Dream Of Being Artist-In-Residence at a National Park?

Here's the List of Participating National Parks
by Kurt Repanshek on May 12, 2011       

At least 29 units of the National Park System offer "artist-in-residence" programs. Those accepted range from visual artists and photographer to sculptors, composers, and even writers. Here's a list of those parks and the application deadlines.

Some programs have specific application deadlines that might already have passed, some have varying deadlines throughout the year, and some take applications year-round. The following information is current to the best of our knowledge.

Acadia National Park
Residencies open to: Two-dimensional visual artists, photographers, sculptors, performers, writers, composers
Application deadline: November 1 to January 1 (received)
Residency period: May, early June, September, October
Number & length of residencies: Five to six of three weeks each
For More Information, including application: http://www.nps.gov/acad/supportyourpark/artistinresidence.htm

Badlands National Park
Residencies open to: Two-dimensional visual artists, photographers, sculptors, performers, writers, video/filmmakers, composers
Application Deadline: For Fall residency - June 15 (received); for Spring residency - December 15 (received)
Residency period: (Fall) mid-September to October; (Spring) March to mid-May
Number & length of residencies: Two of four to six weeks each
For more information: http://www.nps.gov/badl/supportyourpark/air.htm

Buffalo National River
Residencies open to: Two-dimensional visual artists, photographers, sculptors, performers, writers, video/filmmakers, composers
Application deadline: January 31 (postmarked)
Residency period: March - November
Number & length of residencies: Four of up to three weeks each.
For more information: http://www.nps.gov/buff/supportyourpark/air-application.htm

Cape Cod National Seashore
This national seashore hosts two individual residency programs.
C-Scape Dune Shack
Residencies open to: Two dimensional visual artists, photographers, sculptors, performers, writers, video/filmmakers
Application deadline: February 15, (postmarked)
Residency period: Year-round
Number & length of residencies: Number varies, from one week to up to three months each
Contact: Tom Boland, Residency Coordinator, at tomboland@mediaone.net
For additional information, write: Provincetown Community Compact, Inc., PO Box 819, Provincetown, Massachusetts USA 02657 (Include a 52-cent stamped self-addressed envelope)
The Margo-Gelb Shack
Residencies open to: Two-dimensional visual artists, photographers, sculptors, writers, video/filmmakers
Application deadline: February 1(received)
Residency period: Mid-May through mid-October
Number & length of residencies: Six of two weeks each
Contact: Send a 52-cent self-addressed stamped envelope to OCARC, 22 Nelson Avenue, Provincetown, Massachusetts USA 02657

Crater Lake National Park
Residencies open to: Two-dimensional visual artists, photographers, sculptors, painters, dancers, cinematictographers, musicians, writers, composers, and other visual and performing artists.
Application deadline: TBA
Residency period: June - October
Number & length of residencies: Two artists; up to two weeks residency.
For more information, including application: http://www.nps.gov/crla/air.htm

Cuyahoga Valley National Park
Residencies open to: Two-dimensional visual artists, photographers, sculptors, performers, writers, video/filmmakers, composers, craft artists
Application deadline: (Spring) December 15; (Summer) February 16
Residency period: (Spring) March through May; (Summer) June through September
Number & length of residencies: Two of six to eight weeks each
Contact: Mary Pat Doorley, Cultural Arts Program Manager, at 440-546-5995 CST, or mary_pat_doorley@nps.gov or Joni Starr, Summer Camp & Arts Director, Cuyahoga Valley National Park Association, 330-657-2796 ext. 114 or jstarr@cvnpa.org
For additional information, call 800-642-3297 or write: CVEEC Artist-In-Residence Program, 3675 Oak Hill Road, Peninsula, Ohio USA 44264

Delaware Water Gap National Recreation AreaPeters Valley Craft Education Center
Residencies open to: Craft artists
Application deadline: Varies - call for information
Residency period: Year-round
Number & length of residencies: Varies - call for information
Contact: Peters Valley at 973-948-5200 EST or pv@warwick.net
For additional information, write: Peters Valley Craft Education Center, 19 Kuhn Road, Layton, New Jersey USA 07851

Denali National Park and Preserve
Residencies open to: Two-dimensional visual artists, sculptors
Application deadline: October 31 (postmarked)
Application Form: Download the application form at arts.alaskageographic.org
Residency period: June through August
Number & length of residencies: up to three - 10 days each
For more information: http://www.nps.gov/dena/historyculture/arts-program.htm

Devils Tower National Monument
Residencies open to: Writers
Application deadline: April 1 (postmarked)
Residency period: Fall
Number & length of residencies: Two of one week each
Contact: Christine Czazasty at 307-467-5283, ext. 224, MST or christine_czazasty@nps.gov
For additional information, write: Writers-In-Residence Program, Devils Tower National Monument, Wyoming, Montana, USA 82714 or Bearlodge Writers, PO Box 10, Devils Tower, Wyoming USA 82714

