11th Annual Juniper Literary Festival: New Writers/New Writing

Hey Local Peeps, I will be on a writing/publishing panel on Sat. April 16th at UMass. Read below...

Please join us for the

11th annual Juniper Literary Festival: New Writers/New Writing

April 15 & 16, 2011

University of Massachusetts Amherst

For ten years the Juniper Literary Festival has celebrated some of the nation’s most exciting authors, books, and publishers. The 2011 Juniper Literary Festival: New Writers/New Writing will introduce audiences to vital contemporary writing and explore issues essential to the future of American literature. A unique national event, the festival will celebrate and contribute to the literary richness of the Pioneer Valley. The festival will offer readings by a dozen acclaimed authors who have recently published their first or second books, including Timothy Donnelly, Michelle Hoover, Travis Nichols, and Kiki Petrosino. There will also be roundtable discussions, a press fair featuring dozens of the nation’s most exciting literary magazines and presses, and a keynote panel with the Poetry Society of America’s Alice Quinn and the National Book Foundation’s Harold Augenbraum.

All events will take place at the UMass Fine Arts Center and be free and open to the public. Please visit http://umass.edu/english/MFA_JuniperFestival.htm for additional information. For a letter of invitation to attend (to support a request for institutional travel support), please contact Assistant Directors Sarah Malone smalone@english.umass.edu, (646) 263.7908, or Zach Savich: zsavich@english.umass.edu, (301) 904-0145.

Juniper Literary Festival: New Writers/New Writing

Friday April 15

6:30 PM Journal & Book Fair Opening Reception

7:30 PM Reading with Sommer Browning, Timothy Donnelly, Michelle Hoover, & Roy Kesey

Saturday April 16

10:00 AM Journal & Book Fair Continues

10:30 AM Editors’ Reading

12:00 PM Keynote Panel with Alice Quinn & Harold Augenbraum, moderated by Robert N. Casper & Brigid Hughes

1:30 PM Reading with Gina Apostol, Joseph Cardinale, Abraham Smith, & Michelle Taransky

2:45 PM Roundtables on Nuts and Bolts: From Manuscript to Book, moderated by Jensen Beach (Mirabee will be on this panel too).

& What’s New about New Writing: How the Old and New Meet in New Literature, moderated by Noah Eli Gordon

3:45 PM Roundtables on Changing Conditions: Editing, Publishing, and Promotion, moderated by Monica Fambrough, & To Make It Beautifully: Craft and Design in Book Arts, moderated by Betsy Wheeler

7:00 PM Journal & Book Fair Reopens

7:30 PM Reading with Cynthia Arrieu-King, Margaret Luongo, Travis Nichols, & Kiki Petrosino

Letter from Mary Sherman, Director of TransCultural Exchange

To finish up with all this conference stuff today, the director of TransCultural Exchange was kind enough to respond to the comments I passed on to her from this blog.
Cheers,
M.

Dear Mira's List Readers,

Please note that some of TransCultural Exchange's 2011 Conference on International Opportunities in the Arts will be available for free, as mandated by some of the sites donating their services. These are a very limited number of panels, however; and, they are primarily at the Boston Public Library. These events will not be posted on the Conference website; but instead in listings in publications like the Boston Globe.

The conference is a hugely expensive undertaking: 150 speakers coming to Boston to meet with artists, etc. Registration costs alone, do not even cover 1/3 the Conference's expenses. Hence, TransCultural Exchange must encourage people to register for the whole conference. As a courtesy to readers of Mira's List, knowing they are fans of Mira Bartok, TransCultural Exchange is pleased to let the fans know that the events at the BPL (where Mira will be reading) will be offered for free. (Conference badge members, however, will have some seats reserved for them to make sure they have a seat.) The other venues where the talks are free are at MIT, the CONCERT at Northeastern University, and the gallery receptions at the Harrison Avenue Galleries. All other events require a conference badge. Thank you for understanding.

Mary Sherman
Director, TransCultural Exchange

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OHr-o6kjiFo
Conference on International Opportunities in the Arts, April 7-11, 2011, Boston Omni Parker House Hotel.

Why Good Conferences Cost Money and Why You Should Go to This One

In response to a comment below my posting about the Transcultural Exchange Conference for Opportunities in the Arts coming up in Boston...(the comment was about the conference being too expensive and also there not being single event/day options). Here’s my opinion and more info on all that:

1. This conference costs less than most I’ve attended in all my years of doing this.

2. If you register early for this conference, you always get a discount and they always offered scholarships—part and full—for those who contact them early in the registration process. Both these things I have posted about in the past, so that readers can take advantage of them. (Too late now though....should have done it before when I posted about it before. Sorry!)

