Applications for the Fall 2024 and Spring 2025 Research Residency program are now closed. Learn more and apply below.
About the Research Residency
In celebration of all the ways research informs creative practices—the questioning, experimenting, archiving, and observing that leads artists to new discoveries and ways of knowing—the New City Arts Research Residency invites creatives of all disciplines (i.e., writers, curators, art historians, theorists, designers, filmmakers, etc.) to apply with proposals rooted in research. Within this context, ‘research’ is defined broadly and while we encourage academics to apply, this residency is not limited to projects of academic research. Our location in Downtown Charlottesville gives artists the ability to work and research in proximity to resources such as the Jefferson-Madison Regional Library (Central branch), bookstores, and other local arts and humanitarian organizations. Artists should apply with a specific art-based research project that would benefit from these local resources.
About the Studio Space
Each artist works in a free studio (approximately 9'x16'6") with a pocket door for privacy, wall space for displaying works in progress, a small cabinet and shelving, an adjustable standing desk, high-speed fiber internet provided by Ting, a multi-function printer, and a shared kitchen and bathroom. You also get to share the space with a beautiful Fiddle Leaf Fig named Delilah. 🪴
Please note: artists may submit applications for both the Research Residency and 2024-2025 Welcome Gallery Exhibition Season open calls.
-
Creatives of all disciplines living in the Charlottesville area who have a research-based project and who would benefit from free studio space are welcome to apply.
To be eligible for the New City Arts Research Residency, you must:
live in the Charlottesville area (including the city of Charlottesville and the counties of Albemarle, Buckingham, Fluvanna, Greene, Louisa, Nelson, and Orange) during the residency program;
be at least 18 years of age;
not be an alumni of the New City Arts Residency program;
not be an artist participating the current 2024 New City Arts Fellowship program. Only Fellowship alumni are eligible to apply.
be fully vaccinated for COVID-19 by the start date of the Residency period.*
Please note that this residency is self-directed and research-based, as our studio space is not suited to a practice involving large-scale artworks. Additionally, the studio space does not have a working window and is in a public space. For this reason, we do not recommend this residency for artists working with materials that produce fumes requiring a well-ventilated space. Artists should refrain from using any solvents or other hazardous materials (like turpentine, lead-based paints, some resins, etc.) in the studio space during their residency.
*During the Residency, artists may share space with up to 3 staff members as well as gallery visitors during open hours and events. The gallery will be professionally cleaned in between residencies. While we no longer require masks for visitors, staff are happy to make accommodations for Artists-in-Residence such as mask-wearing while the artist is in-studio and sharing our office calendar so that artists may use the space at a time when it is less crowded.
-
Resident Artists are awarded a five-month Residency with:
24-hour, free access to our studio (located adjacent to Welcome Gallery and our New City Arts office);
a $1,000 stipend;
support for at least one community-engaged event (i.e., open studio, critique, workshop);
support for a culminating event in which the artist shares their work publicly (i.e., exhibition presentation, artist talk, film screening, reading).
Artists will have the option to regularly interact with gallery visitors, staff, and other artists should they want to take a more public, active role, but are not required to do so.
-
Before you apply, we recommend that you familiarize yourself with New City Arts’ mission and Content Guidelines. Given that the core of our mission is to foster engagement with the arts in Charlottesville, Virginia, we ask that resident artists:
spend a minimum of 15 hours a week in the studio;
lead at least one small event (a workshop, community sing, public reading, etc.) during their residency;
and share their work with the public through a culminating event (a month-long exhibition, artist talk, film screening, reading, etc.).
-
Applications are first evaluated to ensure that:
Eligibility criteria has been met,
and that the application has been fully completed.
Residency proposals are then reviewed by a selection committee. Committee members change with each application period, but include past Resident Artists, board members, and community members such as artists, curators, and other professionals from community organizations. Learn more about the 2024-2025 Research Residency Selection Committee below.
Four artists will be chosen by the committee to be invited to interview with New City Arts staff before a final selection of 2 artists for the Fall and Spring residency periods.
-
Applications are due April 9, 2024 at 11:59PM (DEADLINE EXTENDED)
Applicants must fill out the Residency Application online via Google Forms where they will submit 2-3 artwork samples. Specific details and guidelines are available in the application.
-
Yes! New City Arts staff are available to offer support with your exhibition proposal. Join us on March 27 from 5-7:30PM for an Application Assistance Workshop—RSVP here for the event. You are also welcome to reach out to Welcome Gallery Manager, Tori Cherry, with specific questions.
Meet the Selection Committee
The Selection Committee tasked with selecting this year’s Fall and Spring Resident Artists consists of Kori Price, Joumana Altallal, and Meesha Goldberg.
Learn more about the Selection Committee Members below.
-
Kori Price (she/her) is a multi-disciplinary artist and photographer based in Charlottesville, Virginia. Originally from Culpeper, Kori has been proud to call Central Virginia home for most of her life and is passionate about telling the stories of her community. Kori holds a B.S. in electrical engineering from Virginia Tech and seeks to maintain a balance between her technical and creative interests with her work. She is a founding member of the Charlottesville Black Arts Collective and currently serves as their president. Kori has been a resident artist at New City Arts Initiative as well as a writer in-residence at McGuffey Arts Center. Her work has been exhibited at New City Arts Initiative, The Bridge Progressive Arts Initiative, Studio IX, McGuffey Arts Center, and Second Street Gallery.
Image by Sarah Cramer Shields -
Joumana Altallal (she/her) is an Iraqi-Lebanese writer, researcher, and artist who was born in Baghdad, and grew up in Charlottesville. She received her B.A. from the University of Virginia and her M.F.A in Poetry from the University of Michigan’s Helen Zell Writers’ Program. Her recent work has appeared in Mizna, The Rumpus, Muzzle Magazine, and Michigan Quarterly Review. She is the recipient of fellowships and residencies from Hedgebrook, Willapa Bay AiR, Good Hart Artist Residency, and the Radius for Arab American Writers. Joumana is currently working on her first book, which focuses on American spectatorship and the commodification of violence in post-2003 Iraq. You can find Joumana on Instagram @joualt, or by visiting www.joumanaaltallal.com.
Image by Jannatul Pramanik -
Meesha Goldberg (she/her) is a Korean American artist, poet, gardener, and activist living in Virginia. She has exhibited her artwork in solo shows across the country. Her art crosses the boundaries of genre to both experience and express transformational repair. Performance, ritual, painting, film, costume, and poetry merge in durational, place-based works and gallery installations that insist upon the re-enchantment of the world. Her debut poetry collection “The Seed is Waiting in the Dark” was published in 2024 through Finishing Line Press. Goldberg was the recipient of New City Arts’ 2023/2024 Research Residency, which culminated in the exhibit “Empire is Over” and symposium “Visionary Remembering”.
Image by Stacey Evans
Key Dates
Application Deadline: Sunday, April 9, 2024 at 11:59PM (DEADLINE EXTENDED)
Interviews take place in late April
Residency Periods:
Fall: September 2024 - January 2025
Spring: **February 2025 - June 2025
Application Assistance Workshop:* Wednesday, March 27, 2024 from 5:30-7PM (RSVP here!)
5:30 - 6:15PM — Research Residency Application Assistance
6:15 - 7PM — Welcome Gallery Exhibition Application Assistance
*Applicants interested in receiving guidance around the application process may register for the Application Assistance Workshop. Applicants with specific questions may email Welcome Gallery Manager, Tori Cherry, for a 1-on-1 meeting to discuss and review your application prior to submitting.
Past Resident Artists
Learn more about the Residency and meet previous Artists-in-Residence.