Everglades National Park
Residencies open to: Visual Artists, photographers, sculptors, writers, filmmakers, and composers.
Application deadline: October 1
Residency period: Year-round
Number & length of residencies: Six residents, two-four weeks each
Contact: AIRIE Program Coordinator, 305-242-7750 EST or EVER_Interpretation@nps.gov
For additional information, write: Artist-In-Residence-In-Everglades, Everglades National Park, 40001 State Road 9336, Homestead, FL 33034. AIRIE applications are available on-line at: http://www.nps.gov/ever/supportyourpark/artistinresidence.htm

Glacier National Park
Residencies open to: Two-dimensional visual artists, photographers, sculptors, writers, video/filmmakers, composers
Application deadline: February 15
Residency period: Summer
Number & length of residencies: Number varies, four weeks each
For more information: http://www.nps.gov/glac/supportyourpark/air.htm

Golden Gate National Recreation Area
Headlands Center for the Arts
Residencies open to: California, North Carolina, New Jersey, and Ohio two-dimensional visual artists, photographers, sculptors, performers, writers, video/filmmakers, composers (Each state has individual eligibility requirements)
Application deadline: First Friday in June
Residency period: Febraury through November
Number & length of residencies: Thirty of one-eleven months each
Contact: Holly Blake at 415-331-2787, ext. 24, PST or hblake@headlands.org
For additional information, write: Holly Blake, Residency Manager, Headlands Center for the Arts, 944 Fort Barry, Sausalito, California USA 94965

Grand Canyon National Park
Residencies open to: Two-dimensional visual artists, photographers, sculptors, performing artists, writers, musicians/composers
Application deadline: TBA
Residency period: Three week periods
Number & length of residencies: Five (5) residencies; first begining in Spetember, 2007, the remaining four (4) from Spring 2008-August 2008.
For more information: http://www.nps.gov/grca/supportyourpark/air.htm

Herbert Hoover National Historical SiteResidencies open to: Writers, composers, and all visual and performing artists
Application deadline: February-March
Residency period: May through September.
Number & length of residencies: Two (2) of two to four weeks each
Please note: Housing may not be readily available for upcoming resident artists.
Contact: Adam Prato at 319-643-7855 CST
For additional information: http://www.nps.gov/heho/supportyourpark/air-for-artists.htm

Homestead National Monument of AmericaResidencies open to: Two-dimensional visual artists, photographers, sculptors, performers, writers, video/filmmakers, composers.
Application deadline: June 15 (postmarked)
Residency period: July - September
Number & length of residencies: Depending on type and number of applicants, residences can range in length from 2 weeks to three months.
For more information: http://www.nps.gov/home/supportyourpark/artist-in-residence-program.htm

Hot Springs National Park
Residencies open to: Two-dimensional visual artists, photographers, sculptors, craft artists, video/filmakers, performers, writers, poets, and composers.
Application deadline: February 1
Residency period: Call or write for details
Number & length of residencies: Several of two to four weeks each
Contact: Jeff Heitzman at 501-620-6707 or HOSP_Interpretation@nps.gov
For additional information, write: Artist-In-Residence Program, attn: Volunteer Coordinator, Hot Springs National Park, 101 Reserve Street, Hot Springs, AR USA 71901

Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore
Residencies open to: Artist/Illustrator that can create line art for publications in 2008
Application deadline: March 1 (postmarked)
Residency period: 2 - 4 weeks; June through August
For more information: http://www.nps.gov/indu/supportyourpark/air.htm

Isle Royale National Park
Residencies open to: Two-dimensional visual artists, photographers, sculptors, performers, writers, video/filmmakers, composers
Application deadline: Febrary 16 (postmarked)
Residency period: June through early September
Number & length of residencies: Five two to three weeks each
For more information: Download this park PDF application.

Joshua Tree National Park
Residencies open to: Two-dimensional visual artists, photographers, sculptors, writers, video/filmmakers
Application deadline: Accepted year-round
Residency period: October through May
Number & length of residencies: Four to six of four weeks each
For more information: http://www.nps.gov/jotr/supportyourpark/air.htm

Mount Rushmore National Memorial
Residencies open to: Traditional sculptors working in stone, stone carving instructors
Application deadline: For Summer residency watch for announcement on www.usajobs.opm.gov; between December and early February; Fall residency submit resume postmarked May 1
Residency period: Late May through early October
Number & length of residencies: Two total; Summer residency is 12-16 weeks (paid), Fall residency is one week (unpaid)
Contact: Rhonda Schier at 605-574-3182 MST or rhonda_schier@nps.gov
For additional information, write: Artist-In-Residence Program, Mount Rushmore National Memorial, 13000 Hwy. 244, Bldg. 31, Suite 1, Keystone, South Dakota USA 57751

