ABOUT THE COUNTERPULSE ARTIST RESIDENCY & COMMISSIONING PROGRAM

The CounterPulse Artist Residency & Commissioning Program offers emerging local performing artists space, administrative and technical support to create new work, while supporting experimentation and risk-taking by lifting many of the responsibilities associated with self-production. This is a more supportive program than our co-production presentation program.

We offer four residency tracks:

THE SUPPORT YOU GET

  • Studio Space: Artists receive a total of 100 hours of studio space.

  • Work-in-Progress Showings: Artists participate in three work-in-progress showings where they receive and offer feedback on each other’s work using the Critical Response Process developed by Liz Lerman. The second and third showings are open to the public.

  • Marketing & Communication: Artists will have the opportunity to share their developmental process in a flourishing interactive online community through a dedicated page on the CounterPulse website. Artists will create regular blog entries, participate in online interviews, and have their Work-in-Progress showings posted online.

  • Performances: The work developed during the residency is presented during two weekends of shared performances. We cover production costs and artists receive payment for their work. These performances frequently receive press coverage.

  • Long-Term Support: CounterPulse supports artists and their work long after the residency period has ended. We work to create connections with other presenters that will enable the work to tour, and we frequently present or co-present full-length works developed by former Artists in Residence.

  • Additional Opportunities: Artists may have the opportunity to work with paid mentors, and may also have the opportunity to teach master classes as part of ARC.

WHO WE CHOSE

Read our curatorial guidelines. We are open to many different proposals from a wide variety of artists, and there are no hard and fast rules about who we will select. However, we tend to choose applicants who:

  • Blend more than one performance genre or discipline. Collaboration with other artists is strongly encouraged.
  • Are community-based and socially aware. We are interested in work that addresses current social, political or environmental issues.
  • Have a distinct and compelling vision for how they would like to take advantage of CounterPulses’s physical space and organizational resources.
  • We particularly encourage queer artists, artists of color, and artists with disabilities to apply.

This program is made possible by support from the Ken Hempel Fund for the Arts,Kenneth Rainin Foundation, the Zellerbach Family Foundation, and the National Endowment for the Arts

Photo from Zoë Klein’s 2016 artist residency performance, Born, Never Asked. Photo by Robbie Sweeny