| The International Studio & Curatorial Program (ISCP) is located in East Williamsburg, Brooklyn. | ||||||
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Visual artists are sponsored for a period of three to twelve months by governments, corporations, foundations, galleries or private patrons. Artists are provided with 24-hour access private studios, which range from 300 to 400 square feet. ISCP does not provide living accommodations, but a number of national sponsors who send participants to ISCP each year provide a furnished apartment in Manhattan as part of their award. Nearly all sponsors provide the artist with a stipend for living expenses, travel, and materials. During a one-year residency, for example, each artist can take advantage of studio visits by at least 22 guest critics, participation in two Open Studios exhibitions and field trips to art centers in New York City and the northeastern United States. The Guest Critic Series is the hallmark of ISCP programming and an effective vehicle for introducing the artists' work to New York museums, galleries and alternate spaces. ISCP seeks to expose artists to critical feedback from the broad spectrum of opinion that New York City's diverse professional milieu offers: twice-monthly studio visits range anywhere from meetings with the director of a Williamsburg artist-run space to a blue-chip Chelsea dealer or international Biennial curator. Three-day Open Studios exhibitions are hosted semi-annually, in May and November, each event attracting approximately 2,000 visitors. In addition, participating artists are given the opportunity to meet with many of the international visitors to the program, including curators, gallery owners, journalists, writers, artists and personnel from foundations, residency programs and government cultural agencies from over 50 countries. The program offers support and direction for the artists’ acclimatization to New York. Participants are invited to various professional and social events throughout their residency. Daily dialogue among artists and curators occurs by default, instantly creating a sense of community.
The increasingly significant role of the curator in international art led to the creation of a curatorial adjunct in 1999. ISP thus acquired a "C," becoming the International Studio & Curatorial Program (ISCP). Curators are sponsored for residencies at ISCP for periods of two months or more. Participating curators are provided with private, furnished office space and Internet access. Curators can take advantage of the same opportunities offered to artists and meet with the scheduled guest critics and other art professionals who visit the program. If their tenure is concurrent with an Open Studios exhibition, they are expected to present their work and/or documentation of their projects. Given advance notice, the program will contact academic institutions and art organizations to arrange off-site speaking engagements as well as studio visits and introductions. Depending on the individual goals of the curators, ISCP’s vast network of contacts can be an ideal basis for becoming familiar with US curatorial practice, pursuing academic research, writing magazine assignments, surveying the city’s vast range of commercial and not-for-profit exhibition spaces, visiting libraries, museums, galleries, institutions of higher education and learning about the unique role of private sector funding of the arts and philanthropy in the U.S.The brevity of a curator’s tenure, two to three months, if advantageously used, can be the cornerstone for future projects, whether they be exhibitions, publishing assignments, lectures or teaching. ISCP provides a dynamic creative ambience by default. Curators find themselves in a community of emerging international artists with whom they are free to collaborate. |
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