3. TCE doesn’t make any money from this event. This conference doesn’t even pay for itself. TCE flies people in from all over the world and hosts them here so they can offer you their expertise. No one gets paid. But when you attend, you get an amazing array of opportunities. Artists often get invited to stay at residencies overseas, they get to show museum curators their work, and they get to meet the people who decide on enormous fellowships and grants in the arts. I would say: well worth the money!

4. There are many local grants that offer funding to attend conferences like this. One of my readers just told me she applied for a local arts grant to come and she got it.

5. This event is obviously a tax deduction if you are a working artist/writer, etc.

6. Re: the one-day registration/one event comment: if the reader had only gone to the site to find out more information, he/she would know that there are events that are free and open to the public. My event, for example, a panel on publishing your first book, is free and anyone can come. So are the readings a the Boston Public Library. So are some other things.

7. Lastly, the person who runs this organization: Mary Sherman, Director of TCE, basically has been putting these huge conferences and exhibitions and collaborations around the world for little or no money. She does this tirelessly, persistently and passionately, because she believes that art can save the world. The whole point of TCE is to create peace and cooperation by creating exhibitions and artistic collaborations world-wide.

If I sound snippy, it is only because I know the background of this organization; I know how hard everyone works for no money or very little, and I know first hand what a great opportunity it is to attend. So please—don’t jump to conclusions when you see a price tag for something like this. It may be the best money you have ever spent. And if you are creative enough and do things way in advance like I always recommend everyone to do—you can even get a scholarship or a grant to go.

Okay—I am off my soap box! Go forth and make art! And if you can get yourself to Boston in April, take advantage of this excellent chance to meet curators, grant foundation directors, Fulbright representatives, artist residency directors and artists of all kinds from all over the world.

Best Wishes,

Mirabee

Sign Up Now! Transcultural Exchange's 2011 Conference on International Opportunities in the Arts!

Greetings all! Thank you for your patience while my book tour is raging on....I hope to see some of you at one of the readings. The next one will be in Cleveland on Friday, Feb. 4th at the United Church of Christ, 2592 West 14th St. in the Tremont neighborhood. Details on my website: www.thememorypalace.com. After that, I’ll read at The Odyssey Book Store on Feb. 10th in South Hadley, MA. Then off to California! I'll be doing readings in LA, Berkeley and San Francisco from Feb. 16th to the 22nd so if you live in those areas, please come. I’d love to meet some of you!

(A little aside....my book, THE MEMORY PALACE just made the New York Times Bestseller list! It’s currently at # 16. So please...all of you...run out right now and buy it from your local indie bookstore so I can knock that Tiger Mother book out of my way OR click on my book on right side bar and buy it directly from this site. All right.....I’ve finished now. :-)) So on to this business of opportunities.

First, I want to remind you all about the most amazing conference in the world. A couple years ago I spoke at the TransCultural Exchange Conference for Opportunities in the Arts in Boston and am going to do a presentation again, as well as do a reading at the Boston Public Library (along with authors Reif Larsen and Jayne Anne Phillips). I’ll be moderating a panel on first books—from finding an agent to promoting your first book—with novelist Jedediah Berry and poet Marisa Crawford. I’ll be representing the memoir/creative nonfiction voice on the panel.

Below is info on the conference. It is open to ALL DISCIPLINES and this year there will be even more than ever before for writers, filmmakers and composers/sound artists. And as usual, if you are a visual artist, you will be overjoyed at what you will get out of the experience. I can’t say enough about this conference. And you should know that I do this for free, that’s how much I love it. You get to meet people who run artist residencies all over the world, as well as the movers and shakers in the grant and fellowship lexicon. First, watch this video about the conference—it will give you a sense of what you will find there!: Click here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3UnLU7b8Fu8 On to the info:

TransCultural Exchange announces the return of its namesake conference

April 7-10, 2011 • Boston’s Omni Parker House Hotel

http://www.transcultural exchange.org/conference_2011/main.htm

Would you like to find ways to exhibit internationally? Would you like your work reviewed by major curators, critics and gallery owners? Are you an emerging writer interested in finding out what it takes to publish your first book? Are you a musician, sound artist or composer looking for an amazing residency? Have you always wanted to live overseas for a year and do research for a creative project but just didn't know how to fund your trip? Want to meet like-minded people? Shake up your world.

