Artist in Residence
The Kaplan Humanities Institute is proud to recognize and financially support working artists across the visual, performing, and literary arts.
Since 2008, Kaplan has co-hosted 35 innovative and award-winning artists working in diverse media, facilitating opportunities to share insight into the conceptualization, process, and production of new work. We have partnered with Northwestern departments and programs to situate artists within a scholarly interdisciplinary community where they share their practice through classes, open studios, screenings, exhibitions, lectures, concerts, readings, and performances.
Building on this longstanding support of arts programming at Northwestern, Kaplan launched a new Artist Engagement Initiative in Spring 2023 with a program for co-curricular grants. In December 2023, details were announced for the revamped artist residency program.
Artist in Residence
Call for Applications
Deadline: March 8, 2024 (Fri.), 11:59 pm CST
The Alice Kaplan Institute for the Humanities is excited to announce its new Artist in Residence Program as part of its larger Artist Engagement Initiative. The Institute will provide financial support to invite an artist to campus for an academic quarter each year.
The goal of this program is to facilitate greater interaction between artistic practice and humanities conversations and teaching on campus. Visiting artists will engage with students and faculty around shared interdisciplinary concerns, contributing fresh perspectives onto current research and teaching while also benefiting from being in a community of scholars and students.
We invite applications from any unit at Northwestern to apply to host an artist in residence. We will also consider joint applications from two units, with one unit designated as the primary unit. We take a broad view of artistic practice, and thus invite applications for artists working in any medium/discipline (e.g., visual, musical, theatrical, performing, multimedia, literary).
The Kaplan Institute will provide a $30K stipend to the artist and an artist studio in Kresge. Artists in Residence will teach an undergraduate course in the sponsoring unit(s) (co-listed with Kaplan); the primary sponsoring unit will process the appointment and receive $10K to compensate the artist for teaching this course. The Artist in Residence will also offer a workshop to undergraduate and graduate students, and give a public lecture about, or performance of, their work. Sponsoring unit(s) will handle all travel (including any visa requirements), accommodations, and event arrangements. Kaplan staff will primarily be responsible for promoting the class and events.
The Kaplan Institute will designate a cross-disciplinary committee of scholars to select the Artist in Residence each year.
How to apply
Deadline: Friday, March 8, 2024 (11:59pm CST):
Artist in Residence applications are submitted by email. Please review all application instructions on this page prior to emailing your submission. Note: All application documents must be bundled and submitted as a single PDF.
Application instructions
To apply, please bundle the application materials listed below into a single PDF:
- One paragraph description of the artist’s work and how it intersects with humanities discussions in your unit(s) and across other units.
- Three to four paragraph description of what programming is envisioned for the artist’s visit, including:
- A description of the course they will teach, including information on how it connects to student interests and existing curriculum
- A description of the workshop (or workshops) they would offer, including information on target audiences and plan for ensuring their participation
- A description of the proposed public lecture and/or performance
- Portfolio of selected works of the artist (best if hyperlinked, but we will accept images, texts, or links to MP3s in the application PDF)
- Artist’s resume
- Proposed quarter/dates of residency
- Sponsoring unit(s) - please indicate primary sponsor if two units are submitting
- Names of the faculty and staff who will be lead coordinators for residency
NOTE: Applicants must secure permission from their unit(s) chair(s) in order to apply. A brief email confirming their support may be sent to jill.mannor@northwestern.edu once the application is submitted. (This can be a direct email from the chair(s) or a forwarded note from the applicant that indicates chair support for the residency.)
To submit your application
Please send your application PDF to Jill Mannor at jill.mannor@northwestern.edu.
The completed application must be received no later than 11:59 pm CST on 3/8/24.
Questions?
Please contact Jill Mannor at jill.mannor@northwestern.edu.