ELIGIBILITY: Applicants must be MECA alums.
Non graduated alums, SALT graduates, Post Baccalaureate graduates, Continuing Studies faculty and students are ineligible to apply.
ABOUT THE RESIDENCY: Monson Arts is a new artists’ residency and arts center in Monson, Maine. Programs in development include residencies for artists and writers, intensive shorter workshops, and educational partnerships with area secondary schools.
Monson is located at the edge of Maine’s North Woods - a 3.5 million acres of forest bordering Canada. It is the last town on the Appalachian Trail before the beginning of the 100-Mile Wilderness that leads to Mount Katahdin.
Since it was founded in 1822, the community has had an economy based on natural resources. In the late 19th through the early 20th centuries, slate quarries supported a thriving industry. Moosehead Manufacturing produced wood furniture from the 1945 until its closure in 2007. The region also has a rich arts tradition— ranging from Henry David Thoreau, who wrote about the area in The Maine Woods to photographer Berenice Abbott who lived in nearby Blanchard, to traditional makers such as the North Woods Canoe Company in Atkinson.
In the spring of 2017, Maine’s Libra Foundation began investing in the development of an arts program for Monson as a way to spur economic and creative growth in the region. The foundation has purchased and renovated over 20 buildings in the community to be used for residences and studios. Stuart Kestenbaum, former director of the Haystack Mountain School of Crafts and Maine’s poet laureate, is advising the foundation on the development of the programs.
The program is open to visual artists and writers. All artists are given a studio which is a large empty classroom in a former school. In that same building, there is a clay studio with as kiln that offers classes to the public.
RESIDENCY DATES:
AMENITIES
- Basic studio space
- Housing (private room, shared bath)
- Meals
- Access to basic wood shop and metal shop
- Stipend of $500 for two week residencies and $1,000 for month-long residencies
APPLICATION REQUIREMENTS: Prepare the following information in advance of submitting your application. Incomplete applications will not be considered for review. Please upload online the following documents and images, not zipped, but individually uploaded.
APPLICATION MATERIALS:
- One-page statement of purpose explaining why you want to attend this residency (PDF)
- Biography
- Resume / CV
- 10 Work Samples
- Image descriptions that correspond to your images which include title, medium, size and year of completion.
- Choice of top three dates
All submissions must have been completed within the last three years. All documents listed above should be saved as a Word document or a PDF.
Late and incomplete proposals will not be accepted. Only online applications via Submittable will be accepted.
TIMELINE: Deadline for applications is midnight EST on January 31, 2024. Notification of awards will be made in mid-March.
This form is only for use by students who applied for and received money supporting professional development from the Maine College of Art.
Congratulations on receiving a grant from the Maine College of Art to support your professional development and future creative and career growth!
This report form helps us keep track of what you did with your grant money, what you learned, and whether your experience is something we should encourage other students to pursue.