Group Discussion 4: Making the most out of your resident artist: artist residencies and education

moderator: Samar Martha, Art School Palestine

Residency programs in Europe tend to focus on the role that residencies can play in artist’s professional development, particularly by offering them a space for research and experimentation. However, in countries where art education is more limited, host institutions often expect residents to play a wider educational role by training and exposing local artists and audiences to other art practices and discourses. In other cases, the hope can also be for the residency program to feed into the host organization’s programming. The hope is for residency programs to function as reciprocal educational venues that benefit the artist as well as the surrounding locale of the host organization. Are there ways to strike a working balance between the needs of the resident artist and the host organization?

Statements for Discussion

1. Why are residencies important for the communities in which they are hosted?
   

2. How can residencies contribute to art education in the host community?
   

3. How much of the resident artist’s time should be devoted to sharing his knowledge and experience with the host community?
   

4. It’s as much about the host as it is about the artist.
   

In order to ensure lively debate and leave room for in-depth discussions, we will be limiting the number of people per group to a maximum of 15 participants. We therefore invite you to send us an email stating what sessions you would like attend by March 17. Places will be available on a first come first serve basis.