In Residencies, Studio Residency Program
Gwendolyn Murphy a second year resident in her studio during Open studios, 2022
Photo by Beeh Becvar

KANSAS CITY, MO, February 23, 2023: Charlotte Street’s call for Studio Residency Program applications opens February 23, 2023. Visual artists, performing artists, and writers interested in its two-year-long Studio Residency Program in Kansas City, MO, are encouraged to apply. Applications are accepted until March 27 at 11:59 PM CST. Applications are only accepted through Submittable. Charlotte Street selects an independent jury panel to select artists from the applicant pool. The residency program provides:

  • Free studio space
  • Advisors
  • Public programs
  • Monthly cohort meetings and presentations
  • Studio visits 
  • Access to a multidisciplinary network of artist peers
DETAILS

Charlotte Street’s Studio Residency Program provides free studio and rehearsal spaces to a mixed disciplinary cohort of exceptional artists for two-year-long terms. Charlotte Street encourages creative production, artistic experimentation, professional development, and community building. The program fosters Charlotte Street’s values of risk-taking, openness, excellence, and collaboration by creating an environment where artists use the platforms and resources available to meet personal goals and career milestones. The 2023 Studio Residents are selected through a competitive juried portfolio process. Artists will be notified the week of May 11, 2023. The two-year term begins June 25, 2023.

The Studio Residency provides:
  • 24-hour accessible free studio workspace for two years in Kansas City, MO
  • Workshop, media lab, research library, and meeting spaces
  • Accessibility to engagement with an advisor, regular guest critics, curators, producers, and out-of-town visitors
  • Annual Open Studios and opportunities to develop public-facing Studio Residency related programs and events
  • Opportunities to develop networks, peer to peer learning, and collaboration with 30 artists
  • Access to onsite programming in the Charlotte Street Gallery and Stern Theater
  • Visual artists, writers, and performing artists (composers/producers/musicians, choreographers/dancers, theatre artists) are eligible for a two-year-long residency, with terms beginning each June. Applications for the Studio Residency Program are accepted each Spring for available workspaces only. Artists are chosen based on a portfolio review by a jury of industry professionals. Charlotte Street provides both private studios and shared rehearsal spaces in the residency. Studio space assignment is dependent on discipline needs and rotation of available space each term. Studio Residents are expected to reside in the Kansas City metropolitan area: Jackson, Platte, Cass Counties (MO) and Johnson, Wyandotte, Douglas, Leavenworth Counties (KS) while actively utilizing the free studio over the entire two-year term.
  • Currently, there are 10 available studios for the incoming 2023 cohort. In each annual cycle, there are approximately 30+ artists active in the residency. Charlotte Street strives for an equal mix of emerging and established artists representing a multiplicity of disciplines.
    • The incoming 2023 cohort of artists will join the residents currently finishing their 2nd year of the program. 
PROGRAM COMPONENTS

Participating artists are expected to commit to:

  • Actively Utilize the studio space over the two-year term
  • Advance their artistic practices and professional development
  • Build a sense of community with fellow studio artists
  • Leverage their residencies toward future opportunities
PROGRAM FEATURES

Monthly meetings — All-resident group meetings occur the third Monday evening of each month throughout the term. The meetings allow the artists to connect, collaborate, and share resources. Guest speakers are also scheduled throughout the term for special presentations, typically sharing their projects, experiences, and advice with the residents. Guest speakers are determined based on the overall responses to the goal worksheets.

Advisors — Each studio resident is paired with a volunteer advisor for the duration of their residency term. These advisors are established artists or arts professionals from the broader Kansas City area who generously provide resident artists with feedback, support, encouragement, and connections to other individuals and resources in the broader community. The artist and advisor meet periodically over the course of the term. Each artist completes a goal-setting worksheet at the onset of their residency. Charlotte Street selects and invites the advisors based on the artist’s responses and goals in the worksheet and one-on-one interview. The resident’s goal worksheet is shared with their advisor to help guide the objectives along the way.

