FAQS
Please look through our FAQs to see if we covered questions you may have about Our Space or the artist call. If your question is not covered below, please email Our Space project coordinator, Elle Thoni, at elle@tcmediaalliance.org.
GENERAL OUR SPACE QUESTIONS
At Twin Cities Media Alliance (TCMA), we love public art, and we see it as a live, place-based form of media that has the power to transform community and civic dialogue through its creative reclamation of physical spaces. Public art should not be limited to static installations: physical constructions, murals or utility boxes that often exclude media and performance artists in public artmaking. Our Space Is Spoken For is meant to disrupt people’s perception of both public art and public space, reclaiming them for the community.
By engaging professional artists from different disciplines in public artmaking, we hope to improve both our community dialogues and existing opportunities for artists.
We see public art as a live, place-based form of media that has the power to transform community and civic dialogue through its creative reclamation of physical spaces. In this way, Our Space is serving TCMA’s mission, which is to equip individuals and organizations with the power of media arts to shape narratives that advance equity and justice. One of the ways we execute this mission is through media arts projects, like the Twin Cities Daily Planet, that provide platforms for the stories and issues affecting historically marginalized communities to be told.
This is the inaugural year of Our Space is Spoken For, and we hope the first of many!
Yes! If you are a Saint Paul resident of color or indigenous resident in West Side, Frogtown, Rondo, Dayton’s Bluff, or Payne-Phalen, we encourage you to submit a story to our Community Storyteller call.
We also have volunteer opportunities at one of our story collection events and/or performance sites. If you’re interested in volunteering, email Elle Thoni, Our Space project manager, at elle@tcmediaalliance.org.
ARTIST CALL ENTRY QUESTIONS
The deadline to apply to the artist call is Thursday, May 31 at 11:59 PM
Each artist selected will be paid a fee of $3,000 for their participation in Our Space for the project period, which will run June – August 2018 and conclude with a film screening and panel discussion in October 2018. TCMA will cover all cost of project materials and consultation with a creative specialist within a budget to be announced at the Our Space artist orientation.
Our Space artists will also receive professional video and photo documentation of their performances, and a two-day intensive public art training with Forecast Public Art.
This artist opportunity is for POC/I (People of Color/ Indigenous) artists.
If you would like submit your name and skillset to us for our Creative Specialist roster, please email Our Space project coordinator, Elle Thoni, at elle@tcmediaalliance.org. Please note that inclusion on the roster does not guarantee employment.
Yes! POC/I artists living anywhere in the seven county Twin Cities metro area (Anoka, Carver, Dakota, Hennepin, Ramsey, Scott, and Washington counties) are eligible to apply.
Professional artists see their art as a career, not a hobby. If part of their livelihood does not already come from their art, that is a goal they are actively working towards. Professional artists participate in professional artist opportunities such as gallery exhibits, private or public commissions, performances, etc, and often times have a professional identity such as a website, seperate social media accounts etc.
A community or cultural connection can manifest in a myriad of ways. As the applicant, we ask you to define it for yourself. Did you grow up visiting a relative in the community? Do you live there? Work there? Worship there? Is the community a place where you see people of your cultural background strongly represented?
An artist bio is a brief, narrative explanation of yourself and your major activity as an artist to date.
For your Our Space application, we ask for an artist bio includes background info, artistic focus/recurring themes in your work, formal/informal education (schooling, apprenticeship, mentorship, personal study etc), and any major artistic undertakings.
No. Work samples will be reviewed for the quality of artistic content, not on how professionally it is documented. We understand that professional documentation is not accessible to all artists all of the time, so please don’t worry if your samples were taken with a phone instead of a professional camera. We’re just interested in seeing your best work!
Email Our Space project coordinator, Elle Thoni, at elle@tcmediaalliance.org.