Wesleyan University to Offer Residency in April 2018 for Artists Impacted by 2017 Hurricanes



Wesleyan University to Offer Residency in April 2018 for Artists Impacted by 2017 Hurricanes

Middletown, Conn.—Wesleyan University's Center for the Arts, in collaboration with the College of the Environment, invites an artist or artists from areas affected by the hurricane season of 2017 to campus in Middletown, Connecticut for a short-term residency in April 2018. Artists working in all disciplines from Florida, Texas, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands may propose a project that explores the evolving human relationship to water, and responds to the following questions:

  • How can the arts address and respond to the environmental and humanitarian crises wrought by climate change?
  • How do we redefine humankind’s evolving relationship to nature, specifically to water?
  • What role might the arts play in rebuilding after storms?

Please see below for more information about the request for proposals.

"Wesleyan’s Center for the Arts has a history of interdisciplinary programs, integrating the arts across campus,” said Wesleyan President Michael S. Roth. "This new one-time residency in collaboration with the College of the Environment will have an impact not only on the artist selected for the residency but also allow the Wesleyan community to respond to the environmental and social impact of these natural disasters."

"The arts allow us to explore issues in ways no other medium does,” said Sarah Curran, Director of the Center for the Arts. "The arts have a unique responsibility to help us improve our communities and world where ever we can. In these times of rebuilding after crisis, the arts can play a critical role in community building, envisioning, and imagining how we rebuild, and what we want to become."

"After seeing the scope of this year’s hurricane season, we thought this was a way that we could both address the needs of artists in those areas, while also deepen the conversation on campus about climate change on the human environment,” said Barry Chernoff, Director of the College of the Environment, Robert Schumann Professor of Environmental Studies and Chair of the Environmental Studies Program, and Professor of Biology and Earth and Environmental Sciences.

Request for Proposals

Project Details: The Center for the Arts seeks to engage an artist in a 7 to 14 day residency in April 2018 on Wesleyan University’s campus in Middletown, Connecticut. Artists may work in any performing arts or visual arts discipline (music, dance, theater, visual arts), or in a practice that crosses disciplines. Artists are invited to create a work that responds to hurricanes and their environmental and social impact. We invite projects that also address environmental issues such as climate change, disaster, and disruption. The proposed project must include an opportunity for the Wesleyan community to interact with the creation of and/or presentation of the work. The project budget includes a $10,000 artist fee and up to $5,000 for travel and materials.

Eligibility:
• Artist must have permanent residency in one of the states or U.S. territories most directly impacted by the hurricane season of 2017 (Florida, Texas, Puerto Rico, U.S. Virgin Islands). If a group of artists, the majority of the group must have residency as described above.
• Artist(s) must be available to travel to Middletown, Connecticut for a 7 to 14 day residency in April 2018 and be able to work within the budget outlined above.
• Artist(s) must be able to provide proof of eligibility to work in the United States.

Required Materials:
• Application form, including project description, resume, three references, and work samples submitted here. 

Timeline:
Proposals due Friday, November 17, 2017 at 11:59pm EDT.
Decisions announced no later than December 15, 2017.
Residency is in April 2018 (dates to be determined in consultation with selected artist).

Please direct any questions about this request for proposals to Michelle Grove, Interim Associate Director for Programs, Center for the Arts, Wesleyan University at mgrove@wesleyan.edu.

About the College of the Environment

Wesleyan University created the College of the Environment in 2009 with a belief in the resilience of the human spirit and a desire to develop a long-term vision of human and ecosystem health. The high productivity and interdisciplinary nature of Wesleyan's faculty; the intellectual, questioning, activist nature of its students; and the intimate relationship of the faculty-student teaching experience create opportunities for Wesleyan to make significant contributions to re-orienting the nation's and the world's trajectory.

For more information about the College of the Environment, please visit http://www.wesleyan.edu/coe.

About the Center for the Arts

Wesleyan University’s Center for the Arts exists to catalyze people’s creativity by engaging them in the dynamic work of diverse artists. Three inter-related activities enable the CFA to realize its purpose:

  • supporting the research, public productions, and in-studio teaching needs of the departments of Art and Art History, Dance, Music, and Theater;
  • leading inter-disciplinary collaborations and other initiatives that integrate artists into creative curricular and co-curricular initiatives; and
  • organizing powerful encounters between visiting artists and diverse elements of the Wesleyan community, the greater Middletown community, statewide, and regional audiences. 

The Center for the Arts opened in the fall of 1973, and includes the Adzenyah Rehearsal Hall, the 400-seat Crowell Concert Hall, the Ezra and Cecile Zilkha Gallery, the 260-seat Ring Family Performing Arts Hall, the 400-seat Theater, the World Music Hall (a non-Western performance space), and classrooms and studios.

The Center for the Arts gratefully acknowledges the support of its many generous funders and collaborators, including The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, the American Express Foundation, the Association of Performing Arts Presenters, the City of Middletown, the Connecticut Office of the Arts, the Middletown Commission on the Arts, the National Endowment for the Arts, the New England Foundation for the Arts, and the Surdna Foundation, as well as media sponsors the Hartford Courant, the Inner-City News, WESU 88.1FM, and WNPR.

For more information about the Center for the Arts, please call (860) 685-3355, or visit http://www.wesleyan.edu/cfa.