Studio Visits — Visiting artists, gallerists, curators, writers, publishers, collectors, patrons, and classes are scheduled for studio visits with residents over the two-year term. Visits are arranged both by Charlotte Street and by residents themselves. These visits provide new connections to the artists’ feedback, experience, opportunities, and unknown resources.

Open Studios — The annual Spring Open Studios (last Saturday of April) provides opportunities for residents to meet and share their work with the broader community. The public is invited to visit the residency studios, meet artists, see new and in-process artwork, experience live performances, hear artist talks, writer’s readings, and more.

Public Programs — Each resident is required to participate in the annual Slide Slam evening presentation at the beginning of each term in June. Artists have the opportunity to create and rapidly share examples of their portfolio with their cohorts as a public gathering/orientation. 

RESIDENT ARTIST RESOURCES 

Studio Lounge– Situated on Level 3 adjacent to the visual studios, residents have access to the well-lit open space dedicated to relaxing, meeting, eating, reading, and daydreaming. Features include

  • a modern kitchen (refrigerator, dishwasher, microwave, coffee maker, storage)
  • seating (couch and chairs, tall tables and counter with stools) 
  • Wi-Fi

Media Lab- Situated on Level 1, the production studio is built and equipped for video and podcast audio production. Soundproofed walls and ceilings, ceiling struts/lights, durable vinyl floor, multi backdrop screens, and LED lighting/stands. Adjacent is a windowed, soundproofed, editing suite equipped with Black Magic switcher/editor, 6K BM video camera, Shure microphones, and Mac mini/ basic editing software.

Workshop– located in a separate building in the campus courtyard. The shop features a vented walk-in spray booth, a four-color silkscreen printing station, and an exposure unit/rinse/darkroom. Residents have access to powered bench tools (table saw, chop saw, drill press, sander/grinder, air compressor/ tools, cordless powered tools (drills, CNC router, palm sanders), three-bay sink, restroom, workbenches, and tables. All residents are required to be certified by the Charlotte Street shop manager prior to using the workshop.

Library- Level 1 multi-use room hosting art reference book collections, programming archives, research resources, WIFI, magazine subscriptions, conference table with access to laptop/projector/large television monitor/audio sound system. The library has regular visitor hours and is available for private meetings, events, and gatherings.

Conference Room- A private casual meeting room located on Level 1. The intimate carpeted space features include a flatscreen display for presentations with WIFI, a sofa, and armchairs. Room reservation required.

CAMPUS FEATURES
  • Charlotte Street staff offices and board room
  • Charlotte Street Gallery- curated exhibitions and programs
  • Stern Theater- black box space with free monthly series, performances, and programs
  • Parking lots (2) and courtyard drive for loading access with security cameras
  • Large item load-in access with freight elevator to each level of the building
  • Green spaces, resting areas with seating, and a community garden
TO VIEW APPLICATION DETAILS AND TO APPLY CLICK HERE

STATEMENT ON OPPORTUNITY EQUITY:

Charlotte Street values an equitable, diverse, and inclusive art community, which we interpret as all artists having fair access to the tools and resources they need to realize their artistic endeavors. We acknowledge structural inequities that have excluded individuals and communities from opportunity based on race, gender, disability, sexual orientation, class, age, and geography, and strive to counter those inequities in our work. We encourage panelists and selection committees to actively consider and seek to recommend a diverse pool of applicants as finalists and recipients of these awards and all Charlotte Street programs.

ABOUT CHARLOTTE STREET

Charlotte Street centers Kansas City’s most forward-thinking visual artists, writers, and performers—acting as the primary incubator, provocateur, and connector for the region’s contemporary arts community and its leading advocate on the national stage. Since 1997, Charlotte Street has distributed over $2 million in awards and grants to artists and their innovative projects and connected individual artists to each other and to the greater Kansas City community. For more information about Charlotte Street, its awards, programs, and initiatives, visit www.charlottestreet.org.

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