Come to TransCultural Exchange’s 2011 Conference on International Opportunities in the Arts: The Interconnected World.

Registration for all four days is $345; $425 after April 1.

Student discount registration is $$205; $295 after April 1.

New for 2011: Screening Program for Artists:

Artists who have registered by 5 pm EST, February 15, 2011 are eligible to submit no more than 2 images to be projected during the Conference. (Screening time and place will be announced in the Conference brochure.)

New for 2011: Reading Program for Writers:
This program is limited to 10 writers whose works will be chosen from those who have registered and submitted their writing sample by 5 pm EST, February 15, 2011.

For more info about the above, go here:
http://www.transculturalexchange.org/conference_2011/overview.htm
You MUST first register for the conference before you are eligible to sign up for these opportunities. These sessions are ONLY available to conference badge holders as well as all the events at the Omni, including the opening reception on Friday.

Come to Boston and meet Mirabee! I hope to see you there in April. If you register for the conference, please seek me out if you are a Mira’s List reader because I’d love to meet you!

Cheers!
Mirabee

Grants & Fellowships for Research, Making Art and Travel!

Greetings all!

I’m back from the conference in New York and it was great! It was also great to see a couple Mira’s List fans there. Thanks for attending, those of you who went to the CLMP Conference and I hope you learned some enlightening things about the publishing industry. So upward and onward! We have a couple interviews coming soon but in the meantime, here are a few grants and fellowships for you to take a look at!

Cheers,
Mirabee

(ARTISTS) Emergency Assistance Program—The Adolph and Esther Gottlieb Foundation: The Emergency Assistance Program provides interim financial assistance to qualified artists whose needs are the result of an unforeseen, catastrophic incident, and who lack the resources to meet that situation. Each grant is given as one-time assistance for a specific emergency, examples of which are fire, flood, or emergency medical need. The program does not consider requests for dental work, chronic situations, capital improvements, or projects of any kind; nor can it consider situations resulting from general indebtedness or lack of employment. The maximum amount of this grant is $10,000; an award of $4,000 is typical. To be eligible, an artist must be able to demonstrate a minimum involvement of ten years in a mature phase of his or her work. Artists must work in the disciplines of painting, sculpture, or printmaking. Please visit http://gottliebfoundation.org/grants/emergency-grant for more information. Deadline: 12/31/12.

(ARTISTS) Individual Support Grants—Adolph and Esther Gottlieb Foundation:
The Adolph and Esther Gottlieb Foundation wishes to encourage artists who have dedicated their lives to developing their art, regardless of their level of commercial success. This program was conceived in order to recognize and support the serious, fully committed artist, and we hope these individuals will consider applying. Twelve grants are awarded each year. Applications are reviewed by a panel of five professionals in the arts who have no affiliation with the foundation. Please visit http://gottliebfoundation.org/grants/individual-grants for more information and to request an application by mail. Deadline: 12/15/10

(ALL & SCHOLARS) New England Regional Fellowship Consortium Grant: Massachusetts Historical Society: The New England Regional Fellowship Consortium, a collaboration of 18 major cultural agencies, will offer at least 11 awards in 2011–2012. Each grant will provide a stipend of $5,000 for a minimum of eight weeks of research at participating institutions. Each itinerary must include at least three different member institutions, and include at least two weeks at each of these. For more information about the Consortium’s research grants, please check the NERFC web site: www.nerfc.org, or contact Kate Viens, Massachusetts Historical Society, 1154 Boylston St., Boston, MA 02215 (fellowships@masshist.org) or 617-646-0568. NERFC application deadline: February 1, 2011.

(ART HISTORIANS & SCHOLARS) Hamad bin Khalifa Travel Fellowships—Virginia Commonwealth University: The Hamad bin Khalifa Travel Fellowships are awarded to up to 20 individuals who wish to attend the 4th biennial Hamad bin Khalifa Symposium on Islamic Art, "God is Beautiful; He Loves Beauty: The Object in Islamic Art and Culture," October 29-31, 2011 at the Museum of Islamic Art in Doha, Qatar. Fellowships cover the cost of roundtrip travel to Doha, lodging and meals during the symposium, and special events and excursions. The fellowships are intended to enable junior and senior scholars at all levels to attend the symposium; preference will be given to applicants from diverse backgrounds with long-standing research interests in Islamic art and architecture. To apply, please submit an application form, a one-paragraph statement of interest and a current CV on the website,
www.islamicartdoha.org by February 1, 2011. Fellows will be notified by May 1, 2011. Please direct any questions to mabrown@vcu.edu. Deadline: 02/02/11

