2016 Artist Residency Forum

Creating & Achieving Best Practices

The Sheila Hugh Mackay Foundation’s forum “Creating & Achieving Best Practices in Artist Residency” is part of its continued commitment to open discussion and collaboration. As advocates for excellence in career development for New Brunswick artists, the Board of Director’s presented an invitational forum on June 4th, 2016. This networking opportunity extends the work begun in 2014 with “A Call to Create.”

Held the National Water Centre on the Kennebecasis River, this forum was dedicated to focused discussions among leaders in creating, sustaining and evaluating residencies. In preparation for this day of reflection, SHMF commissioned a documentary of current practices in residency in New Brunswick and experiences of New Brunswick artists working in residency situations outside the province. This video was launched at the forum and followed by a panel discussion and small group input sessions.

Studio Tour: 13 Conversations About Artist Residencies from Matt Brown on Vimeo.

Moderated by John Murchie, a panel discussion by Gillian Dykeman, Linda Rae Dornan, Ann Manuel and Don McAlpine opened the day’s consideration of best practices in residency. Using the technique of Open Space conferencing, Louie Surette then led the group to the creation of 16 conversation groups resulting in a broad based look at where New Brunswick is on the residency map. The Book of Proceedings is a summary of the ideas presented and is available here to capture the ideas presented.

This exchange of ideas will be important to SHMF as it evaluates what it has achieved with its residency initiatives since 2014. It is the hope of the Board of Directors that this day of networking and reflection will assist valuable feedback for all attendees in creating and achieving best practices in artist residencies.