Australia Council announces arts residencies in New York

PRESS RELEASE:

Australia Council Chief Executive Officer Tony Grybowski said the International Residencies Program provided important artistic and market development opportunities for artists as well as valuable cultural exchange and networking experience.

“The Australia Council has offered international residencies since 1979 when the first one was established in New York, and since then hundreds of artists have benefitted from the program,” Mr Grybowski said.

“The Australia Council’s International Residencies Program is now more flexible and responsive to new and emerging global trends across all art forms, and reflects the Council’s commitment to invest in high quality artistic development experiences for Australian artists internationally.

“Over the past year the Council conducted an extensive program of research and analysis to inform future international arts investment. Alongside this work we conducted a comprehensive review into our international residencies program, with input from more than 200 artists

“Our research identified that international residencies with the strongest outcomes are artist-driven and that the artist experience is most beneficial when the residency combines both artistic and market development opportunities. The revised program ensures that residencies are offered in strategic locations, through high quality providers who are able to deliver a full suite of opportunities for the artists.

“It is no surprise that New York continues to be an attractive destination for artists working in all areas of practice. Supporting a broader range of art forms, the Council will pilot two new hosted residency programs in 2016 for Australian artists in upstate New York. These will replace our existing New York residencies which provided time and space to artists, but were limited in the types of other opportunities offered. The two new pilot programs are hosted by arts professionals and offer a comprehensive program for the artists.”

Residencies will be offered in dance and music at the Omi International Arts Centre, and The Curtis R. Priem Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center (EMPAC) at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute will host a residency in emerging and experimental arts.

The innovative residency models delivered by both Omi and EMPAC provide the artistic stimulus, support and network building that our artists seek when undertaking a residency. Australia Council staff will also work with residents to arrange a week of meetings, networking and market exploration in New York City to complement the artistic aims of the residency.

Omi International Arts Centre is a not-for-profit arts organisation that has hosted more than 2,000 artists from more than 100 countries since its inception in 1991. Its residencies bring together professional artists for a three week program of collaboration and improvisation, culminating in collaborative public performances.

Omi Director Ruth Adams said the organisation was honoured to partner with the Australia Council, building on its longstanding track record of receiving artists from Australia.

“The new partnership will concretise and elevate this relationship with the Australian artistic community, helping us to attract some of the most promising Australian musicians, composers, and dancer-choreographers. The partnership will also enable us to support in the best way possible each of these artist’s professional development and career advancement goals while resident here in the United States.”

EMPAC is a world class facility bringing together scientific discovery, technological and artistic innovation to create and support new areas of enquiry, research and learning. It is the oldest technological university in

America and residencies are developed in close collaboration with artists and the curatorial and production teams who provide feedback on projects.

EMPAC Director Johannes Goebel said the collaboration with the Australia Council was ‘a dream come true’.

“To have support for artistic production across borders, continents and different cultures is most important in order to live and experience the diversity of what we see as important,” Mr Goebel said.

“Independent of the sameness of technology, what we do with it, especially in the ‘here and now’ of contemporary arts, allows us to deal with and appreciate the complexity of life, and the search for meaning in life on individual, social and cross-national plateaus.”

Applications for Australia Council New York residencies close on 27 January.

To apply, go to: http://www.australiacouncil.gov.au/strategies-and-frameworks/international-residencies-new-york/

Applications closed last week for residencies in Berlin, London, Paris, the United States, Rome and Helsinki in a number of art forms and successful artists will be notified in March 2016.