AMP: Artists' Meeting Place and Resource Collective

from Franklin Furnace

Dear Artist:

I hope this finds you well. I am in the process of organizing a series of one-day interactive and/or participatory art events, Shared Dialogue, Shared Space (SDSS), presented at local outdoor public spaces in NYC and its outskirts in 2023 and beyond. I write this letter to invite you to submit a proposal. Please review the project description, intention, past project samples, proposal components, and eligibility below. I hope you accept my invitation and submit a proposal.

We are looking for up to ten compelling proposals for projects that may last a few weeks, such as participatory art installations and/or a series of performances and/or art activities. The deadline for this call is Friday, Sept 30, 2022, at 6 pm. The public announcement of the invited artists for the 2023 iterations of SDSS will be made by the end of December 2022.

-Project Description

The SDSS project is an interborough initiative organized by the Korea Art Forum (KAF) in New York City, addressing critical issues such as anti-Asian violence, anti-immigrant sentiments, uneven distributions of art resources, and limited art accessibility. It supports emerging or underrepresented artists (mostly BIPOC) in creating participatory art activities in NYC’s underserved immigrant communities at different sites, including Weeping Beech Park and near Murray Hill Station in Flushing, E 140th Street between Alexander Avenue and Willis Playground in Mott Haven, and Inwood Hill Park in Inwood. Locations are subject to change.

The activities are offered to diverse populations with limited English proficiency (LEP) free of charge with translation services between English, Chinese, Korean, and Spanish at these local parks, where residents ordinarily hang out with their neighbors. Associated programs include interpretative essays, interviews with the artists, and artist talks. All activities are live-streamed and reconstructed in videos with closed subtitles in the four languages and in digital and print quadrilingual catalogs. These publications are broadly shared via the internet, spreading the performative, public agency, and power of visual arts to inspire actions for social change.

SDSS serves to connect artists and people for their mutual benefit. The program facilitates artists’ public engagements, positioning artists as the driving force indispensable for creating a better world for all people to live, work and thrive together. The program explores an eco-human-centric framework of art as a process and product of public engagement, and highlights art as creating a distinctive time of meaningful experiences for both the artists and the engaged community.

-Past Art Projects in SDSS

Since 2020, KAF has successfully organized the SDSS project annually, aiming to penetrate racial, class, and cultural barriers. Previous art stations included papermaking, printmaking, collective weaving, Korean quiltmaking, watercolor making, woodworking, calligraphy, running or fashion walking performance, meditative breathing exercises, augmented reality, photo-archiving, and building & playing. You can view last year’s iterations here:

2022 SDSS I: "Here From Afar"

2022 SDSS II: "The Earth is No Land"

2022 SDSS III: "Building Together"

For the entire series, you can visit KAF's YouTube Channel and KAF's Publications page. SDSS is evolving into a new phase of its development. Although SDSS has been focusing on one-day art activities, starting in 2023, the program will additionally include art installations and performance series that will remain for a few weeks.

-Project benefits

By removing linguistic, material, and physical barriers that prevent underserved communities from accessing contemporary art, the project serves to:

Advance equal access to art and cultural rights, a neglected category of human rights,

Provide the artists with technical, material, and informational resources to research and investigate a dynamic eco-human-centric framework of art that recognizes the public’s presence in any artwork,

Further art’s social values and functions in improving all people’s quality of life,

Develop the cultural ecosystems in disadvantaged neighborhoods to increase community well-being, the ultimate purpose of all governing rules and policies in all sectors of human societies,

Foster dialogues among artists, between artists and the public, and between Asian and other racial/ethnic Americans to bridge social networks within and between communities at this critical time of rising violence, xenophobia against Asian Americans, and BLM movements,

Channel people’s emotional lives so that individuals or whole communities can thrive.

-Proposal Components

A one-page proposal of your project describing your action(s), goals, purpose, anticipated outputs, and benefits.

Your abbreviated CV, up to 1 page with your contact information, including your address, phone number, and email.

A short 1-paragraph BIO within 100 words.

An itemized budget for your proposal, laying out reasonable necessary expenses for your substantial appropriate fee, material, production, and shipping costs. Minimum support of $1,000 is committed to each project. The maximum project support is subject to funding and will be announced at the time of the announcement in December 2022.

Up to five sample images of your past work related to your proposal. If applicable, URLs to short excerpts of your past video works or video of your performances for up to 3 min.

A checklist of the work image captions, including title, year, medium, and dimensions. And any credits if applicable. You may also include a one- or two-sentence description of each image under each caption.

-Eligibility

Emerging, underrepresented, BIPOC, women, and/or immigrant artists are strongly encouraged to apply. All artists in NYC are eligible, but artists from the target communities where art events will take place are preferred. Students are NOT eligible, except those who will have graduated from school by the end of 2022.

-Selection Process and Criteria

A Project Advisory Committee is being formed, consisting of artists, art professionals, and community leaders. They will review the proposals together and recommend the artists based on the following merit-based selection criteria:

The relevance of the completed work for the exhibit’s theme of current xenophobia, all stakeholders, and the discipline.

The feasibility, efficiency, and effectiveness of the work within the capacity of the artist and KAF to execute the proposal.

Artists and art forms marginalized in mainstream art scenes.

-Expectation

The invited artists will have a year to develop their new work in discussion with related communities in 2023 and complete the public presentation of the work by December 2024. The artist will have opportunities to engage community leaders and other art professionals. They will be invited to share their visions and designs of the work with related communities for feedback. Throughout 2023, there will be a series of research and work-development meetings that the artists will be asked to attend to explore strategies and precautions for creating participatory, immersive, and/or interactive work in public spheres, which removes the boundary between artist and audience as both groups take part in the creation of unique experiences. Concerned by currently rising anti-Asian violence and escalating tension with China, KAF’s 2023-2024 programs will thematically confront the anti-Asian sentiment deeply rooted in American culture.

-Where to Submit Your Proposal and Questions

Please combine all proposal components in a single PDF and send it to hhan@kafny.org. Please use the same email address for any additional questions. I look forward to receiving your proposals.

Deadline: September 30, 2022, at 6 pm

Best wishes,

Heng-Gil Han, Director

Korea Art Forum