Why Host a Residency?
Hosting an artist-in-residence gives your students or clients exposure to an art form and a working artist they might not otherwise get, enriching their education and their sense of the world.
Arts in Education Residencies:
- Support students and educators in meeting Common Core and state standards
- Teach students collaboration and increase empathy
- Advance achievement and increase scores on standardized tests
- Help students develop a sense of community and belonging
- Increase students’ abilities to problem-solve and think creatively
- Teach about cultures and experiences that widen students’ perspectives
- Trigger children’s imagination and activate multiple intelligences
There are different benefits for different host organizations.
Schools:
Artists-in-residence offer schools an experience of the arts that expands the scope of the curriculum, without huge monetary expenditures or the addition of permanent staff. In addition, artists support the teachers by helping to meet state standards in a variety of subject areas, including the arts and humanities, and by offering one-on-one training in the art form they’re teaching.
Students reap the most tremendous benefits. As reported by Americans for the Arts, “Students with an education rich in the arts have higher GPAs and standardized test scores, and lower drop-out rates—benefits reaped by students regardless of socio-economic status. Students with 4 years of arts or music in high school average 100 points higher on the verbal and math portions of their SATs than students with just one-half year of arts or music.”
Though arts in education is proven to be beneficial to all students, it’s an incredibly powerful way to reach at-risk students and to combat some of the wider social issues facing our nation at this moment. A study by James Catterall at UCLA, involving 25,000 students, shows that 12th grade students who were involved in theater arts programs were more likely than all other 12th graders to interact meaningfully and well with other racial groups, and significantly less likely to tolerate racist behavior from others. In addition, a studty at Stanford University noted that arts programs outpaced academic and athletic after-school programs in improving the communication skills, commitment, collaborative skills, discipline, and self-expression for at-risk youth. In addition, the wider school community benefits from the residency by working with the artist, watching performances, or enjoying permanent installations the artist makes in the building itself.
Through Millersville University, we are also able to offer teachers the following benefits:
- PA Department of Education Act 80 Arts Education In-Service
- PA Department of Education Act 48 Credit Qualified Training
- Pennsylvania Quality Assurance System (PQAS) professional development experiences for early childhood and school‐age teachers
Senior Centers
Creative Aging, a new area of attention in programming for senior citizens, shows that exposure to the arts is a vital component of happiness and well-being for older adults. The NEA’s research report, The Creativity and Aging Study The Impact of Professionally Conducted Cultural Programs on Older Adults Final Report: April 2006 showed that: “senior citizens who participated in community-based art programs run by professional artists experienced true health promotion and disease prevention effects…they also reveal a positive impact on maintaining independence and on reducing dependency…these community-based cultural programs for older adults appear to be reducing risk factors that drive the need for long-term care.”
Other organizations
Residencies are also available for veterans homes, businesses, and a host of other community organizations. All of these entities stand to benefit tremendously from their time with a visiting artist. If you think your organization could qualify for a residency, please contact Julie Pyle Childs, Program Manager for South Central PaARTners at (717) 871-4207.
How it works
South Central PaARTners will work closely with you to identify your goals and match you with an artist best suited to your organization. With your input, the artist will plan a project to enrich and expand your programming.
The average artist’s residency is ten to twenty days in length, though many other options are available, ranging from 5-day ensemble residencies to 180-day residencies for individual artists.
The artist will engage up to three core groups (of 30 participants or fewer) every day that he or she is in residence, but will also engage with the wider population of the school or host site, and provide some component of in-service training and community outreach as part of the residency.
Who Are the Artists?
Our residents are selected from a wide pool of applicants, and must meet specific criteria as professional, working artists. This criteria includes artistic excellence, the ability to communicate and teach effectively, and the ability to develop programs that meet the needs of our hosts.
Applicants must submit a portfolio of work for consideration, and are interviewed by a panel of arts experts. They are observed in a classroom setting (or other appropriate teaching venue) and must get all the background clearances mandated by the Pennsylvania State Department of Education.
What are the Costs?
The cost of residencies vary by length of the artist’s stay, the artist selected, mileage costs, etc. South Central PaARTners matches the cost of the residencies as follows:
| Residency Length | Total Residency cost* | PCA Funding | Host Support | Host % Match |
| 10 days | $2,200 | $600 (30%) | $1,600 | 70% |
| 15 days | $3,300 | $1,200 (40%) | $2,100 | 60% |
| 20 days | $4,400 | $2,000 (50%) | $2,400 | 50% |
*Based on $200/day payment to artist and 10% administrative fee. Does not include mileage, lodging, or supplies.
Residencies that are longer than 20 days may be matched beyond 50 percent, with the approval of South Central PaARTners and the PA Council on the Arts.
The host site can use its own budgetary funds, district funds, PTO/PTA/PTG, booster organizations, fund-raising events, additional grants (other than PCA), municipality funding, private contributions, etc.
Once South Central PaARTners approves the residency, the administrator for the host site will receive a letter of confirmation detailing all the costs. Upon completion of the residency, South Central PaARTners will pay the artist and invoice the host site for their percentage of the payment.
How do I Apply?
A residency can be initiated by any party related to the project (a teacher, administrator, community organization, rostered artist, etc.). This person would submit a Request for Residency to South Central PaARTners. If approved, South Central PaARTners will either find a rostered artist we think best suited to the residency, or, if the host has already indicated a preferred rostered artist, contact that individual. (If the host has chosen an artist who is not rostered with us, the artist needs to apply and be accepted before the residency begins.
Once the artist has been selected, South Central PaARTners will initiate a meeting between our Program Manager, the artist, and the host site coordinator at the site the residency would occur, making sure to identify the needs of the host and sketch out a residency that will best suit those needs.
The host coordinator will then complete the Application Form in collaboration with the artist. Once submitted, South Central PaARTners will review the application and notify the host of approval within four weeks from receipt of the application. Our Program Manager will visit the residency periodically to make on-site observations and assessments.
Residency requests are ideally made by June of each year, though they will be accepted as long as funding is available. Funding approval is contingent on state budget appropriations to the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, and the strength of the residency application. We offer funding on a first-come, first-served basis to qualifying applications.