Sponsors — Before The Residency

Artist in Residence Program Artists
Selecting An Artist
Attending the Arts Learning Residency Conference
Inviting an Artist
Conducting the Planning Session
Residency Plan
Components and Terms
Administrative Tasks
Fiscal Responsibilities
Grant Agreement Packet
Components and Requirements

Artist in Residence Program Artists

Artists in the Arts Learning Artist Directory submit an application and are interviewed by discipline-specific panels comprised of former sponsors, experienced residency artists, Artist in Residence Field Representatives, and OAC staff. Artists are selected on the basis of their creative work, educational philosophy, residency ideas and ability to communicate their artistic vision with a wide range of individuals. Selected artists are outstanding, experienced professionals, pursuing careers in their chosen art discipline. Artist information in our directory is updated annually.

Artist in Residence Program artists have multiple opportunities each year for professional development. New program artists participate in an orientation program and are mentored by an experienced artist. When resources allow for the scheduling of the Arts Learning Residency conference, all artists participate and are engaged in professional development with national and state content experts on relevant topics.

Selecting An Artist

Sites awarded a residency grant must select their artists from the Arts Learning Artist Directory. To begin your selection process, use the directory to become familiar with our program artists. Artists are listed by discipline; each listing contains a photo and brief artistic statement.

If you are a newer sponsor, artist selection and planning begins in earnest during talks with the Arts Learning Program Coordinator to discuss the artists' work and residency ideas as you review the profiles of the more than 90 artiss in eight disciplines who are available to conduct artist residencies.  After you select your artist, dates for the residency are established. Then the planning session is scheduled in concert with the site, artist and the OAC Arts Learning department. Written confirmation of residency dates must be shared with all parties.

If you are a more experienced sponsor, you may wish to invite an artist and include him/her in your planning process.

Inviting an Artist

Again, this process varies depending on whether you are a new or experienced sponsor. For a newer sponsor, after the Arts Learning Promoting Creativity Conference you will:

• Agree with the artist on dates for the residency. Check those event calendars for your school or organization!
• Send an invitation letter or e-mail to the artist, noting several suggestions for date for the residency.
• Ask the artist to send a confirmation letter or email of his/her agreement.
• Simultaneously, notify chiquita.mullins-lee@oac.state.oh.us.

For an experienced sponsor, if you have contacted an artist before the submission of your application, secure a letter of commitment from him/her with a few possible residency dates identified. If you have not secured your artist before the Arts Learning Promoting Creativity Conference, please follow the steps outlined above for the less experienced sponsor.

Conducting the Planning Session

The planning session addresses critical components that support a successful residency; however, your approach to planning will vary depending on whether you are a newer applicant or more experienced sponsor. In the next section "Residency Plan," we present the components you need to consider as you develop your work plan for the residency. These components are items found on our Artist in Residence Program, Planning Session Checklist, which is a tool used during each planning session.

Residency Plan

Over the years, artists and sponsors have discovered that a residency is most successful when the following components are addressed. What follows is a listing of components and terms. They are presented here in alphabetical order for easy reference. However, they appear in a different order on the Artist in Residence Program, Planning Session Checklist.

Components and Terms

Academic Content Standards

Academic content standards in the arts are challenging, but attainable visions of student outcomes (i.e., what students should know and be able to do and appreciate, resulting from their arts education and arts learning experiences). Grade-level benchmarks are interim targets progressing normally toward a final standard.

In 2004, the Ohio Department of Education published the state's first set of standards and benchmarks in the arts entitled, Ohio Fine Arts Academic Content Standards. The Office of Arts Learning requires use of those standards in funded K-12 in-school educational programming. The standards were revised in 2012 and can be found at http://education.ohio.gov/Topics/Ohio-s-New-Learning-Standards/Fine-Arts. 

Accommodations

Securing free or reduced-rate housing for the artist is the responsibility of the sponsor. Often, sponsors arrange lodging in a local hotel or bed and breakfast in exchange for public recognition of the contribution. Some artists are willing to stay in the homes of staff or community members. Lodging details should be discussed and confirmed with the artist before the residency.

Artist-Staff Workshop

To understand the arts you must experience them. These hands-on workshops are a required component of every residency because it is the best way for participants to gain confidence and understanding of what working in an arts discipline means in an experiential way. The workshop also allows participants to better understand the resident artist's vision, discipline and work. Schedule a minimum of one workshop per a two- to four-week time period. If you are hosting a longer residency, increase the number accordingly. All staff, especially those who will work with the core group, should participate.