North Cascades National Park
Residencies open to: Practicing artists with a portfolio of published, performed, or exhibited works. Applications are accepted from visual artists, writers, musicians, and other creative individuals.
Application deadline: February 1 for spring residencies and July 1 for fall residencies.
Residency period: April/May and September/October.
Number & length of residencies: Two residencies of 4-6 weeks each in two separate areas of the park, for a total of four annual residencies.
For more information: http://www.nps.gov/noca/supportyourpark/artist-in-residence.htm
Contact: Charles Beall at 360-856-5700 x.365, charles_beall@nps.gov, 810 State Route 20, Sedro-Woolley, WA 98284

Petrified Forest National Park
Residencies open to: Two & Three dimensional visual artists, photographers, painters, writers, sculptors,poets
Application deadline: March 15 (postmarked)
Residency period: May thru October
Number & Length of residencies: Number varies, each residence up to three weeks
For more information: http://www.nps.gov/pefo/parknews/artist-in-residence.htm
Contact: Scott Williams, Museum Curator at 928-524-6228 MST or scott_williams@nps.gov

Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore
Residencies open to: Two-dimensional visual artists, photographers
Application deadline: December 31 (postmarked)
Residency period: September or October
Number & length of residencies: One of four weeks
Contact: Gregg Bruff at 906-387-2607 EST or gregg_bruff@nps.gov
For more information: http://www.nps.gov/piro/supportyourpark/artistresidence.htm

Rocky Mountain National ParkResidencies open to: Professional Two-dimensional visual artists, photographers, sculptors, performers, writers, video/filmmakers, composers
Application deadline: TBA
Residency period: Early June through late September
Number & length of residencies: Five to eight of two weeks each
For more information: http://www.nps.gov/romo/supportyourpark/artist_in_residence.htm
Contact: Artist-In-Residence Coordinator at 970-586-1206 MST

Saint-Gaudens National Historic Site
Residencies open to: Sculptors
Application deadline: Varies, call for information
Residency period: June through October
Number & length of residencies: One of 12 to 24 weeks
Contact: Gregory Schwarz at 603-675-2175, ext. 107, EST or gregory_c_schwarz@nps.gov
For more information: http://www.nps.gov/saga/historyculture/artist-in-residence-programs.htm

Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore
Residencies open to: Two-dimensional visual artists, photographers, sculptors, writers, composers
Application deadline: April 15 (postmarked)
Residency period: September - October
Number & length of residencies: Two of three weeks each
Contact: Lisa Myers at 231-326-5134 or lisa_myers@nps.gov
For more information: http://www.nps.gov/slbe/parkmgmt/artistinresidence.htm

Weir Farm National Historic Site
Residencies open to: Visual artists (including printmakers & painters), photographers, sculptors, video/filmmakers
Application deadline: January 15, July 15 (postmarked)
Residency period: Year-round
Number & length of residencies: One or two artists at a time for residencies of two to four weeks.
Contact: Constance Evans or Amy Allen at 203-761-9945 EST
For more information: http://www.nps.gov/wefa/supportyourpark/artist-in-residence-program.htm

Whiskeytown National Recreation Area
Residencies open to: Check with park.
Application deadline: February
Residency period: March - October
Number & length of residencies: Two to four artists; one to four weeks.
Contact: Whiskeytown.Art@gmail.com
For additional information, write: AIR Coordinator, P.O. Box 188, Whiskeytown, CA 96095

Yosemite National Park
Residencies open to: Two-dimensional visual artists, photographers, sculptors
Application deadline: July 15 (received)
Residency period: Year-round
Number & length of residencies: Four to ten of up to one month each
For more information: http://www.yosemiterenaissance.org/artists-in-residence.html

Keep on Making

How to Apply for Art and Artist Grants, Residencies, Funding, Aid and Other Opportunities for Assistance
Generating income from art in the form of either cash or cash equivalents is always challenging, especially for artists with unconventional ideas or for those who create art that may not be commercially viable. The good news is that the art world is one place where anyone who shows talent and promise, marketable or otherwise, can get help in a variety of ways including cash grants, residencies, employment or internships, allowances, free or low-cost studio space, art supplies, exhibition space, and so on. Receiving these types of assistance is not easy; application processes can be rigorous and competition is often intense. So in the interest of giving you a bit of an edge in situations where you're contending for a bequest, here's a brief tutorial on procedural matters.

To begin with, be clear and directed about your intentions and goals, not only in terms of where you want to go with your art, but how you propose to get there, and know what you're trying to accomplish. Having a plan as to how you want your artistic life, career, and objectives to play out enables you to clarify exactly what's required to materialize that vision. If you need time to work, you might apply for a residency. If you need cash for living expenses while you're making art, an unrestricted grant may be the best way to go. Perhaps you require studio space, or maybe travel is involved. In other words, quantifying your needs enables you to focus more precisely on which opportunities to pursue, which to avoid (those that may sound good but don't really serve your purposes), and to target organizations, nonprofits, and foundations whose missions match with your art and intentions (See the list of resources for locating opportunities at the end of the article).

