With the ongoing support of Howard Gilman Foundation, Staten Island Arts continues the Performing Arts Residency Cohort (PARC) for performing artists for a second year (2024-5). This program supports the creative practice of 10 performing artists living and working in Staten Island through a 6-month residency cohort. This residency opportunity does not focus on project creation, and does not come with space, but rather focuses on nurturing each artist’s creative practice through peer mentorship and professional development. 

The PARC program will support individual performing artists across dance, theater, and music at any stage of their careers. Participating artists will be required to attend monthly cohort meetings from September 2024 to February 2025 at the Staten Island Arts offices. The meetings will serve as space to share more about your creative practice and process, including working ideas, challenges, and needs. This model aims to break down the siloed community structure in Staten Island across different forms of expression and bring more support to creative practice without an explicit focus on outcomes or products. 

Awarded individual artists will receive $6,000 in support of their creative practicee. These funds may be used to support project creation, but that is not a requirement in this grant category. Please note this award does not come with space but space rental is an eligible expense. A budget is not required to apply. Awarded artists will also receive 1:1 mentorship from performing artists based in NYC and senior-level Staten Island Arts staff.

All artists will be asked to share with the cohort about their creative practice in an introductory meeting, with senior-level SIA staff facilitating a relationship- and trust-building environment for the group. In the subsequent 5 meetings, artists will create more focused, in-depth, multimedia presentations of their practice to create space for sharing and feedback from the full cohort. All artists will be asked to engage in this peer-mentorship feedback model, with the additional encouragement to attend cohort activities (workshops, presentations, etc) outside of the established meeting structure. Between cohort meetings, throughout the residency period, SIA staff and professional NYC-based performing artists will be available to cohort members for 1:1 professional development to be scheduled throughout the 6-month residency period.

All eligible cohort members may apply to existing SIA project-based regrants opportunities separate from the cohort process. No creative space, materials, or other line items will be offered by SIA as part of the residency program, though artists will be able to put their stipend towards the area of their own choosing in support of their creative process. At the conclusion of the residency, SIA leadership will ask to meet with each cohort participant 1:1 to gather feedback from the artist.

This grant is funded with generous support from the Howard Gilman Foundation.