From performing arts to visual mediums, music, and more, the Crosstown Arts Residency program affords amenities and opportunities to artists who are looking to hone in on their craft.
What is an Arts Residency?
At a basic level, it is time and space for artists to do their work. The Crosstown Arts Residency Program hosts up to 12 multi-disciplinary residents per session and about 45 residents per year. The program offers individuals and collaborative teams private studio space, living space for out-of-town residents, food, and free access to Shared Art Making facilities.
The Crosstown Arts Residency program hosts local, national, and international talent, building diverse cohorts of cultural backgrounds and experience levels.
There are even special facilities and accommodations for residents with families. This networking and cross-pollination of ideas and approaches brings an amazing depth to the program—and the residents along with the general public get to reap the benefits through resident talks and open studio events that take place throughout the year.
Applications are open from May 15th – July 15th for all residencies for the following year. Applications are scored by a rotating group of panelists who specialize in various disciplines.
Past Residents include:
- Vitus Shell: a painter from Louisiana who worked on large-scale paintings based on real people in his community that elevate the Black experience.
- Tom Cho: a writer based in Canada, worked on his novel in a corner residency space on the second floor with large windows on two walls.
- Maeve Brophy: a Memphis-based classical pianist, who moved a grand piano into a Studio House for Musicians and produced videos of music by under-represented composers. She also brought her 5-year-old daughter with her regularly.
- Sepideh Tajalizadeh Dashti: Memphis-based artist who brought her two young children to her studio while she worked on installation pieces and performance work that reflect her experience as an Iranian woman.
- Zaire Love: Local videographer, filmmaker, and singer, produced a heartfelt documentary about the men in her family that reflects her southern Black experience.
- Sharon Havelka: Local artist and nurse made elaborate quilts that evolved into sculptural pieces, beginning with family garments and donated or found fabrics that she dyed with natural elements.
- Laura Ann Samuelson: Dancer from Colorado created a raised dance floor that she weaved in and out of during an intimate performance in her studio space.
- Sarah Elizabeth Cornejo: Local sculptor who made futuristic works with natural materials including pig hairs collected on her family farm in South Carolina. She also worked on a large-scale sculpture based on a pothole in the road near her home in the Binghampton neighborhood.
- Jia Wang: Originally from China, brought a large rock from the Mississippi River to incorporate into her installation work about family history and trauma that included images transferred onto natural elements like dried leaves.
- Shanna Strauss and Jessica Sabogal: Visual artists based in California who sourced local barn wood for an ongoing project highlighting the work of women of color.
- Anthony Wilson: Jazz guitarist and photographer who made weekly trips to Mississippi to research his personal family history, take photos and write music for an upcoming album.
- Tim Prudhomme: Memphis-based musician and music producer. Brought together local musicians who had never worked together for a show in the Green Room.
Are you an artist or do you know an artist who would benefit from the Crosstown Arts residency program?
Get FAQs and deadlines here.
For questions please email residency@crosstownarts.org
