Thoughts on art residences

First published on ololufe-collective.art Aug 18 2022

I am an multi-disciplinary artist who has no desire to get an art residence for several reasons. And I will detail them in this blog. Enjoy. 

First things first the application process. Like seriously. Applications suck. And residencies have so many conditions, theres a real level of rigidity that stares you in the face as you are applying. Some actually require you to pay to apply. It's not giving accessible to poor people. Or a neurodivergent/neurodistinct person like myself that just hates deadlines, also my self expression really be coming to me in the moment, I have no idea what I will be doing from hour to hour. So that forward planning and detailing my art project just doesn't work for someone like me. A lot of residencies also require you to apply 6 months to a year in advance, again I literally never know what could be happening in that time. Also the effort of applying and not being compensated for my work that I put into my application then to be rejected. Yeah so since a lot of applications are not open ended or compensated it ain't for me. 

Next on my list is the wielding of my self expression for something that (white/sane/classed) institutions decided was worthwhile. Yeah its normally for the benefit of the community but its the insistence/mandatory-ness of these things that don't suit me. Like mustttt I have a complete piece that's community related, that I may potentially have to present? Like my creativity is turned off by that already. It just feels like unnecessary pressure. Also if I create something that's not related what the institution wants, what happens? It's just long to have such restrictions and restraints. 

Third things third. Not all residencies provide food, money to cover your bills at home, supplies or even the supplies needed. Its no wonder that it's the middle class kids benefit from these programs the most. Like accommodation to create is great. But what about my rent at home? Gas, leccy, wifi and all my other bills? They are real and need to be paid. Speaking of real things. Children. Children are real and not all artists are childfree. How many residencies, pay for childcare or even have child friendly spaces? This excluded so many people from art residencies. So alongside poor people, people with children, people with full time jobs are not really considered by many residencies. Having to take normally a minimum of 2 weeks to a year is just not practical for people that have full time jobs. Whether is they would use up all their annual leave or the job simply won't allow the time off. 

So to summarise it would take a really accessible, considerate residency with a tiny, compensated application process, with an open ended deadline, accessible for all people and child-friendly. And not funded by white institutions that tend to favour who they always tend to favour. You know the type. And its not my neurodistinct, west african genderfluid self.  

2024 update: I feel the same. These art institutions don’t want to fund the art of people like myself unless I'm covering either slavery or being an immigrant. Look at the type of art that gets commissioned you'll notice a pattern.