2019 ArtBuilt Mobile Studio in the Park OPEN CALL

Deadline extended to April 15!

03.18.19

ArtBuilt, in partnership with NYC Parks, Queens Museum, Staten Island Arts, Staten Island Urban Center, Canvas/Island Voice, YOUTHBuild Staten Island/JMT Media, Gowanus Canal Conservancy, Friends of Thomas Greene Park, Textile Arts Center, Arts Gowanus, Arts & Democracyand NOCD-NY is now accepting proposals for: Studio in the Park for summer and fall 2019.

Studio in the Park is a residency program operated since 2015 by Queens Museum, ArtBuilt and NYC Parks, providing an artist or artist collective use of a 150 square foot mobile studio space, situated in an NYC public park, to carry out a community-engaged art project over the course of 6 weeks. In 2019, project sites will be: Thomas Greene Playground in Gowanus, Brooklyn; and Stapleton Waterfront Park in Stapleton, Staten Island.

The ArtBuilt Studio in the Park residency began in 2015 in partnership with the Queens Museum. With the receipt of a prestigious OUR TOWN grant from the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), we will expand this residency to all five boroughs in 2018 and 2019.

Artist/s for Studio in the Park Residencies will be selected through an Open Call application process.

Deadline for Application: Monday, April 15, 2019
Announcement of selected proposals: Early May 2019

Artist information session: Friday, March 29, 6–8pm
Textile Arts Center (505 Carroll St, Brooklyn NY, 11215)
The information session has been archived on Artbuilt’s Facebook page.

Dates of Residencies:
SESSION 1: Stapleton Waterfront Park
Schedule: July 1 – August 14, 2019
Sat/Sun, July 13/14 – Opening Event
Sat/Sun August 10/11 – Culminating Event

SESSION 2: Thomas Greene Playground
Schedule: August 15 – September 30, 201
Sat/Sun August 24/25 – Opening Event
Sat/Sun Sept 28/29 – Culminating Event

About the Parks:
Stapleton Waterfront Park, connects the Stapleton neighborhood and surrounding neighborhoods in Staten Island with access to the waterfront. Opened in 2016, the Stapleton Waterfront Park was created as part of the multi-phase development of the Homeport, a 35-acre decommissioned U.S. Naval Base on the north shore of Staten Island. Built simultaneously with the neighboring housing and commercial development, the public park includes grass and landscaped areas, benches, water fountains, a fish cleaning station, lit walkways, and a newly constructed tidal wetlands cove. Future phases of development will further encourage pedestrian and bicycle traffic in the Stapleton neighborhood, strengthen the area’s climate change resiliency, and facilitate connections to the formerly underutilized waterfront.

Thomas Greene Playground, is located in the Gowanus neighborhood of Brooklyn, and is bounded by Third Avenue, and Nevins, DeGraw, and Douglass Streets. The playground is named after Thomas Greene (1911-1988), resident of Gowanus Houses who served as the president of the Tenant Association, and who was a dedicated community leader. This small neighborhood park is full of all sorts of sunny day activities for local families and people of all ages. Plentiful picnic tables make space for those eating or relaxing outdoors, while those who’d prefer to run around use the two basketball and four handball courts for more active recreation. In the summer, the adjoining outdoor Douglass-Degraw pool opens up for all the area’s swimmers to enjoy.  

Artists are welcome to propose projects that align with their existing practice, and also demonstrate alignment with the issue areas below:

SESSION 1 – Staten Island/Stapleton Waterfront Park:
1) NEIGHBORHOOD CHANGE, including:

  • Rezoning and new real estate development pressures
  • Gentrification vs. Stabilization
  • Housing justice/equality, affordability, public housing
  • High homeless population
  • Empty storefronts and abandoned lots
  • Racial tension and increased police relations

2) STATEN ISLAND IDENTITY, including:

  • Immigration & Diversity
  • Staten Island’s diversity of people and cultures
  • External and internal perceptions of Staten Island
  • Social Cohesion, Cultural & community organizing
  • Ecology & Environmental Justice
  • Waterfront & neighborhood identity
  • Maritime culture – past, present & future

3) CONNECTIVITY, including:

  • Improved bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure
  • Signage and wayfinding
  • Overcrowded roads and parking

