Wassaic Project 2023 Summer Exhibition Open Call
https://wassaicproject.slideroom.com/#/permalink/program/67814
Application Opens: August 1, 2022
Deadline: September 26, 2022, midnight EST
Application Fee (USD): $25.00
The Wassaic Project is currently holding our annual Open Call for our 2023 Summer Exhibition for artists of all mediums, including: 2D work, sculpture, video, new media, site-specific installation, performance, text, poems, essays, publication-specific work, etc. If selected, your work will be showcased alongside a diverse range of pieces and performances in and around historic Wassaic and Maxon Mills. The Wassaic Project's 2023 Summer Exhibition will be free and open to the public every weekend from May 20 through September 24, 2023. Artists interested in creating a site-specific installation for the 2023 Summer Exhibition are also eligible for an Exhibitions Fellowship to help realize their work. Fellows will be offered a no-fee residency for 1 - 4 weeks in April or May 2023. Artists interested in making site-specific work for the exhibition should still apply regardless of whether or not they are interested in or able to be in residence in April or May. The Wassaic Project cultivates and supports community for emerging and professional contemporary artists, writers, and other creatives. Housed in historic, landmark buildings, the residency program offers 10 artists each month the opportunity to live and work in the heart of a rural community. The Wassaic Project seeks artists working in a diverse range of media who want to produce, explore, challenge, and expand on their current art-making practices, while participating in a community-based arts organization.
For more information:
https://www.wassaicproject.org/artists/summer-exhibition-faq 2022
Summer Exhibition:
https://www.wassaicproject.org/exhibitions/a-tournament-of-lies 2021
Summer Exhibition:
https://www.wassaicproject.org/exhibitions/if-you-lived-here-youd-be-ho… 2021
Summer Publication:
https://www.wassaicproject.org/exhibitions/secret-of-the-friendly-woods
About Wassaic Project
Wassaic Project exists to provide a genuine and intimate context for art making. We hope to strengthen local community by increasing social and cultural capital through inspiration, promotion, and creation of contemporary visual and performing art.
Wassaic Project cultivates and supports community for emerging and professional contemporary artists, writers and other creatives. Housed in historic, landmark buildings, the residency program offers nine artists each month the opportunity to live and work in the heart of a rural community. The Wassaic Project seeks artists working in a diverse range of media who want to produce, explore, challenge, and expand on their current art-making practices, while participating in a community-based arts organization.
REVIEW PROCESS
Applicants are evaluated by our Co-Directors — Eve, Bowie, and Jeff — and our Residency Director, Will. Artists are selected based on the quality of the work and how well a given piece fits alongside other pieces selected for the show.
Don’t overthink this — there’s no one thing we’re looking for, and we’re always open to creative new uses of Maxon Mills as an exhibition space.
APPLICATION REQUIREMENTS
- Contact info
- CV or publication list (3 pages max)
- Project proposal
- Portfolio
- $25 application fee
PROJECT PROPOSALS
We accept four types of proposals for our 2023 Summer Programming: ready-to-hang work, site-specific installations, temporary installations/performances, and publication-specific works. Your application can include multiple proposals.
For all proposals, include:
- A formal description of the work you would like to show.
- A three-sentence conceptual description of the work you would like to show or your artistic practice more generally.
- A note about any special circumstances you anticipate around the installation of your work. We have limited equipment available, so we need to know in advance if you require anything specific.
For ready-to-hang work proposals:
Please outline any special circumstances you anticipate around the installation of your work. We have limited equipment available, so we need to know in advance if you require anything specific.
For site-specific installation proposals:
Please include completed past works, drawings and/or style references, and explain how the piece will look or function.
Artists interested in creating a site-specific installation for the 2023 Summer Exhibition are also eligible for an Exhibitions Fellowship to help realize their work. Up to five fellows will be offered a no-fee residency in April or May, and will be considered full participants in our residency program.
