Group Residency Programme, Italy: WRITING with PLACE

This Group Residency has been devised by Tracy Mackenna (she/her), artist, educator and curator of The Museum of Loss and Renewal in partnership with writer Elizabeth K Reeder and writer and artist Amanda Thomson.

WRITING with PLACE will be led by Tracy, Elizabeth and Amanda who share a passion for writing, and the design, production, publishing and dissemination of printed matter and digital publications. Between us we activate diverse skills and expertise when we employ text, language, writing, publishing and performative modes of working to investigate place(making), (un)belonging, loss, renewal, memory, (personal)narratives and imaginary futures.

FOCAL POINTS
Writing in an expanded sense
Immersive experience
Semi-structured programme
Co-learning
Individual practice
Slow time and slow processing
Collective platform for encounters
Expert facilitators and programme contributors
Supportive, caring, non-hierarchical environment
Interdisciplinarity
Technologies
Books, Readings
Experimentation and play
Location specific, including pre-Roman and Roman sites
Imagining Futures
Cultural and environmental ecologies
Memory, loss, renewal
Fully catered

AIM
The aim of the Group Residency is to develop ‘writing’ and approaches to ‘writing’ that are experimental, inventive in their form, and that respond to place, in a specific environment. Bringing together residents from a range of areas of practice and research, the potential to create an international network is made possible.
The Group Residency provides opportunities for approx. 9 creative practitioners and researchers to share and establish a bank of knowledge and creative strategies, both globally interconnected and hyper local, digital and analogue, for imagining new responses to places and the multiple, layered and contested histories they hold.

DISCIPLINES
We welcome applications from people working in creative practices, research, writing, poetry, performance, scenography, education etc. and for those who have a strong interest in ‘writing’ as an area of practice. The group will comprise of approx. nine participants.
‘Writing’ is understood as creative and critical, and situated writing as an area of practice in its most expanded sense. In other words, writing that is experimental, inventive in its form, and responds to place.

ACCOMMODATION
Accommodation / Residents are accommodated in two recently renovated, comfortable houses situated a couple of minutes walk from each other. Houses have fully equipped kitchens, bathrooms, sitting rooms, and double, twin and single bedrooms. Single use bedrooms can be allocated dependent on accessibility requirements. Central heating and internet throughout. Cleaning is included in cost.

WORKSPACE
Studios / Workspaces are located in buildings that are situated a couple of minutes walk from each other, and from accommodation. They are recently renovated and include indoor and outdoor making spaces, and desk space. Internet throughout.

FEES and SUPPORT
The Residency Programme is operated on a non-commercial cost-covering basis, and is financially supported by The Museum of Loss and Renewal in order to keep fees low. The residency fee is €1750 (Euro) paid by the resident. It includes the residency programme, accommodation, full board, collection/return to nearest train/bus station, accommodation in a variety of spacious rooms, excellent studio spaces. Double, twin and single bedrooms are available. Single bedrooms are allocated dependent on access needs. Catering (3 meals each day) includes ingredients that are mainly locally sourced and meals prepared by our cook. Vegan and vegetarian diets can be catered for.

A deposit of 50% is payable within three weeks of being offered a place on the residency programme (non-refundable). The remaining balance is payable eight weeks in advance of the residency start date. In the event that cancellation is required, residents may cancel up to a minimum of six weeks prior to their residency start date. If a resident has to end the residency early due to personal circumstances, a refund cannot not be issued.

You will be responsible for funding and organising your own travel, your own insurances and any visa requirements particular to your country of origin. Detailed travel information will be supplied (closest airports Naples, Rome), and collection/drop-off at a local train station will be arranged.

We do not have external funding for this project, so regret that we are unable to offer assistance with fees, flights, production costs or other subsistence. Typically, successful applicants source funding by applying to their national arts funding bodies, personal fundraising, or through academic institutional support. Formal letters of invitation can be provided to assist in this process.

The programme consists of:
Subject-specific sessions by facilitators
Presentations and exercises by facilitators/programme contributors
Collective and individual (mentored) working sessions
Working sessions in the local environment
Museum / gallery / festival visit
Readings of theories and texts
Catered discursive meals
Collective critical evaluation and forecasting