(GRAD. STUDENTS & SCHOLARS) Residential Research Grant—University of Wisconsin--Madison: The Friends of the University of Wisconsin—Madison Libraries (FOL) is pleased to offer several one month residential grants-in-aid, for research in the humanities in the university’s Memorial Library. The Library’s collections include (among other fields): History of science from the Middle Ages through the Enlightenment. Pseudo science and medical and scientific quackery. The largest American collection of avant-garde “Little Magazines.” Scandinavian and Germanic history and literature. Dutch post-Reformation theology and church history. French political pamphlets of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Applicants should have Ph.D. Foreign scholars or graduate students who are ABD are also eligible. For more information, see http://giving.library.wisc.edu/friends/grant-in-aid.shtml, or FOL, University of Wisconsin—Madison, Rm. 990, 728 State St., Madison, WI 53706, or 608-265-2505; E-mail: friends@library.wisc.edu. Deadline: 02/01/11

(MUSICIANS & ARTISTS) The Harriet Hale Woolley Scholarship for study in Paris: The Harriet Hale Woolley Scholarship is a private grant awarded annually to up to four graduate and post-graduate American students in the visual fine arts (painting, graphic design, print-making, sculpture, photography) and music (composition, instrumental or vocal performance). The scholarship is not intended for research in art history, or musicology, nor for dance or theatre.
Successful candidates propose a unique and detailed project related to their study which requires a one-year residency in Paris. As this project should include enrollment in a recognized French art school or music conservatory, it is strongly suggested that the candidate establish a significant contact with a teacher or institution prior to arriving in France and to show evidence of this contact in his/her application dossier. For more info, go to: http://www.feusa.org/en/culture/harriet-hale-woolley-scholarship

Hey New Yorkers, See You This Weekend!

Hey New Yorkers! (NYC writers that is):

If you haven't already signed up for this REALLY inexpensive and worthwhile conference sponsored by The Council of Literary Magazines and Small Presses (CLMP), I think there's still room available AND, if you say you are a Mira's List fan, you get 20% off! Here's what the website says about the conference:

NOVEMBER 12-13, 2010 } A two-day conference for fiction, poetry, and creative-nonfiction writers learning how to maneuver in the marketplace. Meet writers, editors, agents, publicists and publishers from Publishers Weekly, Oxford University Press, Scribner, Hachette Book Group, Graywolf, the Poetry Society of America, Bloomsbury, Knopf, the Academy of American Poets and more.

I will be on a panel this Saturday from 3 to 4:30 with these amazing folks: Elliot Figman, poet and Executive Director of Poets & Writers and Jeffrey Lependorf, composer, writer and CLMP's Executive Director. We will be talking about grants and awards, book contests and artist colonies.

The conference will be held here:
The New School
Alvin Johnson/J.M. Kaplan Building
66 W. 12 St.
New York, NY 10011

Please visit the website to see if there's still room for you at the conference! And if you come and are a ML fan, please come up and say hi after my panel. I'd love to meet you. See you in New York!

Love,
Mirabee

TransCultural Exchange's Conference on International Opportunities in the Arts Scholarships!

Hey everyone! Wake up! Mirabee here to tell you about the most amazing international arts conference in the world. It's every two years and some of you heard me speak about funding for artists at the last one. This time around, I'll be talking about first books: how to get published from finding an agent to marketing your book once it is out there. I'll be on a panel with Jedediah Berry, author of the novel The Manual of Detection and editor at Small Beer Press, and poet Marisa Crawford, author of The Haunted House from Switchback Books. I'll also be doing a reading from my new book at the Boston Public Library with amazing author Reif Larson and Jayne Anne Phillips (all that info to come, closer to the event).

In the meantime, there are scholarships available for the conference but the deadline for those are coming up soon. See the announcement below for the TransCultural Exchange's Conference on International Opportunities in the Arts.

Cheers!

Mirabee

p.s. coming later today or in the next day or so: new opportunities for printmakers, media artists, writers and more!