4) HEALTH, including:

  • Highest cancer rate in NYC
  • High rates of diabetes and asthma
  • Lack of affordable healthcare options
  • Lack of recreation spaces
  • Food deserts
  • Drug use and opioid addiction

SESSION 2 – Gowanus/Thomas Greene Park:
1) NEIGHBORHOOD CHANGE, including:

  • Rezoning, land use and new real estate development pressures
  • Housing justice/equality and affordability
  • Public housing (Discrepancy of resources and conditions between new private development and public housing, despite common basic needs.)
  • Gentrification and displacement
  • Neighborhood preservation in the face of change

2) ECOLOGY/ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE, including:

  • Gowanus Canal & neighborhood identity
  • Wetlands and urban ecology (particularly diverse, wild, and resilient plants of the Gowanus area)
  • Brownfields & remediation
  • Combined Sewer Overflow (CSO) & impacts on residents (particularly public housing and lower income residents)
  • Flooding, sea level rise and climate change
  • Access to waterfront/wetlands as community resource
  • Urban tree canopy & heat island impacts
  • Participatory open space design

3) CULTURAL COHESION, including:

  • Finding/building connections across different:
    – Experiences
    – Income
    – Public housing/Privately owned housing
    – New development/existing neighborhood
    – Old residents/new residents
    – Artists/non-artists
    – Industrial / Commercial / Residential
  • Cultural/community assets
  • Public art enhancing community involvement, connecting local stakeholders to their public spaces and amenities
  • Local artists/art projects connecting with broader/existing community goal

Studio in the Park residency
The Studio in the Park residency is a publicly-engaged arts residency that is rooted in place, in the park, and in the local community. This residency is best suited for a project that has gone through a previous iteration in the local community, and/or demonstrates clear ideas and actions to interface with the public. If this is a brand new project, the resident will need to describe in detail in their proposal how they will work directly with the surrounding communities and cultivate local partnerships.

The resident will be provided:
A mobile studio space for 6 weeks situated within the artist’s assigned park. The light-filled mobile studio offers electricity, air conditioning, wi-fi (site dependent), and ample wall space.
A total stipend of $3000 inclusive of art materials.
Support from ArtBuilt, Queens Museum, NYC Parks, and community partners for public engagement, event production and promotion.

The resident will commit to:

  • A minimum of 15 hours studio work per week, including at least one weekend day per week.
  • Public access to studio during predetermined times.
  • Collaborating on a minimum of 2-4 public programs during the residency with community partners, including the Opening Event and Culminating Event.
  • A meeting with ArtBuilt staff 5 weeks prior to the beginning of their residency for basic onboarding and confirming the project plan and schedule, and brief weekly check-ins.
  • If the project changes from the original proposal, then the artist(s) will re-submit a revised proposal (with 2 weeks for time to review).
  • A meeting to be schedule within 2 weeks after the end of the residency for evaluation and debrief process.

Selection: In consultation with local stakeholders, a panel of arts professionals will review applications and select residency participants. The panel/jury will include Queens Museum staff, ArtBuilt staff, and NYC Parks public art staff. Selections will be announced in early May 2019.

Eligibility:

  • Artists who are working in painting, drawing, sculpture, printmaking, photography, multimedia, installation, public art, participatory art, socially-engaged art and arts-based research, performance-based visual expression, folk and traditional cultural practice.
  • Artists who are residents of New York City—from any of the five boroughs—and who have resided in the City for at least one year prior to the application deadline. Artists must reside in NYC during the entire residency period.

Application

  • Project Name
  • Artist Name(s) and contact information
  • 2 References: Provide name, relationship, email address, and phone number
  • Statement of Intent (250 words max): Describe how you are a social-practice artist and/or any experience you’ve had working directly with communities and/or the public.
  • Project Proposal (750 words max): Please describe the project, which must include your ideas for public events. Strong applications will include a proposed 6-week schedule.

Ready to apply? Submit here!

Image: ArtBuilt Mobile Studio in the Park program with 2018 David Flores’ Nueva Bronx: 21st Century Families in Railroad Park, Bronx.

Studio in the Park at the Queens Museum is made possible by the National Endowment for the Arts, Surdna Foundation, and The New York Community Trust. Additional support is provided by the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs and the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature.