The UNESCO-Aschberg Bursaries for Artists Programme is proud to announce the 2011 call for applications. The Programme promotes the mobility of young artists through artist residencies abroad.

This call is open to visual artists, creative writers, and musicians between 25 and 35 years old. Artists apply directly to the residency program(s) of their choice, and UNESCO funding is made available to selected artists.

The Fledgling Fund has established a new Fellowship at The MacDowell Colony to provide a residency for filmmakers engaged in documentary work that explores critical social issues. Supported by a $10,000 grant from the foundation, The Fledgling Fund Fellowship is the first designated specifically to support the work of documentary filmmakers at MacDowell. The Fellowship will cover all costs of a residency for a filmmaker to live and work in an artist studio on MacDowell's 450 woodland acres in Peterborough, New Hampshire, for up to two months.

International exchange is at the heart of many artist residencies, though visa issues have plagued the field, particularly since 9/11 and the transfer of visa processing to the Department of Homeland Security. For years the Alliance of Artist Communities has stressed the importance of a more transparent and streamlined visa process, one that allows organizations to be notified in a timely manner of visa decisions and that is consistent in the documentation required of artists and sponsoring artists.

The Pilchuck Glass School Board of Trustees has chosen James Baker to serve as the school's executive director and chief executive officer, effective July 15, 2010. Baker is an accomplished arts leader who brings 30 years of experience to the job. He succeeds Arthur Jacobus who resigned from the position in December 2009, and interim executive director Patricia Wallace who has been in the role since January.

Many of the Alliance's members are deeply committed to positive, courageous and proactive change by promoting cultural exchange between diverse international communities. At the Alliance we often see how artist residencies and exchange projects can reform people's cultural assumptions and stereotypes about each other, and help keep the peace through intelligent dialogue and discourse. At the Alliance, we are proud to support artists who seek engagement and action through their art making in a tumultuous world arena.