Crosstown Arts

Location: Memphis, Tennessee, USA

Deadline: December 15, 2017 for residencies in summer and fall of 2018

Cost: All residencies are offered at no cost to participants, who are responsible to cover their own studio materials and travel expenses to and from Memphis.

Application Fee: $10 to apply; for an economic hardship waiver, please email sparks@crosstownarts.org

Length of Stay: Three-month residency sessions are offered each year in the fall and spring. Shorter twenty-day sessions are available in the summer and can be attended consecutively. Studio-only residencies are available for up to ten months throughout the year.

Demographic/Medium: Crosstown Arts is an emerging residency. Anyone 21 years of age or older is welcome to apply. There are no specific project requirements for accepted residents who are encouraged to experiment and explore new ideas or further develop current work already in process.

Crosstown Arts offers residencies for visual and performing artists working in any creative discipline as well as musicians, filmmakers, and writers in all genres. We have a variety of private workspaces available, some geared to specific disciplines. We offer a variety of large and small spaces, many with large windows, natural light and interesting views as well as some interior spaces. We have specialized space for musicians and writers and opportunities within our contemporary art space for gallery shows, music recording and performances and video screening. We have a performance venue called the Listening Room, over 4000 square feet of gallery and project spaces, a devoted video viewing room and will open a 425 seat black box theater in 2018.

Accommodations: All residencies include a private studio workspace with meals provided six days a week. Live/work residencies also include a private bedroom/bathroom next to a common living area and a shared kitchen for all residents. A family housing option is available, as well as accessible housing for residents with disabilities.

Residents are provided with on-site access to Crosstown Arts’ shared art-making workspace with a range of analog and digital fabrication and production resources, including a woodshop, multiple CNC/laser cutters, a Mac-based computer lab, a large-format digital printing service, a silkscreen/print shop, a small recording studio, and individual editing bays for video/audio production.

Benefits: All residents are asked to participate in a limited number of public engagement activities while in Memphis such as an informal artist talk or public performance/project, open studio event, or exhibition as well as to complete a limited number of community service hours depending on the duration of their residency. There are exhibition and performance opportunities but within the contemporary arts space and in the greater building.

Number of Artists: Up to 15 at a time

Mission: Crosstown Arts is committed to providing resources and creating opportunities and experiences to inspire, support, and connect a diverse range of creative people, projects, and audiences. Our residency program is an integral part of this greater mission. The multidisciplinary artist residency program offers residencies for visiting and Memphis-based visual and performing artists working in any creative discipline as well as musicians, filmmakers, and writers in all genres.

Crosstown Arts was formed in 2010 with two goals: to create a vision for the redevelopment of the historic Sears Crosstown building (now Crosstown Concourse) and to help cultivate Memphis’s creative community. Establishing the Crosstown Residency program has been a integral goal from the organization’s inception and we established a single residency prototype program in 2015. In 2017, as we complete the redevelopment and move our operations into the new contemporary arts center within the building, the residency program is expanding to host up to 15 artists at a time, providing live space, work space, meals and access to our shared art-making workspace. We expect to be a full capacity in the summer of 2018.

The Crosstown Arts Residency Program is located in the Crosstown Concourse building (crosstownconcourse.com) an early twentieth century, former Sears distribution center and retail store. Newly redeveloped and reopened in 2017, it is located two miles from downtown, Memphis and the vibe is decidedly urban. Residency live spaces are located on the 8th & 9th floors, work spaces are on the 1st & 2nd floors, with the Crosstown Arts Contemporary art center which includes galleries, performance spaces, a shared art-making workspace and a cafe. The great 1.1 million square foot building has many convenient amenities and a strong sense of community.