Welcome Letter to the Artist

As you embark on your residency journey, please take the time to read through the Arts Learning Residency Handbook’s Artist’s Section. Developed with you in mind, it is the result of many years of advice from previous residency artists and their sponsors. It will lead you through the entire process of conceiving, preparing for and conducting a residency. We hope that this handbook will help you to understand the ways your efforts will lead to success.

The Artist’s Guide includes tips on:

• Getting Started: Understanding residency basics and assessing your readiness.
• The Application Process: Developing a competitive application.
• Before the Residency: Preparing for residency work.
• The Residency Plan: Addressing the elements of a successful residency.
• Promoting the Residency: Advocating the value of your residency to the public.
• During the Residency: Implementing a successful residency.
• After the Residency: Bringing your residency to a close.

Remember that creating a residency is a collaborative process. You will develop a broad base of support for sharing the workload, sharing the learning and sharing the excitement. This handbook lays the foundation for that support base, encouraging effective communication among all parties involved in planning and implementing artist residencies.

As you work with your sponsor, your goal should be to create a residency that cultivates artistic skill, knowledge and ways of thinking, allowing learners to address complexity and foster creative approaches to living. By working deeply with the arts, participants in the residency will better understand the power of the arts. This is a crucial step in maintaining the arts legacy and it cannot be accomplished without your help. We have confidence that you will engage the learners in your residency, helping them to find the same passion for the arts that you already possess.

Jeff Hooper, Director
Office of Arts Learning