(ALL) TransCultural Exchange's Conference on International Opportunities in the Arts: Are you looking to tap into the International Art Market? Would you like to find ways to show overseas? Are you a writer interested in finding out what it takes to publish your first book? Are you a musician or composer who is looking for an amazing residency overseas? Have you always wanted to live overseas for a year and do research for a creative project but just didn't know how to fund your trip? Meet key international Curators, critics, editors, published writers and program directors at TransCultural Exchange's Conference on International Opportunities in the Arts, Boston Omni Parker House Hotel April 7-10 2011.

TransCultural Exchange’s Conference on International Opportunities in the Arts: The Interconnected World is internationally known as the only forum of its kind for networking, showcasing, supporting and promoting people in the arts. More than 70 representatives from around the world will be on hand to present their programs and provide networking opportunities and one-on-one portfolio reviews for artists to interact with their international peers. There will also be opportunities for film screenings for emerging filmmakers, readings of new work from writers, literary events at Boston Public Library, and artist slide shows.

More than one third of the attendees to the 2007 and 2009 Conferences noted tangible outcomes (such as invitations to residencies and exhibitions and/or successful grant applications) as a direct result of their attending the conference.

Registration for all four days, April 7 - April 10, 2011: Early Registration is $275, due midnight EST, December 15, 2010. Registration is $345 after December 15, 2010; and $425 after April 1. Student discount registration is $115, due midnight EST, December 15, 2010; $205 after December 15, 2010 and $295 after April 1. Register here: http://www.transculturalexchange.org/conference_2011/registration

Yes, there are scholorships available. Applications for scholarships are due November 15, 2010!

Attention All Writers!

Hey there...I know...I've neglected you. That is the price I must pay for being sucked into the raging machine of pre-pub. activities for my first book. Life has certainly been crazy. Anyway, I wanted to alert all you writers out there about an event coming up in New York City on November 12th and 13th. I'll be speaking on a panel about funding and residency opportunities at a literary conference at the New School in NY (sponsored by The Council of Literary Magazines and Presses (CLMP) and co-sponsored by the New School Graduate Writing Program and in partnership with Sobel Weber Associates, The National Book Foundation, Sterling Lord Literistic, and Poets & Writers).

The event will be a two-day conference for fiction, poetry, and creative-nonfiction writers learning how to maneuver in the marketplace. Meet writers, editors, agents, publicists and publishers from Publishers Weekly, Oxford University Press, Scribner, Hachette Book Group, Graywolf, the Poetry Society of America, Bloomsbury, Knopf, the Academy of American Poets and more. REGISTER NOW } OR TO REGISTER BY PHONE, PLEASE CALL 212.741.9110 x 16

And the cool thing is....anyone registering who mentions MIRA'S LIST will get a 20% discount! Click here: https://www.clmp.org/lwc/ or click on the logo and sign up. I highly recommend this event, especially for New Yorkers who don't need a hotel!

I'll also be speaking in April at the TransculturalExchange Conference in Boston about what it takes to publish a first book, from finding an agent to post-pub. marketing. News on that event and the other amazing writers on the panel coming very soon!

Below are a couple other things for writers. Have a lovely week!
Cheers,
Mirabee

(WRITERS) Amy Lowell Poetry Travelling Scholarship: The Amy Lowell Poetry Travelling Scholarship awards approximately $52,000 annually to an American-born poet to spend one year outside North America, in whatever place the recipient feels will most advance his or her work. Recipients in recent years have included published poets with professional standing. See the web site or write for application form and guidelines. Website: www.amylowell.org, email: amylowell@choate.com. DEADLINE IS OCTOBER 15th!

(WRITERS) Royal Society of Literature of the United Kingdom, Ondaatje Prize: The Royal Society of Literature Ondaatje Prize offers £10,000 for a distinguished work of fiction, non-fiction or poetry, evoking the spirit of a place. See web site for more details and next deadline.Website: http://www.rslit.org, email: info@rslit.org. Deadline is December 7th, 2010.

(WRITERS) Bread Loaf Writers' Conference in Middlebury, Vermont: The Conference awards fellowships and scholarships to candidates applying to attend a session of the Conference. Candidates for fellowships must have a first original book published within three years of filing their application. Scholarship candidates must have published in major literary periodicals or newspapers. See web site for nomination and application procedures. website: www.middlebury.edu, email: blwc@middlebury.edu.
** Mirabee insider trading: I was there in 2001 and loved it. I learned a lot from my workshop colleagues and some have remained my long-suffering readers!

Interview with TransCultural Exchange Director, Mary Sherman

Today I am thrilled to interview Mary Sherman, Director of TransCultural Exchange. Mary and I have known each other for years and I was part of the very first TransCult exhibit, way back in 1989 in Chicago. I hope you enjoy our interview! Read on...

