Deadline: September 30, 2016
The Rockefeller Foundation’s Bellagio Residency Program awards highly accomplished academics, practitioners and artists four weeks of residence at the Bellagio Center on Lake Como, Italy. They spend most of their time at Bellagio working on their own projects but also have an unparalleled opportunity to interact with fellow residents from a stimulating array of disciplines and geographies.
The Bellagio residency program is intended to offer residents a serene setting conducive to focused, goal-oriented work as well as ample opportunities to interact with each other. The combination of uninterrupted, individual time during the day and evenings spent with innovative leaders, policy makers, scientists, writers, and artists from a wide array of fields advances fellows’ current projects and stimulates creative approaches to future work.
Benefits
- Residents are given a private room with a bath and study/studio. Internet access is available in all bedrooms and most studies. A small library includes basic reference books and online research tools;
- Spouses/partners may accompany the resident but accommodations are not available for other individuals, including children or pets. Room and board are provided to all residents at no cost.
- Studio space is available but certain types of artistic production are not suitable for Bellagio—e.g. the production of large-scale work, and work that requires specialised equipment that cannot be easily brought to the Center. Bellagio is often, though there are exceptions, best suited for early or near final stages of work—either when research and conceptualization are shaping early work or when the final touches or post-production documentation is taking place;
- Residents are invited to take meals together, with dinner being the main meal. Meal times are the focal point of interaction with other residents;
- Travel grants and modest stipends to offset incidental travel costs are available on a needs basis.
Eligibility
- Applicants may apply for a residency three times (inclusive of Academic Writing, Arts & Literary Arts, and Practitioner Residencies), and successful candidates have a lifetime limit of two residencies;
- Former residents applying for a second residency must wait at least five years since their first residency before submitting a new application, and must demonstrate significant professional achievement and/or project advancement since their first residency;
- Open to composers, fiction and non-fiction writers, playwrights, poets, video/filmmakers, and visual artists who share in the Foundation’s mission of promoting the well-being of humankind and whose work is inspired by or relates to global or social issues;
- All selected applicants must have English language proficiency;
- Must have a valid passport;
- Each application is considered on its own merits; we do not give special consideration to couples. If a husband and wife, or life partners, each apply for a residency, and if only one individual is found to meet our standards, only that individual is awarded a residency.
Application Process
Required Application Materials
- The Arts and Literary Arts Application Form;
- A one-page Letter of Recommendation from the Outreach and Selection Partner;
- Work Sample: The requirements for the work sample vary by artist field. Specific work sample requirements are listed in the appendix for Composers, Interdisciplinary Artists, Literary Artists – including by not limited to Fiction, Non-Fiction, Playwright, Poet,Video/Filmmaker, and Visual Artist;
- Abbreviated CV: Artists submit a CV with career highlights, including publications and awards (up to 4 pages);
- Published Reviews (optional but highly recommended): Artists may submit up to three published reviews of their work. They may combine them into one Word or PDF document. They should be full reviews with proper citation and in English;
- Additional Project Information (optional): Artists may include a chapter, section, draft or brief outline of a project, book, or publication that they propose to work on at the Bellagio Center.
Applications can be made through the following avenues:
- Online Applications Portal: Apply via our Online Application Portal
- E-mail Application: Download the Bellagio Center application form here and send your application directly to [email protected]. Please ensure that all attachments are less than 5MB. Be sure to add the artistic discipline you are applying under i.e. visual arts/performing arts; music, etc followed by a dash and your full name in the email subject field. If your attachments are larger than 5MB, you can upload them using Google Drive and share a link to the folder with the organizers. You may also use Dropbox or WeTransfer. These are all free services.
- Submitting via Post: If you cannot use any of the above methods, you may download the ‘for post’ version of the application form here. Fill it in and post it:
The Project Manager: Artist in Residency Programme
C/O The Africa Centre, 5th Floor
The Exchange Building
28 St. George’s Mall
Cape Town, 8000, South Africa
For more information, visit Rockefeller Foundation’s Bellagio Residency Program.
