SOCRATES SCULPTURE PARK 2010 APPLICATION GUIDELINES

SOCRATES SCULPTURE PARK
32-01 VERNON BOULEVARD (AT BROADWAY)
LONG ISLAND CITY, NY 11106
TEL: 718-956-1819; FAX: 718-626-1533
WWW.SOCRATESSCULPTUREPARK.ORG
EMAIL: INFO@SOCRATESSCULPTUREPARK.ORG

Artists can apply for one or more of the following exhibition categories:

-SPRING EXHIBITION
-EMERGING ARTIST FELLOWSHIP PROGRAM
-OPEN SPACE

THE 2010 APPLICATION GUIDELINES ARE AVAILABLE ON OUR WEBSITE: WWW.SOCRATESSCULPTUREPARK.ORG


DEADLINE: MONDAY, JANUARY 25, 2010 (due in-hand, by 5pm)


ABOUT SOCRATES SCULPTURE PARK
Socrates Sculpture Park was an abandoned landfill and illegal dumpsite until 1986 when a coalition of artists and community members, under the leadership of sculptor Mark di Suvero, transformed it into an open studio and exhibition space for artists and a neighborhood park for local residents. The Park is an innovative public/private partnership that has become an internationally renowned outdoor museum and artist residency program that also serves as a vital New York City park offering a wide variety of free public programs.

Located in an industrial neighborhood in Long Island City, Socrates is a waterfront park that overlooks the Manhattan skyline; the site is an affecting and inspiring place for artists to work and a spectacular setting for the presentation of public art. To date, Socrates has hosted close to 800 artists and currently attracts more than 75,000 visitors annually. Socrates Sculpture Park's existence is based on the belief that reclamation, revitalization and creative expression are essential to the survival, humanity and improvement of our urban environment.

Socrates Sculpture Park is the only site in the New York Metropolitan area specifically dedicated to providing artists with opportunities to create and exhibit large-scale sculpture and multi-media installations in an outdoor environment that invites interaction between artists, artworks and the public. Socrates is a laboratory where experimentation and innovation expand, reinvent and redefine the tradition of art in public spaces.

APPLICATION PROCEDURE
Artists seeking a Socrates Sculpture Park grant are strongly encouraged to visit the Park before submitting their application. Applicants must take into account the site's rugged, urban outdoor environment and be aware that sculptures installed in the Park must meet safety requirements and be able to withstand the effects of weather and public use. Visiting the site will give applicants a clearer idea of the factors that effect installations at the Park and an overview of the facilities that the Park has to offer, including the tools and equipment available in the studio and the materials and resources available in Long Island City.

Artists can apply for one or more of the following exhibition categories:

·Spring Exhibition
·Emerging Artist Fellowship Program
·Open Space

If you are applying for more than one exhibition category, you only need to send one application package.

Grants and fellowships are not available to artists who are enrolled in a school, college or university program.

2010 Spring Exhibition
May to August 2010
This exhibition will examine the presence of nature within the fabric of urban life. The introduction or invasion of plants and animals in the cityscape symbolizes a broad scope of conditions and dynamics - from far reaching social, political, economic and aesthetic issues to an individual's relationship with their immediate surroundings. Nature's presence in the urban environment can take many forms: green roofs, community gardens, city parks, corporate plazas; Peregrine Falcons nesting on 5th Avenue balconies; vast populations of rats and pigeons that have readily adapted to the habitat of busy streets; Ailanthus trees growing from crumbling buildings, abandoned construction sites, and cracks in the sidewalk. This range from invited and cultivated to invasive and insidious represents everything from the most innovative urban planning and a trend towards the greening of cities to a symptom of and contributor to the decay of the built environment.

For this exhibition, Socrates will provide artists with funding, administrative and technical assistance, a one to three month residency in the outdoor studio, and access to facilities, materials and equipment to create a new work - or will assist with shipping and rigging to place an already existing work - to be presented in this exhibition. The amount of financial support available to artists is contingent upon the requirements of their proposal and the funding that Socrates receives to support this exhibition.

Eligibility:
Participation in the spring exhibition is open to all artists, nationally and internationally, but Socrates cannot provide any housing or transportation. Artists living outside New York will have to make their own living and travel arrangements. Artists who are enrolled in a school, college or university are not eligible for this program.

Emerging Artist Fellowship Program
September 2010 to March 2011
Emerging Artist Fellowship recipients are granted financial support in the amount of $5,000, a residency in the outdoor studio (beginning in March 2010), and access to facilities, materials, equipment and technical assistance to create a work for the annual Emerging Artist Fellowship Exhibition. Fellows are also given the administrative assistance to do additional fundraising for their project, procure in-kind support and pursue future commissions, residencies and placement for their work.

Fellowship artists are selected through an open application process. Proposals are reviewed by an advisory committee composed of past EAF recipients, prominent curators, artists, writers, gallerists and arts administrators. Following the first round of selections, Socrates staff members meet with the artists individually to discuss their proposal in greater detail and assist them with the development, engineering and fabrication of the project.

Eligibility:
Fellowships are awarded to artists who are not yet well established, are New York State residents, and are in need of financial assistance. Artists who are enrolled in a school, college or university are not eligible for the Emerging Artist Fellowship program.

Open Space
Socrates grants are also awarded for single artist projects and collaborations that are presented as separate exhibitions throughout the year. Through the Open Space program, Socrates provides artists with funding, administrative and technical assistance, a one to six month residency in the outdoor studio, and access to facilities, materials and equipment to create a new work - or will assist with shipping and rigging to place an already existing work - for exhibition in the Park. Funding for this program varies from year to year and the amount of financial support available to artists is contingent upon the requirements of a given proposal and the grants that Socrates receives to support the Open Space exhibitions.

Eligibility:
This program is open to all artists, nationally and internationally, but Socrates can not provide any housing or transportation. Artists living outside New York will have to make their own living and travel arrangements. Artists who are enrolled in a school, college or university are not eligible for this program.

Information about Socrates Sculpture Park and application guidelines are available on the web: www.socratessculpturepark.org