HOW TO APPLY TO THE OPEN STUDIO RESIDENCY
Every year, Struts Gallery welcomes applications from professional visual and media artists to participate in our annual Open Studio Residency Program. Successful applicants are selected by a committee of professional artists. Applications open annually after Labour day for the residencies beginning the following year. All calls are listed on our OPEN CALLS page and posted on social media.
ABOUT THE RESIDENCY
Residencies are typically five-weeks long. The program aims to develop artists’ practices by supporting experimentation without the pressure to present a resolved body of work. Artists are offered the freedom to continue their practice or develop a new project or site-specific work. The residency is artist-driven and independent, with staff assistance available for community outreach, technical and logistical support. Artists are asked to creatively engage with the community through at least one public event (artist talk, workshop, or another artist-initiated event).
Participants are provided 24-hour access to a studio space in the gallery and a private, furnished apartment with a separate entrance on the 2nd floor above the gallery.
Residencies are selected in a two-step process. First a committee of Struts Gallery members reviews the applications and determine a short list of artists. Secondly, Struts staff conduct interviews with the short list.
PAYMENT & ACCOMMODATIONS
Struts Gallery pays an artist fee of $3250, $30 per diem ($750 total for 25 working days), travel costs to a maximum of $800, and $200 toward materials associated with workshops or other public events. Artists-in-residence also have access to the centre’s media arts equipment and facilities.
STUDIO FACILITIES
Participants are provided with 24-hour access to a studio space in the gallery. The studio space is open to the public during regular operating hours. Artists in Residence also have access to the centre’s media arts equipment and facilities, including our extensive equipment holdings (click here for a full list).
MORE ABOUT THE APARTMENT
Visiting artists stay in the Struts Gallery apartment, located on the second floor above the gallery. This private apartment is fully furnished and includes linens and towels, and basic kitchen amenities. It has two bedrooms, each with a queen sized beds, a washroom with a tub, a kitchen, a pantry and a living room. The building is over 100 years old and feels like it. The gallery and apartment are right downtown, with a big grocery store a 3-minute walk away.
ACCESSIBILITY
There are two flights of stairs that lead to the second floor. There are no washrooms in the building that are wheelchair accessible, have safety grab bars or supports at this time. The nearest accessible washroom is at The Painted Pony about 500m away on Bridge Street. Our second floor is not wheelchair accessible. We sincerely apologize for these barriers.
MORE ABOUT SACKVILLE
Sackville is a rural community of roughly 6000 people in the newly amalgamated district of Tantramar, built on unceded Mi’kma’ki. Its largest institution is Mount Allison University, with the campus taking up a substantial amount of the town. It has a prized Waterfowl Park, a hospital, a public library, a liquor store, a cannabis dispensary, a few banks, a few gas stations and fast food by the highway, and as many restaurants and bars as you can count on two hands. It has very limited commercial resources – no big box stores. You can get a monthly pass at the university gym.
Sackville has a very high density of artists per capita, and Struts Gallery operates within an extremely supportive arts community. We rely on the generosity of our community to source equipment and random things for visiting artists. Struts is a 30-minute drive along the trans-Canada Highway to Moncton, and 15 minutes to Amherst, where you can find most big box stores and commercial amenities.
Sackville is fantastic for walking and running and engaging with the land. In the summer months, Silver Lake is a ten-minute bike and is a fantastic swim. The beautiful sandy beaches of the Northumberland Coast are a 30-40 minute car drive north. To the south, the dramatic tides of the Bay of Fundy.
TRANSPORTATION
Sackville has no public transportation as almost everything is walkable. Struts can provide you with a bicycle, but we have no vehicle. The closest car rental location is Amherst, but people tend to have better luck with car sharing apps.