No separate application is needed for the Exhibitions Fellowship, and acceptance of the fellowship — should it be offered — is entirely optional. Artists interested in making site-specific work for the exhibition should still apply regardless of whether or not they are interested in or able to be in residence in April or May.
For temporary installations or performances for the Summer Festival Program:
Please explain how the piece will look or function.
For publication-specific works:
Please explain how your work will activate the printed publication. This can range from essays, prose, or poetry to more experimental print projects. For example, our 2020 Summer Exhibition book featured essays and poetry from our artists alongside a flipbook of animation frames in the top right corner of each page and an inserted pop-up piece.
Portfolio
Provide 1 to 10 work samples, including title, year, medium, and dimensions, and anything else we should know.
Size requirements: images, up to 5MB each; video, up to 250MB each; audio, up to 30MB each; PDFs, up to 10MB each
- If your work is time-based or has video documentation, you may also link to media from YouTube, Vimeo, and SoundCloud.
NOTIFICATIONS:
Notifications will be sent out in early December.
Mission
The Wassaic Project, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, uses art and arts education to foster positive social change. We nurture connections between our artists and our neighbors facilitating a mutual broadening of perspectives and respect across economic and cultural boundaries.
Vision
The Wassaic Project envisions a community in the Hamlet of Wassaic and its surrounding region that is socially inclusive, generous, cooperative, and economically vibrant.
We engage in a collaborative effort with members of our community to develop programs that are creative, experimental, and accessible across the economic spectrum.
We strive to be actively anti-racist and to have diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility as an integral part of our programs and initiatives. We will continually evaluate, solicit feedback, and evolve our efforts to ensure their effectiveness.
We build local pride and community vitality by an informed sense of the past and a clear, contemporary, innovative, and compassionate look toward the future.
We foster the youth in our community and help them realize their full potential.
We aim to be financially stable with a creative staff and multiple partners — nonprofit, public, and private.
It is our hope that the work that we do in Wassaic will be shared nationwide and serve as a toolkit for community revitalization through the arts and the spirit of generosity. Above all else, we honor and respect our community.
Residency Eligibility
Residency Experience Summary
Application Information
N/A
The actual cost of each residency is $5,000 per month, which includes a semi-private studio, private bedroom, full use of our facilities, visiting artist program, studio visits, insurance, and staff support. In an effort to serve and support emerging artists, we attempt to subsidize residencies for all individual artists who do not have other forms of support. Thanks to the generous support of donors and grants, the artist’s contribution for the winter residency program is $600 per a 4-week period.
We also offer need-based financial assistance to artists-in-residence for whom it would be impossible to attend without financial support. Financial need is self-reported by artists in their applications. We ask that artists who are in a position to fully contribute towards the residency fee please do so.
The Wassaic Project offers the following Fellowships:
- The Work and Family Fellowship offers no-fee residencies and $500 honorariums to several artists-in-residence per year participating in the Family Residency program.
- The Sustainable Arts Fellowship offers no-fee residencies and $500 honorariums to several artists who identify as Black, Indigenous or a Person of Color per year participating in the Family Residency program.
- The Mary Ann Unger Fellowship offers a no-fee residency to 1 female-identifying artist who identifies as Black, Indigenous or a Person of Color per year who primarily works in sculpture.
- The ArtForArtists Fellowship for Social Justice Based Practice offers a no-fee residency and $500 honorarium to 1 artist who identifies as Black, Indigenous or a Person of Color per year.
To be considered for the Work and Family Fellowship and Sustainable Arts Fellowship:
In your application, please take some time to reflect on the ways in which care and caregiving, whatever those words mean to you, come through (or might come through) in your work. It’s okay if this isn’t something you’ve considered before. We think of these Fellowships as a starting point towards building a future where artists shape the way society sees and values care.
All applicants are considered for the Mary Ann Unger Fellowship and the ArtForArtists Fellowship for Social Justice Based Practice and do not have to complete any additional information on their application.