CreateSpace Public Art Residency

2024 participating artists will gain:

• Skills: Virtual workshops, artist talks and studio visits for greater understanding of the public art process through the lens of Community, Identity, Accessibility, and Land, including: demystifying public art RFPs, exploring fabrication and approaches to public engagement.
• Relationships: Opportunities to connect with public art practitioners from across the country, cultivating professional networks in various sectors and industries.
• Practical Experience: Creating new community engaged public art work with tailored coaching from STEPS staff and artistic advisors, through which experimentation is encouraged.
• Public Audiences: Through promotional support leveraging STEPS and partner network, as well as supports to document and present past and current public work.
• Financial Support: Artists will each receive individual support valued at up to $5000 CAD, inclusive of a $1500 participation honourarium as well as production, documentation, engagement and accessibility supports.

Eligibility

This residency is open to early to mid-career Canadian-based visual and media artists working in public space, who identify as Black, Indigenous (First Nations, Inuit and Métis) and/or racialized, interested in participating in a virtual residency from March through December 2024. Up to 10 artists will be selected for this opportunity by a selection panel composed of members of the arts community who identify as Black, Indigenous (First Nations, Inuit and Métis) and/or racialized. Program components will be offered primarily in English, with translation and ASL services available as needed to support participation of a diverse community of artists.

Applicants must be a Canadian citizen or Permanent Resident to qualify for this opportunity. Interested applicants must submit their expressions of interest by Wednesday, January 31, 2024 at 11:59 PM PT. Those living outside of the Pacific time zone are encouraged to use a timezone converter to ensure your application is received by the deadline.

Expectations

Participating artists (with the support of STEPS staff and program mentors), are expected to:

• Attend at least 10 of approximately 15 residency sessions held over 10 months which will include: workshops, artist talks, panel discussions, facilitated discussions, studio visits, etc.
• Identify and execute a community engaged public art project by the end of the residency.
• While participating artists are not expected to have well thought out plans for a public art project at the time of their application, having a project concept and clearly defined learning objectives for advancing your public art practice are important to make the most of the support that STEPS and CreateSpace partners can provide.
• Participate in ongoing program evaluation that will help shape the CreateSpace Public Art Residency and other artist capacity building programming.
• Respect the time and knowledge of CreateSpace advisors, mentors, staff and fellow participating artists, by committing to cultivate a safe, inclusive, supportive and respectful space for learning, exploration and growth.

How to apply

To apply, please fill out the application form by Wednesday, January 31 at 11:59 PM PST. Information about this call and the application are also available in French and through the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) at the bottom of this page.

Please note: Applicants cannot save the form and return to complete it at a later time. We strongly recommend downloading the following form and saving your answers on a separate document prior to filling out the online form.

We encourage applications from all qualified candidates that represent the full diversity of communities in Canada, including complexities of intersecting identities such as ability, class, gender, race and sexual orientation. We are particularly interested in receiving applications from equity-deserving communities, such as those who identify as two-spirit, trans, Indigiqueer, Afro-Indigenous, as well as individuals living with a disability.

Applicants who are Deaf, have a disability or who need support applying for this opportunity are encouraged to contact Belinda Uwase at belinda@stepspublicart.org or call 1-888-783-7780 ext. 2 at least two weeks before the application deadline (by January 17, 2024) to allow STEPS to appropriately accommodate your needs and to discuss alternate formats for submitting your application.