Assuming you've got your agenda in order and have identified potential opportunities, the most important aspect of any request for assistance is the application process. For starters, read the instructions thoroughly. Not only is it critical to understand and complete all forms according to instructions, but just as essential is knowing how that application will be assessed once the person, persons, or panel who reviews it has it in their hands. Whenever possible-- in addition to reading instructions and before filling anything out-- speak with someone at the organization and ask a few basic questions about their decision-making process. For example, find out how they'll be looking at your art. Will your images be projected onto a large screen, viewed on a computer, studied one-by-one, or will they be seen in groups. Knowing this, you can test-view your images according to what they tell you and make sure they look their best. In general, the more procedural specifics you're aware of in advance, the better you can maximize the effectiveness of your presentation, the point here being that not every application and review process is identical, and being able to customize your approach to the organization offering the assistance is always advantageous to a favorable outcome.

Returning to the subject of images for a moment, make sure you can fill an application's slide requirement with strong professional looking work. If for example you have one painting and the application asks for eight, hold off until you paint the other seven. In fact, before applying for anything at all, you should have at least one strong cohesive completed body of work (preferably more) that you can clearly explain and tie in to whatever form of assistance you're looking for. This work should demonstrate your focus, your intentions, and show where you're going. Simply put, a completed body of work demonstrates that you're capable of materializing an idea and accomplishing a task.

Good visual documentation, written descriptions, and other relevant details concerning all significant works of your art are equally important to have on hand. Video is also good if, for example, there's a participatory or moving element to your art. Generally, you should have whatever ancillary materials best represent and clarify the nature of your work. Again, every application requires different information about your art and the more you've taken the time to prepare in advance, the better.
Be aware that you can sometimes apply for a grant or other form of assistance based only on an idea. In fact, certain organizations prefer supporting innovative concepts to art that already exists, but at the same time, they require that whatever you propose to do be either based on or supported by the merits of previous work. In general, an organization financing an idea has to have trust in the artist based on some sort of track record, which in addition to completed work, may include a resume, list of shows or exhibitions, previous awards or grants, and so on-- assuming they're relevant to whatever is being applied for.

As for filling out the application itself, spelling, neatness, good grammar, and thoroughness all count and all demonstrate the seriousness with which you're taking the opportunity. Be aware that you're likely one of hundreds or even thousands of applicants and that at the very least, you want to appear professional. Reviewers are typically inundated with applications and use the smallest mistakes to eliminate potential candidates from contention. You're being assessed in terms of whether someone wants to invest in you and your talents-- in your career and your future-- according to whether they think these investments will pay off. And nobody invests in carelessness or slop.

Of course we all know that art is a visual medium so please oh please make sure your photographs look professional. If you're shooting your paintings against a concrete surface, for example, don't include the concrete. Avoid glare or reflection from flash bulbs or daylight, nuance your lighting to eliminate uneven dark or light areas, and make sure everything's in focus, colors are accurate, nothing's crooked, and so on. In short, your photographs should look as finished as your art. You might also shoot your work in a gallery setting, not only for purposes of scaling it against an interior, but more importantly, because art just plain looks better in a gallery. You see, sometimes reviewers look at your art first without even reading the application, and in some cases that decides whether the application ever gets read at all or who advances to the second round of consideration. So stack the odds in your favor and make sure your art looks its best.

Another important point is to always customize your application to the requirements of the organization, nonprofit, or foundation. All application processes are different; never assume otherwise. If they want eight copies, submit eight copies. If they want no name on your statement, have no name on your statement. Minor details are so basic but so important; these little things are often what trip artists up. So double-check and proofread everything before you send it on, and be sure to include whatever additional materials they ask for. Better yet, have friends or acquaintances review your application as well, not only in terms of mechanics, but also to see whether your answers make sense and whether you successfully get your main points across.

Additional pointers:
* You should have some sort of track record or exhibition history before applying for grants or assistance. If you're just starting out, hold off on the application process for now. In the meantime, get involved in the local community, help out at an arts organization, nonprofit or gallery, and get some experience showing art, even if only with your friends. You'll eventually meet people sympathetic to your art or projects, build a fan base, and become more knowledgeable about what opportunities make sense and are within your reach.

* Apply for as many opportunities as you're eligible for every year. Don't get discouraged. Be aware that the people or panels who review applications change, and what gets turned down one year may well be accepted the next. Plus the more you apply for, the better you get at applying.

* If you've never applied for anything like this before, attend grant-writing workshops. Read other artists' proposals, preferably winning ones, to see what good applications look like. Ask artists you know who have gotten assistance whether you can see their applications or offer pointers on how best to proceed.

