Socrates Sculpture Park Emerging Artist Fellowship--Apply Now!

SOCRATES SCULPTURE PARK
2008 APPLICATION GUIDELINES:

-SPRING EXHIBITION
-EMERGING ARTIST FELLOWSHIP PROGRAM
-OPEN SPACE

APPLICATION GUIDELINES ARE NOW AVAILABLE ON OUR WEBSITE: WWW.SOCRATESSCULPTUREPARK.ORG

DEADLINE: MONDAY, JANUARY 28, 2008

ABOUT SOCRATES SCULPTURE PARK
Socrates Sculpture Park was an abandoned landfill and illegal dumpsite until 1986 when a coalition of artists and community members, under the leadership of sculptor Mark di Suvero, transformed it into an open studio and exhibition space for artistsand a neighborhood park for local residents. Once a rubble-strewn lot, it now flourishes as an ever-evolving natural landscape.

Located in an industrial neighborhood in Long Island City, Socrates is a waterfront park that overlooks the Manhattan skyline; the site is an affecting and inspiring place for artists to work and a spectacular setting for the presentation of public art. To date, Socrates has hosted close to 700 artists and currently attracts more than 72,000 visitors annually.

Socrates Sculpture Park is the only site in the New York Metropolitan area specifically dedicated to providing artists with opportunities to create and exhibit large-scale sculpture and multi-media installations in an outdoor environment that invites interaction between artists, artworks and the public. Socrates is world renowned as a laboratory where experimentation and innovation expand, reinvent and redefine the tradition of art in public spaces.

APPLICATION PROCEDURE

Artists seeking an opportunity to produce and exhibit their work at Socrates Sculpture Park are strongly encouraged to visit the Park before submitting their application. Applicants must take into account the site's rugged, urban outdoor environment and be aware that sculptures installed in the Park must meet safety requirements and be able to withstand the effects of weather and public use. Visiting the site will give applicants a clearer idea of the factors that effect installations at the Park and an overview of the facilities that the Park has to offer, including the tools and equipment available in the studio and the materials and resources available in Long Island City.

Artists can apply for one or more of the following exhibition categories:
·Spring Exhibition
·Emerging Artist Fellowship Program
·Open Space

If you are applying for more than one exhibition category, you only need to send one application package.

Grants and fellowships are not available to artists who are enrolled in a school, college or university program.

Spring Exhibition

From May through August 2008 Socrates Sculpture Park will present an exhibition based on interpretations and responses to the motivations, goals, realities, politics, and practices of recycling. This will be an expansive exhibition encompassing many perspectives about the concepts and methodologies of adaptive re-use, and will include projects that address the creative transformation of the by-products of production and consumption. Whether celebrating the global trend toward "green" or critically examining the motives and results of a world-wide focus on sustainability, the works in this exhibition will share a common theme of re-purposing wasted or cast off resources - both material and intangible.

For this exhibition, Socrates will provide artists with funding, administrative and technical assistance, a one to three month residency in the outdoor studio, and access to facilities, materials and equipment to create a new work - or will assist with shipping and rigging to place an already existing work - to be presented in the Park. The amount of financial support available to artists is contingent upon the requirements of their project and the funding that Socrates receives to support this exhibition.

Eligibility:

Participation in the spring exhibition is open to all artists, nationally and internationally, but Socrates will not provide any housing or transportation. Artists living outside New York will have to make their own living and travel arrangements.

Emerging Artist Fellowship Program

Fellowship artists are selected through an open application process. Proposals are reviewed by an advisory committee composed of past EAF recipients, prominent curators, artists, writers, and gallerists who work in collaboration with the Park's Executive Director to select the fellowship recipients. Socrates staff members then meet with the artists individually to discuss their proposal in greater detail and assist them with the development, engineering and fabrication of the project.

Emerging Artist Fellowship recipients are granted financial support in the amount of $5,000, a two to six month residency in the outdoor studio, and access to facilities, materials, equipment and technical assistance to create a work for the annual Emerging Artist Fellowship Exhibition (opening September 7, 2008). Fellows are also given the administrative assistance to do additional fundraising for their project, procure in-kind support and pursue future commissions, residencies and placement for their work.

Eligibility:

Fellowships are awarded to artists who are not yet well established, must be New York State residents and are in need of financial assistance.

Open Space

Socrates also produces single artist projects and collaborations that are presented as separate exhibitions throughout the year. Through the Open Space program, Socrates provides artists with funding, administrative and technical assistance, a one to six month residency in the outdoor studio, and access to facilities, materials and equipment to create a new work - or will assist with shipping and rigging to place an already existing work - for exhibition in the Park. Funding for this program varies from year to year and the amount of financial support available to artists is contingent upon the requirements of their project and the grants that Socrates receives to support the Open Space exhibitions.

Eligibility:

This program is open to all artists, nationally and internationally, but Socrates can not provide any housing or transportation. Artists living outside New York will have to make their own living and travel arrangements.

Information about Socrates Sculpture Park and application guidelines are now available on the web:
www.socratessculpturepark.org

SOCRATES SCULPTURE PARK
32-01 VERNON BOULEVARD (AT BROADWAY)
LONG ISLAND CITY, NY 11106
TEL: 718-956-1819 FAX: 718-626-1533
WWW.SOCRATESSCULPTUREPARK.ORG
EMAIL: INFO@SOCRATESSCULPTUREPARK.ORG