I-Park Residence Application Materials Available

We are pleased to announce that the program details and application materials are now available online for our

2016 General Artists-in-Residence Program,
supporting the following disciplines:

Visual Arts, Architecture, Moving Image, Music Composition/Sound Art,
Creative Writing and Landscape/Garden/Ecological Design

The application deadline is January 25, 2016

We will also be hosting two Special Programs in 2016, a Composers + Musicians Collaborative Residency and a Family-Friendly Residency, an experimental program dedicated to artists with dependent children. Application materials for these Special Programs will become available soon with a separate deadline.

Click here to on-line submission

Key Elements of the Program

• This program is offered free of charge to accepted/invited artists, though there is a $30.00 application fee that helps defray the cost of the selection panels. The only major artists’ expenses are for personal art supplies/materials and transportation to and from the area. A complimentary pickup at a Connecticut airport or bus/train station at the beginning of the session, and a drop-off at the end, is offered. When funding is available, a limited number of travel grants are offered to non-North American artists.
• The format is self-directed, non-judgmental: you decide what you’re going to work on and when.
• Residents are provided with a private bedroom, a private studio, a meal program as well as shared amenities: artists’ kitchen, Common Area, library, wireless internet.
• I-Park annually convenes 6 independent, discipline-specific selection panels, the composition of which substantially changes each year.
• Application materials are processed through a convenient online submission system.
• I-Park supports mixed-discipline residencies made up of individuals from among the following creative fields:
• Visual Arts, including sculpture, environmental art, installation, photography
  >> Music Composition/Sound Art
  >> Architecture
  >> Creative Writing
  >> Landscape/Garden/Ecological Design
  >> Moving Image, including video and film art, new media, documentary, animation, virtual reality
• The typical residency session has a 4-week duration. The 6-7 artists who populate each session arrive together as a group, share the time and space together and, at the end, leave as a group. The residency season typically runs from May through November.
• Application materials become available online in late October or early November for the following year’s program – with a submission deadline at some point in January.
   

Special Features

• an enthusiastic, resourceful staff devoted to providing each artist with a fulfilling, productive and comfortable residency experience
• a quiet, retreat-type environment conducive to the creative process: I-Park is set in a rich, expansive nature preserve with ponds, fields, teaming wetlands, miles of stone walls and a pristine river running through it
• onsite vegetable and spice gardens to enhance the meal program
• support and encouragement to undertake ambitious installations on the grounds – including material, equipment and labor resources for approved projects
• a special focus on ephemeral, site-responsive art representing all 6 of the creative disciplines supported by I-Park – this culminates every other year in a major exhibition of this work, the Environmental Art Biennale
• an OPEN Studios event at the end of each residency session to highlight the individual creative processes of the artists
• international component: approximately a third of the artists come from outside the U.S.
• you’ll gain an inside perspective on I-Park’s special cross-disciplinary and collaborative programs
• a shared workshop space and an abundance of tools, materials and equipment, including an electric kiln
• the Junk Trail: a free/shared resource for recycling the remains of onsite ephemeral installations
• in the Music Studio: an acoustic piano, several digital keyboards and peripheral devices and software for recording, sequencing and sound manipulation – and a collection of percussion and obscure instruments
• chef-prepared dinners, 4 nights per week, that foster artistic, cultural and inter-personal exchanges
• bonfires by the pond, an outdoor shower (in addition to the real ones), an aerial drone and a floating living room