January 11, 2012

SPACES Evolves Its Programs to Better Suit Artists

Press Release PDF: http://www.spacesgallery.org/files/pr/2012/120111-spaces-programs-evolve-pr.pdf

Cleveland, OH, January 11, 2011-With the aim of deepening the experiences international, national and local artists have as artists-in-residence at SPACES, the 33-year-old art organization will be folding its local residency program (SPACELab) into the SPACES World Artist Program (SWAP). This combined residency program debuts in January 2012-SWAP's 10th anniversary year, a time for celebration of the tremendous cultural exchange opportunities SWAP has created, and a time for the program to evolve to better meet the needs of artists.

In its new form, SWAP will sponsor approximately 6 residencies per year-2-3 artists from Northern Ohio and 3-4 international and national artists. The residencies will range from 2 weeks to 2 months, to be more responsive to the different lengths of time needed to create works, and the scheduling constraints many artists face when taking on a residency. SPACES will continue to encourage the production of experimental works, and will use the option of shorter residencies to invite in artists who do more performance-based work.

SPACES will work to overlap local and international artist residencies, so that artists can experience their residencies in each other's company, learn from each other's practice, and develop rich relationships with people from across the globe. Opportunities for networking, collaborative work, and shared events will be built into scheduling of SWAP residencies whenever possible.

"Thanks in large part to our dedicated funders, including the National Endowment for the Arts and the Ohio Arts Council, this program is able to evolve to better serve artists who are exploring and experimenting while fostering more exchange between our local artists and artists of the world," says Christopher Lynn, executive director of SPACES.

SPACES now houses three distinct programs, R&D (Research and Development) for artists, curators and cultural producers to develop their research into meaningful public projects; The Vault, a digital media space that allows visitors to select from dozens of video and audio works; and SWAP. This new iteration of the SPACES World Artists Program has a three-year charter designed to keep SPACES flexible and responsive to contemporary artistic practice.

For more information on the next two SWAP artists-in-residence, please see their press releases:

Christi Birchfield: http://www.spacesgallery.org/news/clevelands-christi-birchfield-has-a-chat-with-the-ephemeral
Margaret Cogswell: http://www.spacesgallery.org/news/guggenheim-fellow-margaret-cogswell-revisits-the-cuyahoga