Mary Sherman is an artist and the director of the nonprofit TransCultural Exchange (TCE). She is also the Associate Director of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's (MIT) Program in Art, Culture and Technology. In 1989 she founded TCE to create art projects that transcend social, political, geographical and historical barriers. Since then, TCE has worked directly with hundreds of artists, arts organizations, foundations, museums and cultural centers in more than sixty countries to produce cultural exchanges, critically acclaimed exhibitions and public art works, from Sarajevo to Sao Paulo, Berlin to Boston, Tel Aviv to Taipei, Mongolia to Mumbai.

Mary, thanks so much for joining us today. Would you mind starting out by telling us a little bit about TransCultural Exchange—How it got started, what your organization does, how it has grown since you began and where you see it going in the future?

In 1989, at the invitation of two Viennese architects, a group of Chicago artists put together a wildly ambitious exchange show of over 70 Viennese and Chicago artists’ works. The Chicago literary magazine Another Chicago Magazine turned one of their issues into the show’s catalog (which included an essay by Wim Wenders), Café Tête-à-Tête hosted a reading series and Facet’s Multimedia Centre organized a Viennese and Chicago film festival.

Then, after a brief hiatus, TransCultural Exchange resurfaced in New York City thanks to the Trans Hudson Gallery, who offered their gallery space for an exhibition. From then on, there was no looking back. TCE is currently based in Boston but really, our home is all over the world.

In 2000 we took part in the London Biennale (and did so again last year and will again this April) Your readers are invited to join us when we bring the London Biennale to Boston for a 'curated salon': (http://www.transculturalexchange.org/participate_docs/inviteLB.html) Anyway, in 2002, TransCultural Exchange reached hundreds of artists around the globe to produce its first worldwide project, The Coaster Project. For this project, 100 artists made 100 coaster-sized artworks. They then exhibited one of each participant’s (for a total of 100 works per exhibit) in a public space. These exhibits took place on all seven continents. Afterward, all 10,000+ artworks were given away – to all segments of society - for free.

The Coaster Project, was followed by The Tile Project, which included an artist exchange program, educational component and the creation of public art works to draw attention to the organization’s mission of working with artists from diverse nationalities, to educate the public about these various cultures and to encourage them to consider ways in which artists, and by extension, others might work together for a more peaceful future. For last year’s global project (and catalog), artists were asked to collaborate with an artist(s) or others from another country to make a collaborative artwork. Over 200 artists participated, resulting in over sixty exhibitions, talks and performances in more than as many places.

Starting in 2009, TCE began hosting international conferences for opportunities in the arts. I had such a great time last year! I met people from all over the world and brought back a lot of information on grants and residencies for my Mira's List readers. Would you mind telling us about the upcoming conference next April, 2011 and will there be anything new this time that is different from last year's conference?

I'd be happy to. Like last year, this coming Conference on International Opportunities in the Arts will be held in Boston, Massachusetts and will bring more than seventy representatives from around the world to talk about their residency, grant, exhibition and fellowship programs. And this coming year, there will be even more mentoring sessions and portfolio reviews for artists than before. We will also offer much more to artists, writers and media artists/filmmakers, including public readings by well-known and emerging authors (check back on our website for updated list), a video-screening room to showcase new work, a screening program for artists to show slides, and an extra day of activities, showcasing local cultural attractions and related research at sponsoring institutions.

I'll be there too—doing a reading from my new book as well as talking once again about opportunities in the arts, in particular, for writers. So on to my next question—which is the most frequently asked question I get: What are some of the ways an artist can fund his or her residency? And if you can suggest creative solutions or specific grants or fellowships for both U.S. and international artists, that would be great.

There is a great organization The Lighton International Artists Exchange Program, which works to make the world a smaller place by giving artists of different cultures the opportunity to work together in the hope that lasting friendship and understanding will develop. The program provides support for visual artists and arts professionals to travel to international residencies and artist communities and for foreign visual artists to travel to and work in the United States.

Then, of course both your website and ours http://www.transculturalexchange.blogspot.com/
list information about residencies and funding on a regular basis. Also, most residencies abroad cover most of your expenses, except airfare, and for what you save on food and housings—to say nothing of the network you'll create as a result—that is an incredible bargain.

Mary, please tell me about one or two of your best international residency experiences.