* Be clear and concise in all your answers. Avoid density-- arcane convoluted artspeak. The quicker and cleaner you get your points across, the greater your chances for success. Reviewers don't like getting bogged down in jargon.

* Don't include information about every piece of art you've ever produced or are currently working on. If you're involved in multiple projects, narrow your focus to the one or two most relevant to the application, and keep the look uniform. Think of this process as branding yourself, as becoming the artist who all the reviewers identify as "the figurative painter," for example.

* Make sure whatever you're applying for is a fit, and that you have a good well-thought-out justification for applying. For instance, if you're a painter, then it's probably not a good idea to apply for an architecture grant-- even though your work might be influenced by architecture.
 
* Thoroughly research your project in advance and know what's required to complete it. Reviewers can tell when you don't know what you're talking about-- especially with respect to details like how much will things cost, how you'll account for your time, or what you'll need in terms of supplies, equipment, or studio space. In other words, be able to say, "Here is exactly what I need to make this happen."

* References are important-- particularly ones you can rely on, particularly people who have some sort of profile in the art community and who are solidly behind you and your work. Make sure you talk to whomever you list as references before you list them though to be sure they genuinely support you.

A few don'ts:

* "I need money" or "I need studio space" are not good reasons to apply for assistance.

* Don't write one paragraph when the application provides two pages. Skimping on information makes you look lazy.

* Avoid discussing or showing random work samples that don't relate to your project or proposal.

* Avoid vague descriptions of what you need to accomplish your goals. For example, "I need $10,000 because that's how much I think this will cost" is not adequate.

* Do not submit template applications. Reviewers can tell when you're sending out the same answers or packet of information over and over again. Always customize to the specifics of the organization.
* Don't list people as references unless they know you're listing them.

* Don't add superfluous materials that are outside the parameters of the instructions. Include only what you're asked to include. Reviewers are overwhelmed enough already without having to sift through irrelevancies.
***
Resources for locating and applying for grants and other forms of assistance:
NYFA Source (New York Foundation for the Arts)
Creative Capital
Alliance of Artists Communities
Res Artis Network
Foundation Center

***
Thanks to Amber Hawk Swanson, Officer at NYFA Source in New York City, and to Courtney Fink, Executive Director of Southern Exposure in San Francisco for their generous assistance with this article.

Grad Hacker

Narrating Your Professional Life: Writing the Academic Bio

By Jennifer Sano-Franchini On September 23, 2011 · VIA: www.gradhacker.org

For our launch in June, I wrote a GradHacker post on Writing the Academic Conference Proposal. Since one commenter made the fantastic suggestion that we follow up with a post on writing an academic bio, I decided to do just that! This post is based on my limited experience writing and reading a variety of academic bios, mostly in the humanities, and in rhetoric and composition more specifically. I also think several of these suggestions are up for debate and may vary depending on things like disciplinary conventions or personal preference, so these tips are by no means intended to be prescriptive.

Like Maureen suggests, writing an academic bio is hard. It’s a unique kind of writing that can be especially difficult for those who are new to it. As she expresses, it might feel like you haven’t accomplished much to write about as a lowly graduate student. Or it might seem daunting to think this thing that is supposed to represent you is going to be accessible to a wide audience in print or on a website where you can’t just up and change it anytime you want. It might be difficult to write about your accomplishments in a way that feels self-congratulatory. Or it might also be difficult to write about yourself in such a compartmentalized way–it might feel like your bio doesn’t really say all that much about you as a whole person with many facets. I think understanding the academic bio as a writing genre that performs specific writerly moves helps. It may also help to keep in mind that because academic bios are generally written for traditional, institutional spaces and situations, they are oftentimes quite conventional across the board. Here are some tips for writing an academic bio:
First, three big picture things to keep in mind that will pretty much always outweigh any smaller, more specific tips: context, audience, and purpose.
For instance, some of the common contexts for academic bios include: publications (traditional print & digital, open access), conference proposals and proceedings, fellowship or other types of funding applications, course websites, professional websites and blogs, departmental/institutional websites, and social/professional networking sites like Twitter. Context also includes things like disciplinary conventions, so it’s a good idea to look at some bios in your discipline.
Some of the common audiences who read academic bios include: colleagues/academics in your department or discipline (including people who could be on one of your hiring committees in the future!), academics outside of your field of study, undergraduate students, and clients of various types. It’s definitely important to keep in mind that any and all of these audiences could potentially encounter your bio with a quick Google search, but it’s nonetheless a good idea to tailor your bio for your specific target audience(s).
Some of the common purposes of academic bios include: to give readers of an article or conference proceeding a sense of who is providing that information; to acquaint another academic interested in your research with some of your background information; to give clients of a particular institutional site a sense of who they’re working with; to give prospective graduate students a sense of the grad students who are currently in a department; to give undergraduate students a sense of who their instructors are; to contribute to an institutional, departmental, or programmatic identity; or to give potential collaborators or potential hirers a sense of the work you do along with your academic and scholarly identity.
Context, audience, and purpose matter because they should help you decide what information about yourself you’ll want to emphasize. With these three points in mind, you’ll want to think about things like: What kinds of information will my audience be looking for in this particular context? What kinds of information will my audience be interested in for this particular context? Is my tone/style appropriate for this context/audience/purpose?
WHAT TO INCLUDE
What you include in your bio will depend on the aforementioned factors, but these factors will often be presented in the guise of length restrictions. Below are some conventional tips for traditional academic bios.
The Barebones Bio
For a very short bio (35-50 words), generally used in things like publications and conference proceedings, you should include the basics:

