ARC + ATHENA 2027 Artist Residency

About this call

The ARC + ATHENA Artist Residency, supported by ATHENA and administered by ARC Gallery & Educational Foundation in Chicago, selects three artists each year from an international pool for a ten-month remote residency from February to November 2027. Residents work from their own studios as a cohort, with weekly online cohort meetings, monthly online meetings with ARC Member Residency Mentors, professional development sessions and opportunities to meet curators and arts professionals. The residency culminates in three concurrent solo exhibitions at ARC Gallery in Chicago in November 2027, installed by ARC members (site-specific installations excepted), with no commission taken on sales. Artists are chosen collectively by ARC's artist members on artistic merit, originality, the proposed investigation and capacity for collaboration.

Who can apply

• Open to applicants of any nationality
• Medium: Painting / Drawing / Sculpture / Photography / Installation / Mixed Media / Video / Printmaking / Textile / Ceramics / New Media
• Entry fee: $40
• Open to individual artists working in any medium, at any education level, including students and artists without formal art education; curatorial, collaborative or collective projects are not accepted. Application fee $40; fee waivers are available to any artist who needs one (email info@arcgallery.org before submitting). Submit 10 JPG images (video clips of 2 minutes maximum in MP4/MOV with a still; no collages or compilations of several works), an artist statement of no more than 125 words, a CV of no more than 2 pages showing at least 4 years of serious pursuit of a career in art, answers to the application questions, and two professional references. Residents must commit to weekly Zoom cohort meetings and monthly mentor meetings with a dependable computer and internet, include a community engagement demonstration or workshop, complete all work one month before the exhibition, and be available in November 2027 for installation and deinstallation, opening and closing receptions and additional programming, traveling to Chicago for installation and the opening; relocation is not required, travel costs are not currently covered, and shipping to and from the gallery is at the artist's expense and prepaid, return included (the $300 allowance may be used); work not picked up becomes ARC's property 30 days after the show. Work must stay up for the whole exhibition. Not possible in the gallery: painting the walls, live animals or insects, harmful materials, excessively loud sound, major alterations to the space. ARC takes no liability for damage, so artists may want their own insurance; sales paid through Square have Square's small fee deducted.