Wa Na Wari Artist Residency
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The Opportunity: Wa Na Wari is dedicated to the cultivation and presentation of Black artistry locally. Wa Na Wari is offering three 1-month long residencies in the Wa Na Wari house where a visual artist can work and create new visual artwork. The new work will then be on view at Wa Na Wari for a 2-month period after the residency. Artists in residence will have as their studio a room that is up two flights of stairs and on the same floor as the bathroom. Wa Na Wari is located in Seattle's Central District, a historically redlined neighborhood that was the cultural and artistic hub for the Black community for many decades. The Wa Na Wari house is the second home purchased by Frank and Goldyne Green, and has been in the Green family for five generations. Artists will be able to work and create in a home that has been a central part of Black community life in Seattle for over 50 years and is currently an incubator for Black thought and creativity. Scope of Work: Selected artists will have access to the Wa Na Wari studio space for 20 hours a week to create a new body of work that will be exhibited in the studio after the residency is complete. Artists will also provide one virtual artist talk/lecture. COVID Precautions: All selected artists will be required to take a COVID-19 test and test negative before the start of the residency. Masks are required when on-site and Wa Na Wari has a temperature check system for all people who enter the space. About Wa Na Wari: The mission of Wa Na Wari is to create space for Black ownership, possibility, and belonging through art, historic preservation, and connection. Sited in a 5th-generation Black-owned home, Wa Na Wari:
Seattle’s Central District was 80% Black in the 1970s. Today, it is less than 14% Black. Seattle’s affordability crisis has eliminated spaces where Black artists can work, create, and live. Aging Black homeowners struggle to afford skyrocketing property taxes. Remaining Black residents experience isolation and economic hardship. Wa Na Wari addresses these community challenges in the following ways. We provide space for Black artists to collaborate, exhibit their work, and network with other artists, collectors, and patrons. We pay Black artists, writers, curators, performers, and gallery sitters, and in so doing put money back into the regional Black creative economy. We present a new model for sustainable Black homeownership by financially supporting the elderly Black homeowner in whose home Wa Na Wari is located, and we regularly convene other Black homeowners to explore this model. We convene other Black homeowners to explore this model. |
ELIGIBILITY The call is open to artists over 18 years of age that identify as descendants of the African diaspora living in King County, Washington. BUDGET Each selected artist will receive a stipend of $2,000. RESIDENCY DATES March 2021 with exhibition from April 9-May 21 June 2021 with exhibition from July 9- August 27 September 2021 with exhibition from October 8-November 26th APPLICATION DEADLINE AND TIMELINE The application deadline is 11:59p.m., Monday, January 11, 2021. Link to the online application Monday, January 11, 2021, 11:59pm PST – Application Deadline Monday, January 25th, 2021 – Selected artists notified March 2021- First residency begins APPLICATION REQUIREMENTS Applications must include:
SELECTION CRITERIA The artists will be selected on the basis of the following criteria:
SELECTION PROCESS A selection panel of Wa Na Wari staff and two professional artists will select three artists for the residency. QUESTIONS Please email Elisheba Johnson at elishebajohnson@gmail.com with any questions. |