Motivations

Motivations

To think about your motivation seems superfluous, but it is an absolute necessity. Many residential art centers have strong reasons for running their program. Therefore you have to think about the reasons why you want to stay and work somewhere else.

Of course there are many different reasons, usually there is a mix of reasons. Each reason is just as legitimate as the other one. But be sure to match your own reasons with those of the artist-in-residence program.

Just ask yourself the following questions:

Going for education:

  • learning specific technical skills or crafts?
  • getting individual feed-back from experienced artists, curators, scholars?

Going for production:

  • realizing a fixed, individual project you have in mind already?
  • using specific technical tools, facilities and resources for your own purpose?
  • making art works for exhibiting?
  • orientation for future production in the region?

Going for isolation:

  • being away from daily worries?
  • being away from demanding pressures of the artist's profession?
  • taking in a different environment and culture?
  • anticipating new insights and inspiration?
  • concentrating on work you have in mind already?

Going for working together:

  • meeting local artists?
  • meeting other international residency artists?
  • working together with other artists for realizing a project?
  • giving lectures, workshops?

Going for your professional career:

  • exploring the arts in another country and culture?
  • contacting artists' initiatives, galleries, museums, music distributors, publishing houses?

Going for what?

  •  if you just want to go, for no specific reason at all, feel free to surf the TransArtists database and get inspired. You might even get an idea why to go!