Artist Planning Time

Planning time is important for artists and should be built into the residency schedule. They use that time to prepare for contact sessions, workshops, and public presentations and sharings, and to assess the residency progress.

Artist Studio Time

Studio time is a necessary part of each residency. Without time to devote to their own work, many artists would not travel to residencies outside their home community. Artists need daily time and space to make art. Sponsors should provide adequate studio space and reasonable access during the residency. Studio time should be discussed during planning sessions. Especially in longer residencies, studio time may be open so residency participants can observe the development of the artist's work over time. During residencies of four months or longer, artists spend two days out of five working in their on-site studios. Studio time generally is scheduled during regular program or school hours, rather than after normal hours of operation.

Closure Meeting

As the residency draws to an end, a closure meeting should be scheduled for the artist and participants. They should use this gathering to reflect upon the original residency plan, the actual experience, and the learning that resulted. Each participant should share from his/her perspective what worked well and what could be improved. It is also time, if appropriate, to consider next steps and possible follow-up experiences.

Community Outreach

An artist and sponsor may want to extend the residency experiences beyond the sponsor's primary site and participants. Earlier in the planning process, the sponsor is asked to assess their needs. What needs were identified that might help build connections between a residency and community initiatives or themes? Or, were individuals identified in the larger community who would benefit from involvement in a residency? The answers to those questions may provide direction for outreach efforts. Residencies of a longer length provide greater opportunities for community involvement.

Contact Sessions

A contact session is a meeting between the artist and a group or class. An artist conducts not more than four contact sessions per day. Each contact session usually is an hour long, but may be adjusted to meet the needs of the artist, participants or discipline. Additional time each day should be scheduled for the artist's preparation and studio time.

Core and Peripheral Groups

Each residency site must identify core and peripheral groups. The core group meets with the artist daily. Peripheral groups meet less often with the artist. Core and peripheral groups vary from eight to 25 participants, depending on the artistic discipline, and the age, health or developmental and needs of the residency participants. Furthermore, some disciplines require a great deal of individualized instruction. The final decision on group size and composition rests with the sponsor and the artist as the residency plan is developed before the grant is submitted or later during the planning session.

While the artist cannot work with everyone during the residency, there are a number of ways to involve a broader range of individuals through assembly performances, lecture-demonstrations, and workshops or classroom presentations.

Etiquette and Protocol

Remember to explain critical policies or procedures, such as dress code, safety or emergency procedures and expectations. Extra attention and preparations are needed when an artist is working with special populations in a health or mental health facility and in secure institutions with court-involved individuals.

Faculty, Staff and Administrators

Faculty, staff and administrators play a critical role in the success of the residency. They contribute to the artistic vision of the residency through collaboration with the artist, along with the members of the core group. Faculty and staff also ensure a safe and disciplined atmosphere for work by being present during all contact sessions. Through their participation, they develop themselves professionally through the arts by participating in the residency activities. Most importantly, they feel more comfortable thinking artistically and creating themselves, thus, increasing the potential that the residency will have a long-term impact.

Families, Guardians and Care-givers

For schools: Parents are their children's first teachers, which is especially true during the pre-kindergarten and elementary years. Creative play is a developmentally appropriate way to nurture children's talents and interests. Therefore, whenever possible, include parents and other guardians as participants in the art-making activities. Parent-child workshops are a great way to promote parental involvement and learning during and following the residency. Similarly, children and family members can create powerful multi-generational arts learning experiences in residencies that involve older adults.

For organizations: The Arts Learning Office now funds artist residencies in a broader range of organizations including neighborhood centers, senior centers, arts organizations, faith-based organizations, libraries and social service agencies, etc. This broader access allows for new ways of involving families, guardians and care-givers in residency experiences. A community residency has the potential to: strengthen family and community bonds, foster inter-generational learning, and overcome practical and perceptual barriers often associated with age, economics, ethnicity, geography, etc.

Creative Aging:  Arts Learning is especially committed to engaging senior populations and is partnering with the National Center for Creative Aging in an effort to cultuivate opportunities to support the vital link between creative expression and healthy aging.  Residencies at senior-oriented organizations are highly encouraged.

Image Release Forms

The Image Release Form is distributed to individuals with direct involvement in the residency. A signed form allows the OAC to unlimited use of their images in OAC-related educational and promotional materials in perpetuity throughout the world.

