EMERGENYC
Call for Applications 2011
Artivist Performance
DEADLINE: 17 FEBRUARY 2011
The Hemispheric Institute of Performance and Politics at New York University is now accepting applications for its fourth year of EMERGENYC, the Hemispheric New York Emerging Performers Program focused on “artivist” (artist/activist) performance. EMERGENYC aims to support the development of “hemispheric” artists through a program of workshops and events between April 16 and June 24, 2010 (see “The Program” section below for details). We seek talented, committed and highly motivated young performers/activists/artists whose work functions as a vehicle for political expression and social change, and who examine the broad range of identities, practices and histories of the Americas (the western hemisphere, thus “hemispheric”) through genres such as spoken word, street performance, political cabaret, performance art, video performance, movement, and others.
0am-2pm from April 16th to May 21st,participants work closely with George Emilio Sánchez in developing performance and activist strategies, such as Boalian techniques, performance art and site-specific interventions. Phase 2: intensive daily sessions (10am-5pm) from May 28th- June 5th, participants work closely with leading activists, artists and scholars, and explore specific tactics for work in the field (street performance, interviewing, videotaping, seeing other people’s work, etc.). Phase 3: Saturdays June 11th June 25th participants refine their work for a final presentation, building on the strategies explored through the workshops. Final event (evening of June 27th): participants will share their strategies, performances, and experiences in a public forum.
How to Apply
Please send the following materials to hemi.newyork@nyu.edu no later than February 17th 2011:
1) Completed application form (see below)
2) A resume or biographical statement (maximum 500 words) that tells us about who you are, where you are from, your performance background and your current projects.
3) A statement of purpose (maximum 750 words) describing the reasons you want to participate in EMERGENYC. Please also describe the specific social/political issues you would want to address through the program and any preliminary ideas about the communities where you might ground this work.
4) 2 letters of recommendation, which your recommenders must send directly to hemi.newyork@nyu.edu
5) Optional: Samples of your work.
6) Optional: A paragraph explaining your request for financial aid.
Selected participants will be notified the week of March 1st; registration payment will be due March 15th; and program activities will begin on Saturday, April 16th.
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The Hemispheric Institute of Performance and Politics is a collaborative, multilingual and interdisciplinary consortium of institutions, artists, scholars, and activists throughout the Americas. The organization’s mission is to map new areas of knowledge based on understanding embodied practice—performance—as a way of creating new meaning and transmitting cultural values, memory and identity. Through courses, work groups, conference/festivals, a digital video library, an online scholarly journal, a tri-lingual website, and public forums, the Institute explores the relationship between expressive behavior and social and political life in the Americas.
For more information on the Hemispheric Institute, please visit: http://hemisphericinstitute.org
APPLICATION FORM
Full Name:
Artistic Name (if any):
Street Address:
E-mail Address:
Phone Number(s):
Website (if any):
Date of Birth:
Languages spoken (other than English):
How long have you lived in New York City? If you don’t currently live in NYC, what is your plan for being in NYC during EMERGENYC (April – June 2011)?
Please provide us with the names
and contact information of your recommenders.
Recommender 1
Name:
E-mail Address:
Phone Number:
Recommender 2
Name:
E-mail Address:
Phone Number:
APPLICATION CHECKLIST (see Call for Applications for details)
☐ Completed application form
☐ Your biographical statement (250-500 words)
☐ Your statement of purpose (500-750 words)
☐ 2 letters of recommendation (to be sent directly to us by recommenders at hemi.newyork@nyu.edu)
☐ Optional: Samples of your work.
☐ Optional: A paragraph explaining your financial aid need.
• A statement of purpose (maximum 750 words) describing the reasons you want to participate in EMERGENYC. Please also describe the specific issues you would want to address through the program and any preliminary ideas about the communities where you would ground this work.
• 
Completed Application Form (attached)
• A resume or biographical statement (maximum 500 words) that tells us about who you are, where you are from, your performance background and your current projects.
• 2 letters of recommendation, which your recommenders must send directly to hemi.emergenyc@nyu.edu
Selected participants will be notified the week of March 1st; registration payment will be due March 15th; and program activities will begin on Saturday, April 16th.
This is what some EMERGENYC alumni have had to say about the program:
"EMERGENYC was such an important experience for me—both in the short term view of last year and in the long term view of my development as an artist and an activist. Last year was tough in a lot of ways, in part because it was such a big transitional year—my first year out of college, my first time living on my own. It was really easy to feel lost in all of that. EMERGENYC came at the perfect time: I found myself in a community of artists who were focusing on asking big questions about discrimination and identities and how to use performance to address both. Suddenly I had a supportive group of people encouraging me to try new things and challenging me to think more creatively and radically about power, politics, and performance. That community was incredibly important, and I plan to keep working with people from the program in the future. In many ways EMERGENYC fundamentally changed the way I think about my work. That's probably the biggest long-term gift that the program gave me: the ability to root my work as an artist in my activism. For a long time I've struggled to unite the two; at times I even thought that I had to pursue either one or the other. Emerge also helped me think about new possibilities for "artivism" in performance and to start thinking about what I can do now, with the resources that I have at the moment. There's really no other program like this."
