HERE Artist Residency Program (HARP)

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HARP nurtures the development of mid-career hybrid artists and their audiences, through cross-disciplinary exchange, peer-driven workshops, and panel discussions. HARP was conceived in 1999 to address an urgent need in the artistic community: a void of artistic and administrative support for mid-career artists. This lack of support was causing talented artists, in the most fertile periods of their careers, to leave the field. HARP was initiated to provide a much-needed forum to assist artists who are developing unique artistic voices and experimenting with new approaches to expanding the parameters of performance work.

As the works being developed are complex hybrid projects, each Residency will last up to 3 years, renewed annually. At the end of each residency year, the artist and HERE mutually decide whether to continue the residency. It is unlikely that any project accepted in 2016 will go to production before the 2018-19 season.

HARP RESIDENCY EXPECTATIONS:

Artists or collaborative teams chosen for HARP are expected to participate in the program by developing the work as outlined in their application and by actively participating in the member and public activities associated with the program. Since HARP is designed to respond to the ideas and needs of its members, the members themselves must be proactive in bringing those ideas and needs to HARP and to each other. We expect our members to be both good citizens of the HERE community as well as ambassadors to the public.

During the residency, HARP Artists participate in monthly artistic meetings, bi-monthly work groups focused on both artistic and business topics, regular individual meetings on budgeting, production, and fundraising issues, and formal and informal work-in-progress showings.

At the monthly meetings, 2-4 artists show work, give feedback to other artist projects, engage in and contribute to artistic skill sharing. At the bi-monthly work groups, artists share career skills and learn from others, as well as from HERE staff and outside experts on topics ranging from grant writing to touring to budgeting to work samples.

Artists are also encouraged to show work in each stage of development. A number of work-in-progress showings, both public and private, allow members of HARP to contribute to the growth of their peers. Through this component, we create a balance of practical and theoretical work that exposes the whole group to a comprehensive experience. Each season, we present 8-10 public showings of HARP works-in-progress and provide HARP artists with a more formal opportunity to do their work in CULTUREMART, our annual winter festival of workshop productions.



Each year, HARP artists participate in an intensive one-week retreat at an artist colony where they are able to dedicate all of their energy to the creative process without the distractions of daily life. In addition, when possible, we offer one- and two-week project-specific intensive retreats for second- and third-year HARP artists.



Three to five projects that are in development are selected for production each year. Each selected artist participates in all development activities, and collaborates with HERE to raise funds and develop appropriate resources and support for their production. Projects are produced at the scale appropriate to the work – there is no set formula for producing in the season – chamber or main stage, four performances or 20, one performer or 25. It is our expectation that the works being developed in the program are being scaled to fit and will be produced in one of our spaces. Most works developed through HARP are fully produced by HERE.



The artists themselves shall retain ownership of all work initiated, developed, or workshopped during their residency. For the works that go to full production, HERE and the artists will negotiate a separate ownership and rights agreement. However, in all public materials about the artist or team the following must appear: "(Name of Artist or Team) was/is a member of HERE’s Artist Residency Program (HARP), 20 __ - 20__, NYC", and in all public materials relating to the work’s development, the following line shall appear: “Development of (Name of Work) was made possible through the HERE’s Artist Residency Program (HARP), 20_ - 20_, NYC." For works that go to full production the following line shall appear: “(Name of Work) was commissioned, developed, and produced through the HERE Artist Residency Program (HARP), 20_ - 20_, NYC.” . .

SELECTION CRITERIA:

HARP is designed to assist mid-career individual artists or collaborative teams (writers, performers, composers, directors, designers, dramaturgs, puppeteers, dancers, singers) working in a hybrid form in live performance. Hybrid form refers to the full integration (not just as backdrop) of two or more genres (theatre, dance, music, puppetry, media, and visual art) in the work.

We define a mid-career artist as one who has:

(1) completed their education within the last 8-15 years

(2) had at least a few significant residency or commissioning opportunities,

(3) created a body of work over at least 5 years and at least one full evening-length work, and

(4) earns some income from their art practice.

Artists must also meet the following criteria:

*The artist or team are residents of the NY metro area.

*The artist or team find themselves at a point in their career where they are developing a distinctive form/style/content of work, or are interested in stretching the previously accepted boundaries of their work by experimentation with form/style/content.

*The artist or team is interested in actively participating both in the community of HERE and in a peer-based program aimed at exchanging resources, ideas, critique, and support.

*The artist or team are proposing a project that is very early in its development process, and any underlying rights needed to work with pre-existing material for the project have already been secured.

Additionally, HERE believes that diversity is extremely important within the makeup of our residency program. HARP actively seeks this diversity both from the work itself in terms of genre and content, and in the background of the artists.

The selection panel includes HERE leadership, artists, and performing arts curators from NYC.



TIMELINE

Application Due Date: February 3, 2016 12 noon

Final Decisions Announced: March 16, 2016

Residencies Begin: April 1, 2016

Residences extend annually from April 1 to March 31, depending upon whether project is ready for production.