That is hard. .. .My first was to Romania. It was/is run by Dorothea Fleiss. That year it was in a villa, where we worked all day, ate these long lasting dinners and talked long into the evening. I made amazing contacts, who I am still in touch with to this day, including Dorothea, a strong artist with an amazing heart.

Most recently I was in Taiwan as a resident at the Kuandu Museum of Fine Arts (it was my third time in Taiwan; I was earlier a resident at the Taipei Artists Village) and also was a Fulbright Senior Specialist (also an amazing program). And, please one more: a residency at MIT, which, like all residencies introduced me to amazing people and led to other opportunities—including TCE's initial support of our first conference and now the addition of Ute Meta Bauer to our advisory board & my now working there. I really wish I could list them all—because each and everyone one of them changed my life in only the best ways possible.

Well, if some of my readers go to the next TCE Conference, maybe they can ask you more about your residency experiences! Anyway, I know that TCE has a bit kickstarter project going right now and you are trying to raise money for it. Please tell my readers about the project and what you hope to happen if you get funding.

Well, here's the link and I hope a good hook, as I'd really like to see this project take off and in the process all the supports get a piece of TransCultural Exchange:
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/110350793/the-art-of-collaboration

In essence, are trying to raise money to produce a catalog of collaborative works, to celebrate the work made by artists not only working together from different cultures but also engaging those in other disciplines. A true embodiment of the name: TransCultural Exchange.

I really hope you get funding. I'm counting on some of my devoted readers to check out your project at kickstarter and help support it! Well, lastly Mary, what do you see in the future for TCE? Dream big!

To be honest, I never imagined we get this far. . .but.. it'd be great to have TransCultural Exchange all over the world with a net work of artists working with people from other cultures and other disciplines. Wouldn't that be great? Well, we're trying: we are now filing paper work to create TransCultural Exchange as an NGO (a non-governmental organization) as well as keep our nonprofit status, making it easier to move artists and works between the states and the rest of the world. As we often write as a tagline: Stay Tuned: a new World Awaits. ;)

Thanks so much for joining us today, Mary. It's been a pleasure! I can't wait to see what TCE will do in the future.

I'd like to close this post today by quoting Mary Sherman from her opening of the 2009 Conference on International Opportunities in the Arts. I think she expresses my own sentiments and why I do this blog:

“The arts most likely won’t pinpoint the cure for cancer, but that does not negate their power. Marvelous things can come from where you least suspect. Working in tandem, much can be accomplished; and the arts can help. Like the face of a beloved, the arts can stimulate our curiosity. They can give our lives meaning in ways that we may never be able to explain. Even across vast time zones and geographic distances, the arts give us the ability to touch another person and be touched—and with that, many possibilities can arise.”

ATTENTION MASSACHUSETTS ARTISTS! THE ARTISTS CONGRESS 2009

Creative Massachusetts: The Artists Congress 2009
Welcoming Artists of All Disciplines to a Discussion of Our Creative Future

November 7-8, 2009
Boston Public Library
700 Boylston Street
Boston, MA 02116

For more information, go HERE:
http://www.artistsunderthedome.org/program.html

I wanted to tell Massachusetts artists about this event coming up on November 7th and 8th in Boston. I was supposed to be on one of the panels and couldn't make it but there are many other arts professionals participating who you really should hear. Some of the topics discussed on panels will be: Networking tools for artists, Free and low-cost technology for artists and artist-run businesses and projects, grants and resources, copyright and IP protection, how to market, price, network and negotiate, info on artists residencies and more. This event is FREE and open to artists of all disciplines and is co-sponsered by the Kirstein Business Branch of the Boston Public Library and the Massachusetts Artists Leaders Coalition.

MORE TRAVEL & RESEARCH GRANTS

Greetings all...The theme this week is obviously travel grants. So many people have written me over the last couple months, saying that that is the main thing they are looking for, I just had to throw out a few things. More residency announcements to come, a new poll, and more of everything....just have patience my friends. Cheers, Mira

(MUSICIANS/COMPOSERS) Travel Research Grant
Columbia College Chicago, Center for Black Music Research: CBMR Travel Grants. The CBMR will award travel grants up to $1,000 to assist with transportation costs and daily subsistence expenses for a five-day research residency at the CBMR Library and Archives. The travel grants support research in the study and performance of black music repertoire and help scholars and musicians visit the CBMR Library and Archives to examine and use its archival collection of scores and sound recordings. Scholars, musicians, composers and conductors, educators, graduate students, and independent researchers are eligible to apply. Deadline: 9/1/2009. For more information, go to: http://www.colum.edu/CBMR/Library_and_Archives/CBMR_Travel_Grants.php

