Performance AIRspace Residency

Abrons Arts Center’s Visual Artist AIRspace Residency annually supports 4 New York City-based visual artists. Visual Artist AIRspace Residents receive an artist fee and a semi-private studio for nine months at Abrons Arts Center. Throughout the residency cycle, studio visits are arranged with critics, curators, artists and other arts professionals to foster critical and professional development. The residency period will culminate in a group exhibition at Artists Alliance Inc (AAI)/Cuchifritos Gallery + Project Space.

Spring 2024 Curatorial Focus

The word “sanctuary” comes from the Late Latin word “sanctuarium,” which means a sacred place or a shrine. A sanctuary evokes ideas of spirituality and protection yet it also brings forth the idea of a hideaway that suggests an imminent threat.

Abrons’ curatorial focus for our Spring 2024 season is sanctuary. The 2023–2024 Curatorial AIRspace Resident (to be determined in Spring 2023) will curate the Visual Artist AIRspace Exhibition according to this subject.

About Organizational Partners:

Abrons Arts Center is a program of Henry Street Settlement, a social services agency with nearly 130 years of experience providing front line support to New Yorkers. Since the founding of our Neighborhood Playhouse in 1915, Abrons has been a space for artists of all ages and stages to experiment with and share new ideas.

Artists Alliance Inc. is an artist-founded and artist-centered non-profit that provides a free and accessible platform to produce, experience, and understand contemporary art in the Lower East Side–a longstanding epicenter for creative experimentation and cultural diversity. AAI fosters forward-thinking and experimental practices of emerging and underrepresented artists and curators with funded residencies and paid exhibition opportunities, and advocates for art-making that challenges how we experience ourselves and our communities.

Program Components

$3,000 unrestricted stipend for participation in the program
Semi-private studio (6′ x 12′ with 12′ ceilings) for nine months at Abrons, located on the Lower East Side of Manhattan
30 hours of fully subsidized studio rental time in Abrons’ dance studios and theaters. Please visit our website to learn more about our studio and theaters.
Studio visits with critics, curators, artists, and other arts professionals throughout the residency cycle
2 cohort dinners with Abrons AIRspace residents
A group exhibition at Cuchifritos Gallery + Project Space presented during our Spring 2024 season, curated by Abrons’ Curatorial AIRspace Resident

Requirements

• Applicants must be based in New York City and living within the 5 boroughs at the time of application submission and during the residency period.
• Applicants and all associated collaborators who will be onsite at Abrons during the residency and production period must abide by our COVID-19 Safety Policies.
• Collaborative groups are invited to apply and must submit 1 application. Collaboratives that submit more than 1 application for the same project will be disqualified from the review process.
• Visual artists who are enrolled in degree-granting programs or will be students during the residency period are not eligible to apply.
• As the arts pillar of the historic Henry Street Settlement, Abrons Arts Center is committed to the belief that artistic practice is key to a socio-politically engaged and healthy society. Applicants should closely review the Abrons Arts Center’s Mission Statement and Declaration of Inclusion before applying for the residency.
• Availability to attend the required residency programs, listed below in the “Important Dates” section.
• Due to the high volume of applications received, we are unable to provide feedback to applicants at this time.

Application Instructions