• your name,
• position,
• department,
• institution, and
• research interests.

You might present your research interests using a short list, or with a sentence-length description of your dissertation, thesis, or other major project. If you’re writing your bio for something that has a pedagogical focus, you might include your teaching interests and experiences instead of or alongside your research interests.
Here’s a fill-in-the-blank example of the barebones bio:

[[Name]] is a [[Position]] in the [[Department]] (with a specialization/concentration in [[Specialization]]) at [[Institution]]. S/he is interested in [[research/teaching interests]]. (Or, her/his research/pedagogical interests include…) More specifically, her/his work examines (or other such verb) [[fill in the blank]].

The Mid-Length Bio
For a mid-length bio (100-200 words), for something like an institutional or departmental website, you might add:

• degrees held,
• recent or ongoing scholarly projects,
• notable awards and honors,
• publications,
• journals in which you’ve published, or
• you might simply situate your research interests in a larger field of study.

The Longer Bio
For a longer bio (200-400 words), for something like your professional website, you might add:

• non-academic interests and hobbies, and/or
• information about your background (especially if it is somehow relevant to your research interests).

ORGANIZING YOUR BIO
Here are a few different ways people organize academic bios:
Present-Focused

• Broad to narrow (i.e., general research interests to more specific projects)
• Narrow to broad (i.e., specific object of analysis that is then situated in a larger disciplinary conversation)

Timeline/Trajectorial (Generally for a mid-length to longer bio)

• Makes connections between projects–for example, work done in the past, work being done in the present, and where that work is going in the future. The components might be arranged in different ways, for example, beginning with a present project, rooting that project in past experiences, and describing future paths. Or there may be just a couple of these components, for example, present and past work, or present and future work.

Thematic

• Alternately, scholarly projects and activities may be organized according to theme (i.e., topic, theory, or methodology).

VOICE
First or Third Person?
Another decision you may need to make is whether you will use the first or third person. Sometimes, depending on the context for your bio, this information is provided for you. If not, you may want to check what others are doing in the same journal/website/other. If you see that there doesn’t seem to be a consistent guideline, or if the bio is for a site over which you have control, you’ll need to make a decision: How does the voice fit the context/audience/purpose? How does the voice fit how you as an academic want to be perceived?
What other tips do you have for writing an academic bio? How are the conventions for writing an academic bio different in your discipline? What concerns and factors have I missed?

Bio Hazard

8 Steps to Writing a Bio like a Pro

inShare

A short professional bio has become increasingly important as most of us suffer from information fatigue and cannot be bothered to read lengthy documents about anybody. Experts such as Matthew Levy reckons your bio is the most important document you will ever write.

A bio is useful for a host of reasons such as applying for a job, publishing an article or guest blog post, general networking etc.  As an artist it is often asked for for lectures, catalogue and if presenting at a conference. It’s basically a great vehicle for quickly communicating who you are and what you do.

You are likely to have a bio somewhere on the Internet already. If you write a blog, it will be your About page. If you are on LinkedIn, it will be your summary. If you are on Twitter, it will be your, wait for it… Bio! These three most probably have different lengths, with the minnow being Twitter that only allows for a 140 letter bio.

As writing a professional bio is the hottest thing since sliced bread, you best get on with it and follow these simple steps to do your personal brand proud. Here are the a few tips by Chris Brogan.

1. Identify your purpose

Why are you writing this bio? Who will read it? You need to take some time to think about your readers and what you want them to think about you. People write anything from professional bios for getting free lance work, a comedy bio full of in-jokes for your friends or a bio for the back of their next piece of pulp fiction. Keep your audience in mind when authoring your bio.

2. Third person perspective

This is your Harry Lime moment. Your bio should sound as though it were objectively written, although it is obviously anything but. If you look at any book cover, the bio will be in the narrative mode even though the author has probably written it themselves. So instead of writing “I have lived in Switzerland and I speak 3 languages”, try “John has lived in Switzerland and he speaks 3 languages”.

