Dear ACA Network,
I have had an extraordinary two weeks of professional development, learning, connecting, and laughing with ACA's international residency and network partners. It has been both an honor and a privilege to participate at the invitation of the Taiwan Art Space Alliance and Res Artis.
I had a few key takeaways:
- Being in community with other residency network leaders, artists, and residency workers creates opportunities to explore the topics that matter to artist residencies and to the people who power them.
- There is brilliant work happening around the globe. Learning about the activations, research, and inquiries happening in Taiwan and throughout Asia was energizing. The challenges we face as a field are similar across contexts and there is an opportunity for us to do more together.
- Artists and arts workers still, above all, value a "welcome, inclusive, and safer" residency experience to explore their work. When I presented the importance of strengthening equitable capacity (the facility or power to embody equity across all areas of an organization, specifically its policies, processes, and practices), we were unified in our thinking that this is essential to our work as a field. It is abundantly clear that this work is not tethered to a moment or to a trend, but our enduring collective work as champions of fair and just conditions for all artists and arts workers.
In the coming weeks, I will send out invites to check in with residency directors and our other affinity groups to listen and share ACA updates. Additionally, we will share announcements to celebrate our growing network as ACA approaches its 35th year and the work we are doing to steward this robust and growing field of practice.
Meanwhile, I encourage you to sign up for our upcoming Field Conversation with Alana Hernandez. This is a unique opportunity to delve into how Alana, a dynamic leader, manages a residency program in a university context. We are thrilled to have Sanjit Sethi, ACA Board Chair and President of Minneapolis College of Art and Design, and Melissa Levin, an esteemed independent curator and Program Officer at the Jerome Foundation, as our First Responders for this event.
Lastly, please consider joining us for our upcoming Evolving Program Institute (formerly the Emerging Program Institute), where residency practitioners can skill up in fundraising, planning, storytelling, and all you need to operationalize your program in an intimate cohort experience. We are trying something different this year, a choose your adventure model to increase access. You can join us in Los Angeles at 18th Street Arts Center, the longest running residency program in Southern California, or in Newark, NJ at the incredible Art House Productions. ACA staff will be present at each location to facilitate the live experience, or participate online and interact with faculty and other attendees virtually if that works better for you. One program, three points of access.
I am looking forward to connecting, sharing, and learning with you.
More soon,
Lisa Funderburke
ACA President + CEO