The Project

Six artist residency programs, organized by the Alliance of Artists Communities and supported by The James Irvine Foundation, set out to describe a changing California through the lens of its artists, and to answer the questions: What does California look like to its artists? How can the organizations that support today’s artists nurture and sustain diverse visions?

Visions from the New California celebrates, supports and promotes the work of outstanding California visual artists from diverse communities — artists whose work may as yet be unfamiliar but whose compelling visions will define California in its next decades. The project also aims to introduce the artists and their communities to the opportunities for support available through artist residency programs.

Six highly talented, yet under-recognized visual artists residing in California are selected each year to receive the Visions from the New California Award — a one-month residency, a $4,000 fellowships, and inclusion in a nationally-distributed publication featuring the year's awardees.

Launched as a pilot program in 2003, Visions from the New California has expanded into a multi-year project and has served as a model for other consortia across the country, including Midwestern Voices and Visions, a partnership between the Alliance of Artists Communities and The Joyce Foundation.

The Process

Selecting six artists a year from across the state of California has been no small challenge. In an effort to identify a broad range of under-recognized artists doing outstanding work, we have annually invited hundreds of artists and arts professionals to nominate qualified California visual artists whom we then invite to apply for fellowships. “We are searching for artists who are committed to their careers but who are working outside the art establishment or under the art network ‘radar screen,’ ” we tell the nominators. “We wish to find artists who may not be familiar with the opportunities and benefits of artist residency programs, but who would benefit greatly from the experience.” In 2008, we expanded the process to include an open application, in addition to inviting nominated artists to apply.

Each year's selection panel is comprised of distinguished artists and arts professionals with strong ties to diverse communities in the state. Together the panelists identify a group of semi-finalists who exhibited the highest quality of work and who represent a diversity of artistic methods, geographic regions within the state, ethnic backgrounds, ages and experiences. From this short list, six artists are selected by the participating residency programs to be awarded The James Irvine Visions from the New California award and fellowship: a one-month residency at one of the six participating programs and a $4,000 stipend to be used at the artist’s discretion – no strings attached.

At the completion of each award year, the Alliance of Artists Communities has published a book featuring the artists, sites, and stories of Visions from the New California.
[2005 publication] [2007 publication] [2008 publication]

Thanks to the renewed support of The James Irvine Foundation, the Alliance of Artists Communities will continue Visions from the New California through 2012.

Applying for Visions from the New California

http://www.artistcommunities.org/CAvisions/apply.htmlance of Artists Communities.

Application Deadline: May 20, 2010

Eligibility: Visions from the New California accepts applications from artists in all visual media who:

1. Are permanent residents of California
2. Are not currently students and/or will not be students in 2011
3. Have not participated in an artist residency previously

The awards promote artists working in any visual medium, who display artistic excellence, are committed to an artistic career, and are under-served, under-recognized, or under-represented in the mainstream (artists who have not had extensive solo exhibitions at galleries or museums or have not received any major grants or fellowships for individual artists.)

The awards also recognize artists who represent the racial/ethnic demographic mix of California, who live throughout the state (particularly beyond the San Francisco and Los Angeles metropolitan areas), and who work in a range of visual art media.

Review Process: Applications and work samples will be viewed by a prestigious panel of artists and art professionals from California as well as representatives from each of the six artist residency programs. Finalists will be notified no later than August 21, 2010 and residencies will occur in 2011.

Artist Requirements: If chosen for the Visions from the New California award, artists agree to:

1. attend a full residency at the assigned location
2. cooperate with the documentation of the residency and the work produced
3. complete an exit interview and evaluation of the residency
4. assist the Consortium with other publicity about the project to the best of his/her ability

The $4,000 award may be used at the artist's discretion (e.g., for materials or travel to and from the residency, to offset loss of income during the residency, etc.); however, receipt of the award is contingent on the artist's completion of a month-long residency and compliance with the requirements stated above.