BCA Studio Residency Details

Applications for the 2024–2025 BCA Studio Residency cohort are now closed.  

Applicants’ notification Date: Friday, May 3, 2024

 

APPLICATION GUIDE

BCA Director of Visual Arts Randi Hopkins explains the step by step process you will need to take to apply for the 2024 BCA Studio Residency program.

To skip ahead to specific sections, use the timecode below:
0-3:17 — Welcome and Intro
3:18-17:19 — What is the BCA Studio Residency?
17:20-27:20 — The Application

The slide deck in this video is here.

The Wagner Foundation funded cross- and multidisciplinary BCA Studio Residency program is designed to foster and support access, equity and experimentation in the arts and in new art being created in Boston. Inaugurated in Summer 2021, the BCA Studio Residency program provides selected artists with work-only studio space in BCA’s Artist Studios Building located at 551 Tremont Street in Boston’s South End, along with access to a roster of programs and professional support geared towards nurturing a vibrant and diverse community of artists in Boston.

This year, thanks to generous support from Wagner Foundation, artists selected for the Fall 2024 Studio Residency program will receive fully awarded studio space for a maximum term of 33 months, from September 15, 2024–June 15, 2027. The funding by Wagner Foundation of the 2024 BCA Studio Residency cohort allows us to make real strides in the work of creating greater equity and opportunity to Boston-area artists for whom financial support and artistic community come at a catalytic moment in their practice. Selection of the 2024 BCA Studio Residency cohort of artists will be based on artists’ demonstration of the financial as well as artistic impact of a fully awarded studio on their practice.

BCA welcomes applicants working in all media, including artists with community-based public art practices, artists interested in further developing curatorial skills and projects, and artists with movement- or performance-based practices.

Artists who are juried into the program will begin the program starting in late Summer/early Fall 2024. They will join 32 studio resident artists already working in the Studios Building. Each artist who is selected for the program will be provided with 24/7 access to an individual, work-only studio space in the BCA Artist Studios Building at 551 Tremont Street in Boston’s South End for a maximum term of three years. Studios range from 140-540 square feet. Studio space includes free Wi-Fi and heat, and reduced rate access to available rehearsal space at BCA, as well as access to a vibrant professional community, opportunities for public visibility for their work, and support for artistic development through participation in a range of programmatic events and activities.

 

2024-2025 ROSTER OF BCA STUDIO RESIDENCY EVENTS & ACTIVITIES

In addition to enjoying 24/7 access to individual studio space and reduced rate access to rehearsal space at BCA, the 2024 BCA Studio Residency cohort will be expected to participate in:

  • Monthly Informal Gatherings to chat, catch up, ask questions etc, with snacks;
  • Studio visits from BCA’s studio residency Fall and Spring Visiting Curators as well as other arts professionals including curators, gallerists and arts writers, made available to Studio Residents on a sign up basis;
  • BCA Studios Open House, coinciding with Mills Gallery opening receptions and other BCA events and promoted by BCA (approx 4 per year);
  • Ongoing “Plus One” private receptions in the Mills Gallery, with invited colleagues from the Boston arts community (approx 4 per year), and,
  • Ongoing Opportunities for Project Room Exhibitions in BCA’s Mills Gallery Project Room, available on an application basis.

The last two opportunities continue beyond the end term of each artist’s studio residency, as BCA Studio Residency Alumni are also invited to participate in our “Plus One” receptions and to apply for Project Room Exhibitions.

 

STATEMENT OF ARTISTIC ETHOS

Our goal is to gather a diverse and inclusive community of artists for the purpose of supporting innovative work across disciplines, connecting artists with peers and resources, and providing a vibrant platform for new art in Boston.

Applications will be evaluated based on artist’s demonstration of:

  • Experimentation. Does the artist’s practice display innovation, openness to new ideas, perspectives, and techniques?  (20%)
  • Responsiveness. Is the artist’s work relevant, topical, in dialogue with issues of contemporary interest? (20%)
  • Community engagement. Does the artist demonstrate a willingness and aptitude for significant give and take exchange among colleagues and audiences? (20%)
  • Potential impact. How does the artist articulate the impact of this residency on their practice? (40%)

These criteria will be applied by an external jury whose composition includes Studio Residency alumni as well as diverse individuals with a broad range of lived experience and experience in the arts field.

Selections for our 2024 BCA Studio Residency cohort are made with greatest weight given to the fourth criteria, Potential Impact, which we interpret to include artistic as well as financial impact. Applicants’ responses to the final group of questions in this application will be considered as a significant element in review of their applications.

 

SELECTION PROCESS 

Applications will be reviewed and juried by an independent group of arts professionals, with selections made based on the strength of their application in light of the foregoing articulation of Boston Center for the Arts’ core Artistic Ethos. 

Strong consideration will be given to creating a diverse cohort of applicants, with priority for BIPOC artists, taking into account each applicant’s potential contribution to building a community of artists, as well as potential transformative effect of the residency on their individual artistic practice. This includes willingness to participate in public events, interact with the public and fellow artists, and be involved in BCA activities.

 

ELIGIBILITY

We do not accept students currently enrolled in school. A BA, MA, BFA, or MFA is not required.

We do accept collectives, however we ask that you apply by way of a single application and specify that you are part of a collective and will be sharing the space with other artists.

BCA Studio Residency alumni must wait one year to reapply following their last residency. New applicants will be prioritized over alumni.

IMPORTANT NOTES, RESTRICTIONS AND LIMITS:
Overall:

Studios in the building are WORK ONLY, not live-work space;

Studios and common space in the building may not be the site of any public events (that is, any non-residents coming into the building must be entering on the basis of an individual invitation); 

The studio building is a four floor, walk-up building, with no elevator and no loading dock.

In Addition:

We look forward to inviting artists across disciplines to pursue their art through the BCA Studio Residency program, within the realistic constraints and restrictions related to the physical structure itself, which includes a particulate-based fire suppression system, non-sound-proofed walls and floors, and old pipes.

Artists selected for the 2023 (third) cohort of BCA’s Studio Residency program will begin their residencies between August 1—October 1, 2023, and may remain in the program for a maximum term of three years (through June 30, 2026).

 

ANTI-RACISM AGREEMENT

Black Lives Matter. It is incumbent upon us to act accordingly, and to identify those ways that we, as leaders of cultural organizations, can stop perpetuating pervasive and systemic white supremacist practices and lead through our actions. 

Boston Center for the Arts is committed to doing the hard work of dismantling even the most subtle forms of white supremacy in our organization, in our practices, and in the work, we do to help make Boston a place where Black artists can live and thrive.

BCA Residents agree to working with Boston Center for the Arts to dismantle white supremacy.

To that end, Residents will be expected to adhere to BCA’s anti-racism and sexual harassment policies as detailed in the residency handbook. Residents agree to participate in ongoing anti-racist work which may include workshops, readings, and other activities. BCA has a zero-tolerance policy for racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, transphobic, anti-Semitic, Islamophobic, and ableists actions and behavior. BCA will immediately revoke all rights and privileges of its Residents should a Resident or its artists act or behave in the aforementioned manner.

The 2024–2027 cohort of the BCA Studio Residency program is funding through a generous grant from Wagner Foundation.

Wagner Foundation logo