Santa Fe Art Institute
Founded in 1985 by artists for artists, The Santa Fe Art Institute (SFAI) is an independent arts organization forging critical inquiry and cultural exchange among artists, creative practitioners, and the broader community. They support and amplify dynamic artistic practices that engage complex social issues, inspire individual transformation, and inform collective action.
SFAI is committed to fostering positive social change through creativity by providing residencies and fellowships to socially engaged, marginalizied, and/or underrepresented artists and creative practitioners from across the globe. SFAI has hosted over 1200 residents, including over 400 international and 200 local residents in its 35 years of history. SFAI keeps offering thematic residencies and fellowships with various context each year.
The HARPO Foundation Emerging Artist Fellowship Residency at the Santa Fe Art Institute is a prestigious award established in 2013 to provide an emerging visual artist with strong artistic ability and an evolving practice, the space and time to explore ideas and start new projects in a residency context at a pivotal moment in their professional development. This award is open to self-defined under-recognized visual artists who are over the age of 25 and not enrolled in a degree program at the time of the application deadline, October 1, 2020. The application requires a project proposal, 10 work samples, artist biography, CV, and 2 recommendations from professional references.
The annual Artist Fellow receives a one-month residency at the Santa Fe Art Institute, which includes a private room and bath, a semi-private studio space, access to common facilities and basic tools, and a $500 travel stipend. All other expenses, materials, and equipment are the responsibility of the fellow. In addition to the $10 application fee, SFAI requires a refundable $150 security deposit to be paid upon acceptance.
The only required outcome is for the HARPO Emerging Artist Fellow is to submit 5 images of work made during the residency and a statement of impact. The Artist Fellow is not required to engage in SFAI's 2020-2021 residency theme, "Labor," but may do so at their discretion.
SFAI skylit studios are bathed with natural light and soaring ceilings. Each studio measures roughly 10'x12' feet and is equipped with a work table, ergonomic chair, task lamp, and overhead lights. The adjacent common work areas have several 4'x8' work tables on casters, a slop sink and, and basic hand tools. SFAI does not have any specialized facilities.
SFAI's residency program is housed in an all-inclusive, 17,000 square foot building designed by renowned Mexican architect Ricardo Legorreta. SFAI offers to each resident a furnished private room with full bath and linens, a 10'x12' semi-private studio; 24-7 access to the building and use of common workspaces, outdoor work yard, and basic tools; communal kitchen, dining room, lounge, and free laundry facilities; building-wide wireless internet, and access to interior courtyard, contemporary art library, and bicycles.
SFAI's facilities include gallery/exhibition spaces, sky lit studios, a growing contemporary art library, courtyards, laundry facilities, communal kitchen, and dining and living room areas.
SFAI is located in the urban center of Santa Fe, New Mexico on the Midtown Campus, which is a mixed-use neighborhood, comprised of light industrial, commercial, and residential spaces. SFAI is about 3 miles south of the historic downtown plaza, 1 mile east of the Santa Fe River, and 5 miles west of the Santa Fe National Forest and foothills of the beautiful Sangre de Cristo Mountains. While Albuquerque, roughly an hour to the south, is a larger metropolitan area that is home base of the University of New Mexico, Santa Fe is the state capitol and the seat of government in New Mexico.