This artist put together a MASSIVE list of art residencies (and here it is)
It started with a small act of care. One artist, Everest Pipkin—a UT Austin alum, a Studio Art graduate, a maker in the middle of all this mess—decided to gather what so many of us are always chasing: a way in, a way through, a way to keep making. They built The Big Artist Opportunities List, a Google Doc stuffed with survival strategies for creative folks trying to make rent and still have time to dream. Grants, residencies, open calls—some close enough to touch in Austin, others scattered across cities most of us have never seen.
And then Everest did something that feels almost even better: they shared it. They pushed it out into the world—Twitter first, that great chaotic commons—and the people responded. Artists passed it around like water in a drought. Artnet and Hyperallergic took notice, asking Everest to speak on what it means to crack open the myth of the lone genius artist and instead build a table big enough for everyone to sit.
The list grew. Other artists added to it. What started as one artist’s notes-to-self became a collective archive of possibility—a reminder that we make art in the belly of a system designed to break us, and yet, we keep finding ways to make room for each other.
“I’ve been thinking a lot about community and community health lately, and how I can contribute to the lives of others with my own skills,” Pipkin said in an interview. “Having a creative practice can feel selfish at times, and it is sometimes difficult to know how to direct it outwards to improve the conditions of the communities that we are in, especially if you are not an artist who works with or in the public. However, in building resources for my own support and development, it became clear that I was also simply building resources that could be useful in general.”
"What started as one artist’s notes-to-self became a collective archive of possibility—a reminder that we make art in the belly of a system designed to break us, and yet, we keep finding ways to make room for each other."
LOVE this. Thanks so much for sharing such a helpful resource!