3. Micro, Short and Long

You will need a micro, a short and a longer bio for different purposes. You will find that your bio will be requested in different lengths and therefore it’s advisable to keep three or even more versions. The micro bio is basically a sentence that you can use as your elevator pitch and on your Twitter profile. The short one should be one paragraph long and cover all the need to knows. The longer one adds the nice to knows and should sum you up completely. As a rule of thumb, the shorter one should be roughly a hundred words; the long one could be up to one page.


4. Start with your name

You will want to put your name in the first sentence of your bio so the reader catches on and realizes what they are reading. Just like when you are introduced to somebody, you will start with your name and then move on to pleasantries.

 5. State your business

Just like a resume, you want to drop your occupation and accomplishments in there early. The reader needs to be hooked and enticed to keep reading. An example would be to write that you are an “open market sales person” and you have “increased sales by 200%” in your current position - music to the ears of any sales manager.

6. Throw in some personality

Add some flavor to your bio by including something unexpected. This can be a bit of humor or just curious information that you think people will be interested in, such as you being a fine wine connoisseur – already a topic for conversation. I am sure you have read words to this effect at the end of a bio: “and in his spare time, he really enjoys writing about himself in the third person”. A little witty twist at the end can tell a lot about your personality.

7. Contact details

End your bio with your contact details or hyperlink the content to ways of contacting you like your email or your LinkedIn profile.

8. Read and rewrite

Get your friends to proof your bio before you publish it anywhere. Remember that your bio is a living document and you should review it on a monthly basis. As it’s fairly short it won’t take you too long to make changes that can be quite important to the reader.

ConclusionYour bio is getting more and more important and you should make sure it sells you and brings out your personal brand. I hope these tips and sample bios have been helpful, do let me know if you have any other thoughts and ideas on bios. Now that you have a great bio, remember to reach out to the right people and make sure they read it!

Some Rules for Students + Teachers by Composer John Cage

A teaching philosophy is something one may not think about actually writing until it is requested in a teaching application but addressing your philosophy towards teaching is very important; as an artist you may find yourself in the position of a role model in the form of mentoring or when teaching studio assistants. Also when sharing your work with collectors or the public during lectures and gallery talks it is invaluable to have a philosophy of your own as a guide.

What is your approach to passing on your knowledge to others, how do you share your studio practice and your work? What is your philosophy in the capaicity as a teacher/student?

'Some Rules for Students and Teachers' by Composer John Cage  (1912 - 1992)
RULE ONE: Find a place you trust, and then try trusting it for awhile.

RULE TWO: General duties of a student - pull everything out of your teacher; pull everything out of your fellow students.

RULE THREE: General duties of a teacher - pull everything out of your students.

RULE FOUR: Consider everything an experiment.

RULE FIVE: be self-disciplined - this means finding someone wise or smart and choosing to follow them. To be disciplined is to follow in a good way. To be self-disciplined is to follow in a better way.

RULE SIX: Nothing is a mistake. There's no win and no fail, there's only make.

RULE SEVEN: The only rule is work. If you work it will lead to something. It's the people who do all of the work all of the time who eventually catch on to things.

RULE EIGHT: Don't try to create and analyze at the same time. They're different processes.

RULE NINE: Be happy whenever you can manage it. Enjoy yourself. It's lighter than you think.

RULE TEN: "We're breaking all the rules. Even our own rules. And how do we do that? By leaving plenty of room for X quantities."

HINTS: Always be around. Come or go to everything. Always go to classes. Read anything you can get your hands on. Look at movies carefully, often. Save everything - it might come in handy later.

John Cage 1912 - 1992

Twelve Art World Habits to Ditch in 2012

Some food for thought from Art Critic Mat Gleason of 'Coagula Art Journal'.

It is 2012, but in the art world it is often still 1966. Some of the "traditions" underlying the business side of the gallery and museum world date back decades. Don't let 'em fool you that they are hip. The art world is a bunch of stubborn ninnies who learn to do things one way and insist that things never be done a different way. Everyone has great career advice for you that is current for 1979, or 1985 or 1994, whatever year they broke into the art world -- that is the master plan they insist everyone must follow; they assert you will not succeed unless you, too, do things like they did back then. Understand two things: The art world doesn't replace its dinosaurs, it gives them retrospectives, and two, the first caveman who left the cave was the first performance artist and nobody has topped him since. Here are 12 things about the art world that need to disappear for good.

Consignment
Painter Mark Kostabi's slogan sums it up "Ending Lending is Beginning Winning". Artists have traditionally consigned artwork to galleries. When the artwork sells, the gallery and the artist splits the sale 50/50. When the work does not sell, the artist gets the art back. This is the way the game is played and it is ludicrous. In this scenario, the artist literally loans the gallery collateral at no risk to the gallery and with no interest on the loan. An alternate way of doing things might be to imitate, oh I dunno, how about... the way every other business on earth operates: The gallery should just buy the art from the artist. How hard is that? If the gallery cannot afford it, either they should find an artist who will sell them work for what they can afford or they should get out of the gallery business, which they are not in if they cannot afford to purchase inventory. Of course, this works in the benefit of the gallery too -- you can mark up the work 200 percent if you like. Buy 10 paintings for $100 each. Sell them for 20 grand each.

