The Andrew Freedman Home (AFH) Artist In Residence Program (AIR) primarily supports visual artists of color, while cultivating their direct engagement with the community through public arts programming. Our ultimate goal is to enrich the artistic practices and livelihoods of serious, hard-working artists of color, artists who are underrepresented and under- supported in the art world, while engaging them with the South Bronx community in meaningful ways that create lasting bonds.
AIR awards 21 individual artists or artistic collaborations annually.
AIR serves the diverse community of residents in the South Bronx that would benefit from meaningful exposure to the arts. Our goal is to bring in a cadre of innovative working artists who can enrich our youth arts programs and provide our community with new cultural experiences.
The primary goals of this AIR:
- To enrich the lives, livelihood, and creative aspirations of artists who need studio space and other support in order to grow and expand their artistic practice.
- To enable, through professional development and workshops, the evolution of resident artists’ careers and their network of support and resources.
- To invite at least one international artist into the residency each year in order to bring a broader perspective to the other resident artists and to expose the international artist to New York’s rich art and culture environment.
- To engage working artists with the South Bronx community through the arts, and to provide artists with meaningful experiences working within an underserved community of children, youth, adults, and seniors.
Benefits
- AIR is primarily housed on the second floor of the AFH’s 110,000 sq. ft. facility. Studios are approximately 420-450 sq. ft. each. Each studio has a large window, three closets, and other ample storage space. By providing adjacent studios on a single floor, the program also provides much-needed opportunities for artists to collaborate, network, and share materials, advice, and exhibition opportunities.
- The second floor of The AFH is a hub of creative activity and Residents have access to a screen-printing studio, construction tools, space for building stretchers and frames, and metalworking equipment.
- Acess to small businesses housed in our Art Business Incubator that provide services such as high resolution photography, scanning and fine art printing, high-resolution digital design and projection, and exhibition design. Residents also have access to audio visual equipment, including 10 video projectors and other presentation equipment, high-resolution digital Meural monitors, a podcast station and a recording studio.
- Residents have an exhibition opportunity, frequently in the form of a solo exhibition in one of our on-site galleries. AFH has provided stipends for exhibiting artists up to $25K, depending on the size and scope of the project.
- Additionally there are career development opportunities and services offered to residents include formal and informal critiques of works-in-progress, curatorial guidance, assistance with artist statements and CVs, advice on artist website design, presentation advice, advice regarding art sales, art handling expertise, and access to a number of art consumer/collector networks.
COST
The AFH Artist Residency Program is a project-based residency dedicated to creating unique and lasting projects that involve direct connection with the local community. In exchange for NO COST studio space at AFH, each participant will be required to volunteer at approximately 4 to 5 hours a week towards the creation, planning, and implementation of a community-based project. This will require each artist to be hands-on with the weekly work of activism, even though it may not directly involve the arts. This might include workshops, discussions led by guest speakers and participation in ongoing youth arts programs.
