Residence Program
18th Street has become a leader in developing strategies to foster engaged residencies and we are expanding our idea about the kinds of art practice that can energize our residency spaces. By redefining our notions of what a residency can be, particularly at an urban arts center such as ours, 18th Street strives to be at the forefront of contemporary residency programs.
The facilities that comprise 18th Street Art Center are 10 live/work spaces and 19 day-studios, a 99-seat theater and three galleries. The 18th Street Residency Program is organized into three tiers of studio, live/work and office space residencies: long-term for arts organizations and established individual artists; medium-term, with limits of three years for individual artists and five years for emerging arts organizations; and short-term residencies of one month to one year for visiting artists from the US and abroad. Half of the space available is earmarked for long-term residents and the other half is utilized for medium and short-term residencies.
18th Street believes that the best way to build a strong arts community is through collaborative professional development for artists and organizations. Long-term and medium term residents are provided with subsidized studio, live/work or office space at rents subsidized well below market value. All residents are eligible for our organizational support services such as fiscal receivership and access to an office co-op with DSL Internet, fax and copier services. Long term resident artists and organizations serve as mentors in our artist community, offering artistic production support with video editing and sound equipment; information about art business basics like taxes, estate planning and copyright issues; help with basic bookkeeping and financial planning; grant writing; and access to performances and events both on-site and in the community. Medium term artists are expected to use their residency term to develop a significant body of work, and to develop skills that will help them to develop sustainable careers. Short-term residents are a mix of local, regional and international artists. Through grants and private funding, short-term residents are not charged for their use of our visiting artist live/work apartments and studios, and international artists who live on-site are provided with transportation costs from their home country to the Center, as well as with a monthly stipend.
As an added benefit, all artists in residence are featured in our annual program catalog (http://18thstreet.org/news-room/2009-catalog), represented on our website, and participate in our bi-annual Art Night open houses.
Selection of Artists
Long term artists and arts organizations have been at the center since before 1998, many of whom are “legacy” artists were here at the founding of the center.
Medium term artists are selected by our program committee through an open application process. There generally are 2 openings per year at the center for this tier of the program. Applications are accepted on a year round basis and reviewed when a studio becomes available.
Short-term artists are selected based on partnerships with foreign governments and private foundations. Typically artists are nominated through the partner. Artists interested in a short-term residency may apply independently but have to acquire their own funding.
To apply for a medium or short-term residency, please go to
http://18thstreet.org/residence-program/apply-to-residence-program
Visual Arts “Laboratory” Residencies
18th Street earmarks a portion of its gallery programming for a visual arts laboratory to encourage US-based multi-disciplinary artists to create new work in response to a specific theme aligned with 18th Street’s mission and values. The Lab Residency provides financial support for conceptual visual artists, durational and performance artists, spoken work artists, musicians, new media practitioners, and other new arts forms that are not often presented except in this kind of laboratory format. Artists are selected by our program committee in an open application process, and receive a three-month residency, an exhibition, and a fellowship award.
Our Lab Residency themes change yearly. In 2008, the theme was The Future of Nations exploring constitutional law and civic responsibility, immigration and new models of cultural demographics, citizen artists in the urban ecology, and war as a way of life. In 2009, our theme Almost Utopia: Los Angeles 2019, looked ahead ten years at architecture, intentional communities, shifting demographics, and a car-less society. The 2010 theme, entitled Status Report: The Creative Economy, investigated the creative economy for which Los Angeles is well known, and who is included or excluded in this new class of working persons.
The programmatic theme for 2011 is Legacy and explores issues around what constitutes an artistic legacy, re-performance of older and ephemeral works, and creative mentoring.
To find out more about the Lab Residency, go to http://18thstreet.org/get-involved/opportunities. Proposals are accepted for our Lab Residency fellowships.
