Artist in residence

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

An artist in residence (AIR) program is a program where an artist is invited to reside in a location for a period of time during which their activities as resident artist are supported. Most often these activities have something to do with or are heavily influenced by the location and time period and often support or promote the organization which funded the program. Often the locations are within a different culture or country.

The concept may be traced back to the French Academy's Rome Award recipients of which stayed at the Villa Medicis in Rome and later examples such as Black Mountain College and is implicit in any commission for a site-specific work. Artist in Residence Programs help support artists in difficult financial times by providing support for the creation of artwork that may not be profitable. Sometimes there is a gap between the type of artwork created for diplay in a commercial gallery vs the type of artwork produced for a non-profit or a AIR program.