Academic Curators
The realm of the visual is inherently non-verbal. Academia is a lecture-based system of auditory and linguistic learning. Pretty much the polar opposite of art. And yet here come the pinheads with their Ph.D. theses (rhymes with feces) getting every damn thing wrong about the art and making sure none of their presentation is enjoyable nor accessible to people outside their peer group. Their ruse is the implication that art is intellectual. Art is sensual. Academics are not. Sleep with a few (your grad school professor is almost always willing) and tell me I am wrong.

Marketers
Who gets paid first in the art world these days? Promotional idiots with tired gimmicks and antiquated postcard mailing lists. The marketers are taking the cream off the top of the art world latte. Marketers are people who know nothing abut the creative process and feel happier watching an episode of Friends than they do looking at new and exciting work or having an interesting gallery space experience. Art is the antidote to culture, not another client of the machine.

Paid Writers
Think about it. A painter struggles in his or her studio with a stack of canvasses, tubes of oil paints and nothing but time. It is a romantic vision we can all accept. It is also pretty much the only way that great painting takes place. But ask an art writer to write about your art and they want $3 a word. Where is the romance and pursuit of pure artistic vision for the writer? Suddenly the slob at your opening is quoting prices like your 401K advisor. Writers have become sharks because, like the academics, people who are good with words either manipulate you with them or exclude you from the discussion. Verbosity is often used as a weapon to seize power in the arts, populated as they are by visual learners and masters of non-verbal expression. Beware of the writer whose desk has blank invoices in the drawer.

Charity Auctions
Bottom line is the price your art goes for at a charity event is the golden "what the market will bear" amount. Do you want the world to know that in a roomful of millionaires eager to support a good cause your donated painting could not get a minimum bid of $50? And of course, if your piece did not sell, don't expect the non-art non-profit hacks to know how to handle and return it to you.

China
I can make a lousy painting today of George Bush performing a sexual act with Barack Obama. Nobody is going to like it or buy it but nobody is going to knock on my door tonight and take me away for painting it. Call me when you have two billionaire army general art collectors bid up the price on your painting of Hu Jintao having a threesome with Confucius and Mao Tse Tung. Until then, you can let a thousand sub-par Thomas Kinkades bloom -- it is the only way to stay out of jail.

Diploma Bills
Tens of thousands of dollars of student loan debt used to at least get you a diploma that led to a decent job. Those jobs are gone now. Long gone. They are not coming back. No matter how prestigious the school and how fantastic the program, MFA art programs are just a summer camp experience with pretense and attitude. The art they produce is not demonstrably better than art produced outside of academic dialogues. Many people enjoy MFA programs. Cut-throat capitalist bankers at student loan portfolio departments love them more than any student or faculty member would ever realize, until it is too late...

Rules
There are too many of them. You do whatever you want. You can even be so great that you actually achieve a complete and total failure. Then you can make art. But you never have to follow any of the rules and anyone who says you do... well he or she just hasn't failed enough to realize this.

Experts
Art is subjective. There inherently cannot be experts.
SeriesArtists are told to work in series. It is one way of doing things. To posit that it is the only way or the best way is as dumb as saying every painting should be 40 percent earth tones. Huh? Yeah, that dumb.

Reading
Graffiti Art Street art is the best abstract painting of the past 60 years. Rationalizing one wall as somehow better because of individual authorship (instead of innovative composition) misses the whole point. Let's not take the people's medium against the power of property and make it into another celebrity manufacturing game. Enjoy abstract vandalism at its most beautiful without obsessing over who authored the specific letters on the wall. And what is closer to the bottom of the barrel: Street art gallerists, street art curators or street art academics? On what sad date did aerosol spray paint become synonymous with cotton candy?

Artists As Their Own Manager
You gotta do this, and you gotta do that, and most of all you have to buy the art advice book on how you can make it on your own as an artist by doing all of this stuff on your own. Advice is now an industry. Just make the art and sell it for whatever it takes to get it out of the studio and make more.

Don't buy the book
It is probably rehashed if not flat-out plagiarized from the other books. There is no blueprint for a masterpiece and there is no blueprint for a successful art career. Like Gandhi said, "What you do will not be important but it is important that you do it." he didn't add "... so buy the overpriced book and DVD series on how to succeed at doing that unimportant important thing."

Happy New Year to all the artists and art appreciators. Let's hope 2012 is a masterpiece in which all can exalt the fruit of the creative process and ignore the pretense and hype.