Description of the Program
The Distinguished Visiting Artists Program at URI hosts one Visiting Artist per academic year to engage with students and faculty on a deeper level of understanding and appreciation of the arts in contemporary culture. The goal is to support artists and arts professionals that will contribute to the aesthetic life of the University and broader community, as well as provide students and faculty with opportunities to participate in critical discourse with artists of national and international recognition and develop meaningful ongoing collaborations with them. Overall, the program aims to build URI’s reputation as a place where the arts are vibrant, diverse, and integral to intellectual and creative development of faculty and students. Past funded programs have focused on engaging students and faculty that generate connections among multiple disciplines and use artistic approaches to catalyze social, environmental, and political change.
This opportunity is available to a wide range of artists working in all media, including the visual arts, performance, theatre, music, and film, in addition to curators, critics, and art historians. Visiting artists will spend one to two weeks on campus; if two-week visits are desirable, one can flexibly arrange the visit into multiple time periods throughout the academic year. The Visiting Artist will interact with students, faculty, and the local community in a variety of ways, such as: presenting a public lecture open to the local community; presenting a more specialized lecture, workshop, or exhibit with faculty in the creative arts; meeting with fine arts students for critique/discussion sessions on the students’ work and ideas; conducting studio visits; giving invited lectures or seminars in various classes; meeting with students regarding career and professional development; exhibiting/screening their work or staging a performance during the visit; conducting workshops for students and/or faculty; participating in a symposium with faculty; etc. A reception to engage the Visiting Artist with URI faculty, staff, and students would also be an important component of the visit. In some cases, it might also be appropriate for the Visiting Artist to meet with outside constituencies (e.g., local arts organizations and educational institutions).
Award
A total of up to $15,000 has been allocated to this program to fund one Visiting Artist for the 2017- 2018 academic year to support travel, meals, lodging, honorarium, supplies, etc. An honorarium of approximately $5000 for the Visiting Artist is included in this funding, as well as expenses dependent on the length of the visit.
Application Process
At this time, we are requesting proposals for 2017-2018 academic year. A review committee with faculty from various artistic disciplinary areas, with the Vice Provost for Faculty Affairs chairing this initiative, will review proposals and rank them based on the selection criteria below. Next year’s review committee will include Paula McGlasson (Theatre), Ron Onorato (Art & Art History), and Joseph Parillo (Music).
Criteria for Successful Proposals
1. The Visiting Artist must be an accomplished or emerging professional artist with a national and/or international reputation in the visual arts (e.g., video, painting, sculpture, photography, printmaking, animation, etc.) performance, music, and film or art criticism, history, and curating.
2. If international, the Visiting Artist must be fluent in English.
3. The Scholar must commit to spending one to two weeks (can be flexibly scheduled) on campus with various constituencies, including significant interaction with fine arts students (e.g., class presentations, work with students on projects or other experiential learning activities, etc.). The activities planned for the Visiting Artist must be articulated in the proposal. A commitment to promote the visit, in conjunction with the Department of Communications and Community Relations, must be included.
4. Preference will be given to proposals that show potential for the development of a future on-going relationship between URI and the Visiting Artist.
5. Strong preference will be given to proposals that reflect multiple department/college sponsorship and some financial contribution from academic units.
Application Process
Complete the following application form and submit a current resume of the proposed Visiting Artist to the Office of the Provost (officeofprovost@etal.uri.edu) by Monday, May 1, 2017 by 5:00 PM. Decisions will be made by the end of May. Please contact Laura Beauvais for further information (Beauvais@uri.edu or 874-4341).