stages of their development (from emerging to late career), who are provocative, innovative, and stretching the boundaries of their artistic practice.

The residencies are available to composers, writers, video/filmmakers, curators, visual and performance artists as well as other forms, whose work is inspired by or relates to the challenges facing humanity.

The AIR partners will select an artist from a short list provided by the Africa Centre for one of their 2018 residencies. Each residency offers a distinct structure, set of requirements and duration. The costs of the residency and round-trip airfare are included in each residency award made. This year there are two distinct application processes:

Mid – Late Career Artists – interested in the Rockefeller Foundation Bellagio Center residency in Italy, can read the application guidelines here. Bellagio Center applications close on December 1st, 2017.

Emerging – Mid Career Artists – interested in residency opportunities at Bundanon Trust in Australia, Instituto Sacatar in Brazil, Jiwar in Spain, Fountainhead Residency in Miami, or International Studio & Curatorial Program in New York, can read the application guidelines here.

FOR A RESIDENCY BETWEEN FEBRUARY 1, 2019 AND NOVEMBER 1, 2019

Overview

The Rockefeller Foundation’s Bellagio Residency Program awards highly accomplished academics, practitioners and artists four weeks of residence at the Bellagio Center on Lake Como, Italy. Residents and their spouses receive free room and board as well as a space to work. They spend most of their time at Bellagio working on their own projects, but also have an unparalleled opportunity to interact with fellow residents from a stimulating array of disciplines and geographies. The combination of uninterrupted, individual time during the day and evenings spent with innovative leaders, policymakers, scientists, writers, and artists from a wide array of fields advances fellows’ current projects and stimulates creative approaches to future work.

The Bellagio Center Residency Program

The Bellagio residency program is intended to offer residents a serene setting conducive to focused, goal-oriented work as well as ample opportunities to interact with each other. The residency is for artists seeking time for disciplined work, reflection, and collegial engagement with a diverse community of academics, practitioners coming from a broad range of sectors, as well as other artists working in a broad range of disciplines.

Residents are given a private room with a bath and study/studio. Internet access is available in all bedrooms and most studies. A small library includes basic reference books and online research tools. Spouses/partners may accompany the resident but accommodations are not available for other individuals, including children or pets. Room and board are provided to all residents at no cost.
Studio space is available but certain types of artistic production are not suitable for Bellagio—e.g. the production of large-scale work, and work that requires specialized equipment that cannot be easily brought to the Center. Bellagio is often, though there are exceptions, best suited for early or near final stages of work—either when research and conceptualization are shaping early work or when the final touches or post-production documentation is taking place.
Residents are highly encouraged to take meals together, with dinner being the main meal. Meal times are the focal point of interaction with other residents.
Residents are invited to present their projects to the resident community over one evening and are expected to participate in presentations from other residents.
Travel grants and modest stipends to offset incidental travel costs are available on a needs basis.

The Process to Apply

The Rockefeller Foundation Bellagio Residency Program uses the online application system FluidReview to receive all Residency Program Applications.

KEY STEPS:

Applicants must first register in the system and set up a user ID and password at this link: https://bellagiocenter.fluidreview.com
Upon creating a user ID, send an email to wanjiruk@africacentre.net with your first name, last name and email address requesting to be given access to the application form specific to Africa Centre’s AIR applicants.
You will then receive an e-mail directly from the Africa Centre indicating that you can begin the application process. The first step is to complete a short eligibility form, after which you will be able to access all of the application questions and can complete all application tasks.

For a preview of the application click here: iie.box.com/s/bimcc5ml0z60w35wx3usj1grmh9wt7nu

Support during the application process is provided by The Institute of International Education. If you encounter technical difficulties, please contact Bellagio Residency administrators at Bellagio_res@iie.org.

**The application will be open in FluidReview for completion from October 16 to December 1, 2017**

APPLICATION DEADLINE: December 15th, 2017

The Artists In Residency (AIR) Programme accepts submissions from emerging, mid-career and senior level artists across artistic discipline i.e. visual arts, performing arts, curatorial practice, performing arts, music, creative writing and literature who are either self-taught or formally trained in their respective discipline.

RESIDENCY CRITERIA

Applicants must:

Be over 21 years of age;
Have a valid passport;
Be from the African continent and must minimally reside in Africa for six months of the year, and
Display a high proficiency in English

SELECTION PROCESS

Applicants are shortlisted by a panel of AIR staff, strategic partners and seasoned art practitioners (curators, collectors, and art critics) who form part of the extensive Africa Centre network. Artists will be shortlisted based on the quality of their work/portfolio, written narrative (i.e. the ability to adequately process and respond to the application questions) as well as their previous experience and history of developing artistic work that advances social change and transformation in their communities.

APPLICATION METHODS

Applications can be made through the following avenues

1. Online Applications Portal:

Visit the Africa Centre AIR website to apply via our Online Application Portal

2. E-mail Application:

Download the Application Form and send your application directly to airsubmissions@africacentre.net. Please ensure that all attachments are less than 5MB. Be sure to add the artistic discipline you are applying under i.e. visual arts/performing arts; music, etc followed by a dash and your full name in the email subject field. If your attachments are larger than 5MB, you can upload them using Google Drive and share a link to the folder with us.

For More Information:

Visit the Official Webpage of the 2017 Artist In Residency (AIR) Programmes