RECOMMENDATION LETTERS

Q: Dear Mira,

I enjoyed meeting you at the TransCultural Exchange conference in Boston—your talk was so informative. I'd like to invite you to my studio in New York whenever you are in town. I'm in the process of researching residencies (there's a lot out there). I wonder how you handle the letters of recommendation that are requested by residencies, grant organizations, etc.. Do you stockpile these letters in your files and use as needed or do you ask your contact people for a letter each time the requests come up?(I hate asking-it feel like begging.) It's especially tricky when the organization wants the letter sent directly from the recommender.

A: Thanks for writing and great to hear from you. I'm glad you liked the talk I gave. As for recommendation letters, unfortunately, you need to contact those people in advance, send them a brief description of what you are planning on doing, a little info on the place, and so on. The letter should be specific to what you are asking for. I know. It's a pain in the butt and who likes to bother anyone? But it's just part of the deal and remember that those people whom you are asking have also been the ones who asked in the past. For some things you can use a standard letter from someone but not that often. An example of this is when someone is leaving an MFA program and they create a professional file in the career office. When that former student applies for a teaching job, the office just sends out the student's file which contains their CV, other related materials and general letters regarding his/her teaching experience.
A couple hints: ask WAY in advance (no one likes to get asked at the last minute), ask someone who knows you and your work well, and make sure you send a nice thank you email or card. Those thank you's go a long way! Hope that helps!
Mira