(SCHOLARS/HUMANITIES) Hayek Fund for Scholars
George Mason University, Institute for Humane Studies (IHS):
The Hayek Fund for Scholars makes strategic awards for career-enhancing activities such as presentations at academic or professional conferences, travel to academic job interviews (on campus or at professional or academic conferences), travel to and research at archives or libraries, participation in career development or enhancing seminars, distribution of a published article to colleagues in his or her field, and submission of unpublished manuscripts to journals or book publishers. For more information, go to: http://www.theihs.org/grants_and_contest/id.712/default.asp Awards are given up to $1,000. Applications accepted all year-round. Graduate students and un-tenured faculty members are eligible to apply.

(PERF. ARTS) Performing Arts Fund, French Embassy
The Visual and Performing Arts Department offers a variety of project, research travel, residency, and academic cooperation grants to American non-profit institutions and presenters for significant bilateral collaborations and for projects involving living French artists. Awards focus on contemporary work, but may also support the presentation of older works that play an important contextual role. Applications may be made through any of the regional Cultural Services’ offices. Deadline: September 15, 2009. For more information, go to: http://www.frenchculture.org/spip.php?article428&tout=ok.

COMING SOON—TCE CONFERENCE UPDATE

I just got back from the Transcultural Exchange Conference on International Opportunities in the Arts and it was amazing! I wish you all could have gone and highly suggest that you invest in yourself two years from now and make it to the next conference. There were people representing residencies from all over the world (Egypt, South Africa, Italy, France, Denmark, Ghana, China, and just about everywhere else!), as well as representatives from DAAD in Germany, the Fulbright Program, Res Artis, Trans Artists and many others—not to mention all the artists, writers and musicians who came to listen to those of us who spoke on panels. It was a unique opportunity to ask all those grant foundations and residency directors questions and also hear about application tips that aren't often posted on their websites. All of the speakers were very generous with their time and information and I am grateful for their accessibility and inspiring talks. Above all, I am (and I'm sure many others are as well) grateful to Mary Sherman, Founder and Director of Transcultural Exchange. She did a super human job putting the conference together. There was a great spirit of good-will amongst us all and Mary was largely responsible for creating that atmosphere.

Anyway, I have several things to share about tips on applying for grants and residencies as well as my own talk on grant writing that I gave at the conference. So keep your eyes peeled for those postings in the coming days and/or weeks, depending on how quickly I can get that material up. In the meantime, lots of deadlines are coming up mid-April and mid-May for residencies in the U.S. and abroad, so check this site as well as Res Artis, Trans Artists and Alliance of Artists Communities for more indepth information on international residencies.

I am pretty busy the next six weeks but I will try to keep up with my blog as best I can. In the meantime, keep applying, keep making great art, and keep in touch. Don't forget to comment on anything and I'll respond. And if you feel like this blog has been helpful, keep it going by sending in a small donation. Or send me a pony. I like ponies a lot.

THANK YOU FOR DONATING!

Much thanks to those of you who donated to Mira's List this past week since I sent out a request. It really helps. I appreciate your contribution and am grateful that you took the time to send something. I don't have all your email addresses so I apologize if I cannot thank you personally. Due to a medical problem (from a car accident in 1999) I need to do most of my work at home. And I'd love to spend some of that time continuing to do THIS for YOU. Your donations make that possible. Thank you!

I'm off to the conference on Thursday and hopefully will come back with some good information. I also have written a rather long piece on writing grants that I will post when I get back (or I'll just shorten it and post a condensed version). Other things coming up soon....info on travel to Central/South/Latin America and more opportunities for my most neglected group—those in the performing arts, film, music, etc.

And for those looking for writing contests, exhibition opportunities, and so on, please check the links on my sidebar under your specific genre.
See you next week!

ARTIST RESIDENCIES: ASK ME

I will be heading off this Thursday, April 2nd to the Transcultural Exchange Conference on Opportunities in the Arts in Boston. I'll be back in my office on Monday the 6th. If you have any burning questions about international residencies (as well as Fulbright grants), how to get them, how to fund them, specific places you'd like to know more about, etc., please click on "comments" below this posting and leave a question. That way, when I go to the conference, I can try to track down your answers while I'm there. So ask away! I'll do my best to try and find answers to your questions and will get back to you after the conference.