Performing Artist-In-Residence Program

Residency Description

The Museum of Chinese in America’s Performing-Artist-in-Residence (PAIR) Program will invite a cohort of three performing artists to individually develop, create and present one theme-based new project, by utilizing the resources and collections at MOCA. Throughout the residency, artists will be invited to participate in artist-led workshops and give a work-in-progress presentation to the public.

Dates: October 12, 2026–March 12, 2027

Performing-Artist-In-Residence Program Objectives

• Provide space and support for performing artists to generate a new work
• Create space for organic artistic sharing and collaboration
• Incubate discourse and community engagement around new ideas and artistic expression
• Encourage artists to take creative risks, while nurturing a safe space for constructive feedback
• Celebrate diversity in artistic expression

Theme

Implied Selves 身之所示

How does one come to understand themself and how do they choose to express who they are?

The ways one presents themself are shaped by family, culture, community, history, and the social conditions of their time. Through clothing, gesture, language, hairstyle, performance, and ritual, they communicate aspects of their identities to the world. Yet these forms of expression are never static. Individuals inherit expectations, question them, adapt them, and sometimes reject them altogether.

Throughout history, Asian and Asian American communities have continuously negotiated the boundaries of identity and belonging through acts of self-presentation. Early Chinese immigrants cut their queues as a visible marker of political and cultural transformation. Anna May Wong challenged the racialized and exoticized expectations imposed upon Asian women. Physician Margaret Chung and filmmaker Esther Eng adopted masculine styles of dress that complicated prevailing notions of gender and sexuality. Tseng Kwong Chi’s wore the Zhongshan suit to heighten his visibility while simultaneously exposing and satirizing the ways Asian bodies were exoticized and perceived as foreign. Across generations, individuals have used appearance, gesture, and performance to assimilate, resist, survive, and imagine new possibilities for themselves. These histories invite the questions:

• What visible and invisible elements shape one’s sense of self?
• How have previous generations embraced, challenged, or transformed the identities imposed upon them?
• How do race, gender, sexuality, class, migration, and culture intersect in the ways individuals express themselves?
  

This theme invites artists to investigate the broad spectrum of gender expression and self-presentation across time. How have ideas of masculinity, femininity, and gender nonconformity evolved within Asian American communities? What can people learn from historical examples of conformity, resistance, and transformation? And what new possibilities for selfhood might emerge in the future?

MOCA’s Performing Artist-in-Residence (PAIR) program encourages artists to engage deeply with the museum’s archives and collections as living materials. Through research and creative inquiry, MOCA asks: How do these lived experiences continue to shape individuals today? And how might they guide the futures they are moving toward?

Award

• Each selected artist will receive $3,000 honorarium
• Access to available rehearsal spaces at MOCA
• Access to MOCA’s archive and collection
• Consultation with MOCA’s staff
• Additional financial support to the work-in-progress presentations

Requirements

Eligibility

• Open to all Performing Artists
• Disciplines include but not limited to dance, music, theatre, performance art, spoken words and film
• Artists self-identify as Asian/Chinese American or Asian/Chinese immigrant with a goal of continuing their career in the United States
• Artists must be a resident in New York City metropolitan area
• Artists must be 25 or over and cannot enroll in any degree program of any kind
• Both traditional and contemporary performing arts are welcome
• Artists must be available for all the required dates to apply (see program requirements)

Program Requirements

• Selected artists are required to create a new project at MOCA during the agreed upon residency timeframe. The new project does not have to be fully developed at the end of the residency.
• Selected artists are required to participate in the workshops and to lead a workshop session on the subject of their choice. This workshop can either be for the cohort or open to the public.
• Workshops will take place during the week of November 16th, 2026. All resident artists are required to attend.
• Selected artists are required to meet at least once per month for a check-in session with the director of performance, storytelling & community during residency.
• Selected artists are required to present their work-in-progress showing internally for the cohort and MOCA staff during the week of February 15th, 2027, as part of a peer review process. A public presentation of the project will take place at the conclusion of the residency during the week of March 8th, 2027. A talkback session will be scheduled following the presentation.

Selection Criteria

• The proposed project must be original, new, and previously unpresented in any form, including readings, workshops, or presentations to peers or the public.
• The proposed project must engage with MOCA’s archive, either as a source of inspiration or through the direct use of archival materials.
• The proposed project must be feasible and achievable within the residency period. Please note that residency does not require the completion of the final project by the end of the residency term.
• The proposed project should reflect the artist’s distinct voice and creative perspective.
• The proposed project should show thoughtful engagement with process, experimentation, and artistic inquiry.
• The proposed project should demonstrate consideration of its intended audience.
• The artist should demonstrate openness to dialogue, peer feedback, and participation within the residency cohort.

Application Instructions

Reqiured materials

• Artist Statement (required, 250 words max.): A short concise statement giving an overview of your artistic practice. This should be a brief introduction to ideas, themes and methods in your practice.
• Cultural Statement (required, 250 words max.): A short concise statement giving an overview of the cultural impact in your practice. Describe what cultural or historical context that inspires you as a performing artist, and how your body of work responds to it.
• Project Statement (required, 400 words max.): A concise statement giving a clear concept for the project you are hoping to generate based on the theme, and how MOCA’s collection and resources will be helpful for the project. Describe how you will utilize your time during residency.
• Workshop Leader Proposal (required)
• CV/Resume
• Work Sample: up to 5 images / up to 3 songs (the length of each song cannot exceed 3 minutes) / up to 10 minutes of show recording (can’t submit show trailers) / up to 10 pages of writing sample

Use this form to submit your application: https://forms.gle/5pYsX85P9SwHNzky6