Rabbit Island Residency 2023
Type
Residency
Category
Other
Status
Archived
Deadline
March 31, 2023
Application Fee
$20
Host
RABBIT ISLAND
Location
Chicago, United States
RABBIT ISLAND
Rabbit Island is 91 acres of forest and sandstone located in Lake Superior—the largest body of freshwater in the world—four miles east of Michigan’s Keweenaw Peninsula within the traditional territory of the Anishinaabe. The island is composed of a native ecosystem and has never before been developed or subdivided. It is a unique wilderness environment home to a variety of flora and fauna including large white pines, red maples, bald eagles, nesting birds, salamanders, and much more. A number of fish including salmon and native lake trout swim in the waters surrounding the island. The weather is ever-present and can vary day-to-day, creating beautiful vistas and humbling experiences. A conservation easement assures the ecosystem will remain healthy in perpetuity. The island serves as a platform for contemporary art, science, and conservation.

THE RESIDENCY
Founded in 2010, the Rabbit Island Residency is a platform to investigate, expand, and challenge creative practices in a remote environment. By living and working on Rabbit Island residents engage directly with the landscape and respond to notions of conservation, ecology, sustainability, and resilience. With the idea that the intelligent organization and celebration of wild spaces is the most civilized thing we can value as society, the residency reflects on the continent’s four hundred year history of settlement and division of land. The island, an unsettled and undivided space, enables residents to present commentary on these ideas, creating creative interpretations and solutions to issues of global importance such as climate change and loss of natural habitat and pristine watersheds.

In 2023 three supported residencies will be awarded for an average period of three weeks between late-June and late-September. Selected applicants will receive an unrestricted honorarium which they may use as they see fit. Previous residents have used the award to facilitate research, cover travel expenses, purchase materials, etc.

WHO CAN APPLY
The Rabbit Island Residency is open to individual applicants worldwide. Small collaborative groups (2-3 people) may also apply for a single, shared residency. The minimum age requirement for all applicants is 21 years of age. The residency is open to visual artists of all disciplines, as well as writers, poets, architects, designers, musicians, filmmakers, composers, and choreographers.

While we are supportive of scientific research on the island and encourage collaborative art and science proposals, the majority of our funding comes from arts funding agencies. We are therefore unable to provide funding for scientific members of a collaborative proposal. Those applicants should secure separate funding in addition to the resources available from the Rabbit Island Residency.

Due to the undeveloped nature of the island and limited organizational resources, the residency is not handicap accessible and unable to accommodate applicants with mobility issues.

AWARDS AND SUPPORT
• Our goal is to provide each residency with a generous unrestricted honorarium. Our anticipated honoraria per 2023 residency is $3,000 USD. Successful group applicatons will split a single residency award between members.
• Residency administrative staff will provide a comprehensive orientation to living and working on the island, as well as local and island transportation.
• The island has a sauna, kitchen, two sleeping areas, open-air studio spaces, tools, equipment, and a library of over 390 books. All resources are available to residents.
• A specially designed publication featuring the work and research of each resident is published annually by the Rabbit Island Foundation.
• Rabbit Island shares the experiences and work of each resident to a global community through our social media channels and online archive.

HOW TO APPLY
Download the full application guide and apply online at www.rabbitisland.org/art