Hospitality

Sponsors often see receiving a grant for a residency as an honor and an opportunity to promote the arts and highlight their own arts programming. To capitalize on the award, use social events to educate staff and to draw the larger community into your facility, as appropriate. A good "hook" is welcoming activities for the artist, which should be held early in the residency. These events give all participants and citizens a chance to get to know the artist, why he/she is in residence, and the focus of the artist's work and residency. Receptions are also an effective means for staff and community members to meet and discuss the residency with the artist. Some sites prepare a "welcome" basket that includes area maps, a local newspaper, community souvenirs, etc. to help the artist become acclimated to the area. Artists frequently report what a great experience it is to get to know a new community, specifically, and Ohio overall through their travels.

Meals

Lunch for the artist should be provided each day. Sponsors have found many creative ways to provide lunch, such as offering coupons for local restaurant meals, having parents and students prepare lunches, asking community members to prepare gourmet box lunches and, of course, offering the school or organization's regular lunch, if that is an option.

Public Presentation or Sharing

Residencies give artists important opportunities to present their work, enhance the cultural life of a community, and reveal the learning that occurs through an artist residency. Presentations, however, should not drive the residency. Instead, presentations should be used to share the residency experience with a larger audience. The artist and sponsor should plan public presentations together. The more elaborate the activity, the more preparation time will be needed. Presentations have taken many forms including: open classes, lecture-demonstrations, readings, exhibitions, concerts, etc.

Reflection and Assessment

Artful assessment is at the heart of each discipline. Making artistic work "good" requires the creators to thoughtfully reenter the work multiple times to reflect and refine it and, ultimately, find satisfaction with its expression. Do not short-change this process by an over emphasis on the final product. This can undermine the artistic process and learning for the participants.

Refection and assessment can also focus on the residency experience in its entirety. As the residency progresses, participants should consider what changes might be occurring that improves teaching and learning. And, how those changes could be tracked and communicated through such qualitative means as journals, video documentation, focus groups and interviews and through the artistic work.

Schedule

The schedule shows all daily activities planned with the artist and participants throughout the residency, such as core group sessions, introductory assemblies, artist and staff workshops, parent-child workshops and community outreach. It is important to be flexible when creating the residency schedule so that it is workable for everyone involved. To inform that process, during the planning session, a calendar of events for the school or organization should be available for reference. By adjusting regular daily schedules, providing staff release times and appropriate space, the sponsor creates the best learning environment for the residency. A copy of the schedule must be e-mailed to Chiquita Mullins Lee prior to the residency. To get you started, we have sample schedules for you to view.

Site and Community Orientation and Tour

For artists who are not familiar with your site and community, a tour is a good way to introduce them to their new home away from home. The site's floor plan, map of community, and other orientation materials are helpful.

Administrative Tasks

Fiscal Responsibilities

Artist Payment

• 1/3 of the artist fee comes from the sponsor�s cash match (identified in the grant)
• 2/3 of the artist fee comes from the OAC grant award (identified in the grant agreement)

Supplies

The residency grant is for artist fees only. With the artist, establish what supplies are essential and determine how supplies will be secured and stored. The sponsor has a contractual responsibility to secure all supplies that must be purchased or equipment that needs to be rented. A site representative and the artist may want to shop together, if that is convenient. Confirm that all necessary items will be on-site in advance of the start of the residency. All items should meet current health and safety standards. We suggest sponsors keep a list of materials and supplies used as part of the residency in the event they need to answer questions about composition and safety later.

Grant Agreement Packet

Components and Requirements

Prior to the residency you will be sent a packet containing:

Grant Agreement

Credit and Publicity Agreement

With that in mind, we require that every grantee credit the OAC for its support. Your chief administrator must sign an OAC Credit and Publicity Agreement that includes stipulations that the organization must meet all credit and publicity requirements before funds are awarded. You must sign and return it with your Grant Agreement.

The OAC has also developed a Credit and Publicity Kit, including OAC logos, for organizations that receive funding. The kit may be downloaded. Please include the OAC logo on all brochures, flyers, posters or other print and electronic materials produced for this residency. Failure to properly credit the OAC may result in the cancellation of your grant and jeopardize future funding.

Final Report

As you prepare your Final Report, draw insight from any reflective or assessment activities that were held, as well as from information shared during the closure meeting. Your Artist in Residence Committee should also share their ideas on the residency's educational and administrative successes and challenges. Please be candid. The success of the Artist in Residence Program rests upon your candor and insight.

If you do include photos or videos, please be sure to include signed Image Release Forms. You may download this sample form.

Legislators