Open Call for St. Elmo Arts Residency 2021

Mar. 26, 2021

St. Elmo is currently seeking applications for the 2021–22 residency fellowship. The St. Elmo Arts Residency is a joint project of the Department of Art and Art History and the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center at The University of Texas at Austin, which offers one fellowship each academic year to a newly minted MFA artist in painting, drawing, print, photo, sculpture or multimedia. The residency includes a beautiful house and studio in a small artist compound in the St. Elmo district of South Austin, located midway between the university campus and the Wildflower Center.

‘Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center’, Open Call for St. Elmo Residency 2021 // Courtesy of St. Elmo

The residency period runs from early August 2021 until mid-May 2022. Past fellows have included Dawn Kim, Merideth Hillbrand, and Katy McCarthy. Successful recipients of the fellowship will receive 24-hour access to a private 1800 sq. ft. studio as well as a private furnished house capable of accommodating the fellow and a partner (although the house cannot accommodate children). They will also receive a $30,000 stipend and access to health insurance and benefits, and part-time teaching experience at UT Austin and the Wildflower Center. The successful recipient will have compelling work with significant potential. The artist can specialize in any medium.

If accepted, the fellow would be responsible for a 9-and-a-half-month commitment of teaching one class per semester (two classes total) in Studio Art in the Department of Art and Art History and one workshop per semester (two workshops total) at the Wildflower Center. The fellow will also be required to give a public lecture on their work, and organize a solo exhibition.

In terms of eligibility, only artists graduating from an MFA program in autumn 2020 to July 1, 2021 can apply. If you are scheduled to graduate after July 1, 2021, please apply in the next application cycle. As well as this, only artists graduating from US graduate MFA programs are eligible to apply. If you are graduating from an MFA program located anywhere besides the USA and hold an American passport you are eligible to apply. This constraint is due to visa deadlines. Unfortunately, UT Austin Department of Art and Art History Studio Art graduate students and alumni are not eligible to apply.

There is a $10 application fee and all applications must be submitted via SlideRoom. To apply you must submit your CV, an artist statement, teaching statement, and your general interest and ideas about teaching a college course and workshop in your specialty. As well as this, you must include your portfolio, two references, your unofficial transcript, and a letter or email confirming that you will be graduating between fall 2020 and July 1, 2021. The successful applicant will be selected in May.