retreat

Dates: January 20 - February 01, 2020

Overview

The Winter Writers Retreat is a self-directed program that offers time and space for writers to retreat, reconnect, and re-energize their writing practice. In addition to a single room, which doubles as your private studio, you will be surrounded by a community of artistic peers. You will have the opportunity to attend inspiring talks and performances and meet with guest faculty to consult on your work.

What does the program offer?

This self-directed residency offers the opportunity to work away from the constraints of everyday life. Delve deep into your creative project and take advantage of the artistic community around you. Writing circles, formal and informal lectures, and opportunities to workshop your project will be provided. Take advantage of Banff National Park's natural environment and ignite your senses by signing up for various hikes and day trips offered through our Participant Resources department.

Participants can request to extend their say for an additional week, from February 2 - 8, 2020 (additional room and meal fees will apply). Mentorship will not be offered during extended stays. 

Who should apply? 

Writers in all creative genres are invited to apply. The program is designed for emerging and established writers with a proven publication record seeking a period of dedicated time to work on a project in any genre.

We welcome writers from all backgrounds, and all gender identities and expressions.

What's Included

• Single Room
• Regular Meal Plan
• Showcase Your Work
• Gym Membership
• Paul D. Fleck Library and Archives
• Box Office Discounts
• Participant Resources

Fees & Financial Assistance

• Program Fee: Two-Week Option: $1 729.68+GST
• Program Fee: Three-Week Option: $2 610.98 +GST

Application fee: $65

Help fund your experience at Banff Centre! View a compiled list of external national and international opportunities here.

Funding from Banff Centre is not available for this program.

All Is Leaf: The Phoenix Earthship

An Art and Ecology Residency

Meet All Is Leaf… A roaming residency program featuring art retreats in very special spaces dedicated to fostering ecological consciousness within the creative practice through deep, meaningful engagement with the earth and others.  

Found among the notes of the poet Johann Wolfgang Goethe is the claim:

“Everything is leaf.”

Through his fascination with plants and an in depth examination of their totality, noting the “morphology” of of the natural world, he concluded that every part of a plant is leaf.  On nature, Goethe wrote, “We live within her, yet are foreign to her. Conversing with us endlessly, she never divulges her secret… Nature is even the unnatural. Those who cannot see her everywhere do not see her clearly anywhere.”

All Is Leaf is now accepting submissions for The Phoenix Earthship Residency from June 11-17, 2019. All creative beings seeking dedicated time to contemplate land and earth and who desire participation in sustainable creative acts to change the world are encouraged to apply. If your work advocates awareness, innovation, or revolution towards a better relationship with our earth and each other, we want to hear from you.  Stay in a 5300 square foot earthen complex while making art and interacting with the beautiful New Mexico landscape, flora, and fauna.  This is a one-time residency experience, as All Is Leaf is a nomadic program looking to introduce artists to new ways of making and thinking concerning astute environmental consciousness.

The Phoenix is an Earthship.

An Earthship is a brand of passive solar earth shelter that is made of both natural and upcycled materials such as earth-packed tires, pioneered by architect Michael Reynolds.

The Phoenix Earthship is a 5300 square foot earthen complex, a work of sustainable art and an ongoing experiment in sustainable design which was featured in 2014 as one of Lonely Planet’s Top Ten Eco-Stays.  It includes a jungle greenhouse which creates its own microclimate and outer greenhouse features towering banana trees, grape vines, birds, turtles and even a fish pond, an Earthship-inspired chicken coop and run, an outdoor fire pit with seating, BBQ grill and outdoor eating and sitting area. A cozy fireplace with water fountain, free WiFi and TV with Netflix are also available and are all solar-powered. Custom finishes abound in this fantastical Earthship, including stained glass and handmade tile. The outer attached (or second) greenhouse is busy with plants, live birds ~ that fly about freely and a fish and turtle pond. There is a large yard with a fire pit, and propane grill. The property is high mountain desert and is completely off-the-grid.  The sunrises and sunsets are special every day, and the non-existent light pollution makes star gazing one of the favorite activities of visitors and residents alike.

The Earthship is located in the Greater World Community, the world's only Earthship subdivision. Started in 1994, this Earthship subdivision is the only official off-grid subdivision in the world and encompasses 630 acres of rolling sage-covered mesa with a deep gorge and beautiful views of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains. Guests have access to the Earthship Visitors Center free of charge to learn all about Earthships.

This residency includes:

7 days, 6 nights in The Phoenix Earthship - king size bed, private room

Access to the entire Phoenix Earthship complex and the surrounding grounds for contemplation and creation of work

Meals and snacks for the duration of the residency

Application assistance for grants, residencies, jobs, etc

Transportation to local excursions (local airport pickup/dropoff also available)

Optional participation in reading groups and discussions regarding art and ecology

Apply as an individual artist or collaborative group.  Applications Due May 1, 2019.

Artists notified by May 15, 2019.

Please submit the following materials here:

Artist Statement

Resume/CV

10 images or 3 writing samples or 3 video or audio samples of your work.

$10 Application fee

Artist Responsibilities:

Transportation to Taos NM

Materials during residency

Your host…

Stacy Scibelli is an artist and designer originally from New York. Having served as faculty for several academic institutions, including Rutgers University, SUNY, and Parsons: The New School, and as visiting artist at Olin College and RISD, she has worked extensively advising students along their creative pathway and has years of experience generating creativity and accessing the flow state. Stacy’s experience with curricular development and program coordination, as well as having the honor of participating as an Artist in Residence at Mass MOCA, Otis College of Art in Los Angeles, the Boston Center for the Arts, and Intercultural Odysseys in Costa Rica, has generated a vested interest in communal art making and residency programming. Additionally, as an original founding member of The Shirey in Brooklyn, Stacy has cultivated a passion for collective art spaces and the connections made through sharing the sacred space of intentional making and meaningful work.  Stacy travels with students internationally regularly, facilitating service learning through institutions and companies such as Rustic Pathways, sharing her passion for exploration and learning through positive action and responsible education.  She is a recipient of a Mass MOCA Assets for Artists grant, a Franklin Furnace Grant, and a project grant from Possible Futures in Atlanta GA.  Her habit of regularly submitting to many different opportunities makes her a good sounding board for anyone struggling to assemble an application.  Stacy has exhibited at Field Projects, Proof Gallery, Present Company, and The Parlour Bushwick in Brooklyn, the Danforth Art Museum, and the Torrance Art Museum in Los Angeles, in addition to performing at Dixon Place, the Slipper Room, and various other venues.  

During the residency, Stacy will be available for dialogue and assistance on the art making process and concept development.  Stacy will be preparing the meals and arranging all of the excursions, which are totally optional but also open to suggestion and collaboration. Please email Stacy at allisleaf@gmail.com or stacyalexis@gmail.com with questions or for more information!

Please take note: there are no dedicated art facilities at The Phoenix.  This residency is best suited for small works, contemplation, performance, documentation, research, and writing.  You are free to utilize the entire space and the surrounding grounds, but no alterations can be made to the property.  The mission of All Is Leaf is to facilitate access to unique and novel environments that impact the creative process.