This post has been updated to reflect the extended application deadline of Sept. 21.
Kala Art Institute is now accepting applications for a brand-new expansion on its Print Public residency program: an artist residency with the city of Berkeley itself. Two local artists or artist teams will work as “cultural strategists” (more on that later) to pilot the program.
San Francisco began a similar effort in 2015; artists have since undertaken residencies in the planning department and within City Hall. New York’s Public Artists in Residence program places artists in departments like the Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs, the Department of Records and Information Services, and the Commission on Human Rights, yielding all sorts of output: physical artworks, events, online exhibitions and poster series.
New York’s program is inspired by the visionary work of Mierle Laderman Ukeles, who began her own self-appointed (and unsalaried) residency with the New York City Department of Sanitation in 1977—and continues it to this day.
Kala and Berkeley’s program will provide the residency recipients with $7,500 each and a 14-month residency at Kala, with 24-hour access to the printmaking studio and digital lab. The specific city department artists will embed within is not yet decided, but the program views the artist’s role as using “creative thinking and culture as a way to address community issues or de-tangle community knots.”
Also specified: The artists need not make objects.
Four finalists will be chosen based on the initial applications, which are due by Sept. 21. Details here.
