Call For 2022 Artists - Urban Field Station Artist

The deadline for the 2022 artists has passed.
The 2022 cohort will be announced on this site by the end of April.

There are three artist calls listed on this page: New York City, Baltimore and International Programs. Scroll down to see them, or use the navigation buttons on the left side of the screen.

Questions? Write malerie.lovejoy@thenatureofcities.com.

Call for Artists: New York City, 2022

We invite artists to apply for a one-year virtual residency in New York City called the Urban Field Station Collaborative Arts Program.

The Urban Field Station Collaborative Arts Program is a virtual artistic residency created by the USDA Forest Service, The Nature of Cities, NYC Parks, and partners. Selected artists engage with land managers and researchers to explore integrated and collaborative “ways of knowing”, and to better understand, represent, and communicate about urban social-ecological systems through works of art and imagination. Applications are due by 7 March 2022 (applications after this date may not get a complete review), applicants will be notified in early April, and residencies will begin late April/early May 2022. The program’s mission is to encourage new acts of collaborative imagination, and promote understanding of and engagement with urban ecology through art. This year’s call for artists focuses on the theme of resourcefulness and resilience.

The Program engages with science and/or land management teams across our core partners and locations. In 2022 there will be two programs with which artists may work during their one-year virtual residency. Over the course of the residency, artists will be brought “under the hood” of the work of one of these teams, which may include going out in the field, having access to datasets or priority research/management questions, or connecting with a broader network. Artists are asked in the application to identify one team with whom they wish to work (see the bottom of this document for team descriptions). See more about the program here.

Participants in the Collaborative Arts Program will each receive:

An honorarium to the artist of $3,000, paid in two installments.
Support from the Collaborative Arts Program administrative team, including networking and project support.
Featured content on The Nature of Cities website.
Pairing with a Participating Agency Team, self-selected by the artist from the provided list.
Interaction with a global group of 10 artists in residence, all part of the 2022 cohort of the Urban Field Station Collaborative Arts Program.

Participating artists are expected to, over the course of one year:

Work with an agency team throughout the artistic process and meet occasionally with a point person from this team as needed.
Check in periodically with Collaborative Arts Program organizers to facilitate the work.
Create a piece of virtual content for The Nature of Cities exploring the ideas embedded in the artistic work and how they are supported by collaboration with non-artists.
Participate in an exhibition/presentation of work with other resident artists at quarterly, virtual All-Hands meetings.
Engage with the cohort of 2022 residents, who will be approximately 10 artists from four countries. Such engagement will be at least during the quarterly all hand meetings, but beyond if the artist finds it useful.
Note that this residency is not a commission of new artwork. Although new work is welcome, our intention is to support a process of collaborative discovery and support artists wherever they are along this journey.

Priority will be given to projects that:

Demonstrate artistic merit.
Align with the Collaborative Arts Program goal of creating new knowledge and perspectives about urban social-ecological systems and natural resources management.
Reveal new possibilities for collaboration between artists, scientists, and land managers.
Support our diversity goals; see diversity, equity, and inclusion fact sheet.
Propose an innovative perspective on the theme of resourcefulness and resilience.
Are connected to the environmental and social life of the New York City metropolitan area.

Eligibility

We invite artists from any discipline.
We invite applicants from anywhere in the world, but we will give preference to applicants that are residents of the New York City metropolitan area.
Applicants must be 18 years of age or older.

Disclaimer: The Urban Field Station Collaborative Arts Program reserves the right to change the number of applicants accepted into the program, and all decisions made by the committee are final.

Urban Field Stations exist as a network of sites supported by the USDA Forest Service in collaboration with municipal, state, nonprofit, and academic partners across the United States. The NYC Urban Field Station (NYC UFS) is a partnership between researchers and land managers at the USDA Forest Service, New York City Department of Parks and Recreation (NYC Parks), and the Natural Areas Conservancy (NAC). The mission of the NYC UFS is to improve quality of life in urban areas by conducting, communicating, and supporting research about social-ecological systems and natural resource management.

— USDA Forest Service – Northern Research Station: Erika Svendsen (Team Leader), Lindsay Campbell (Research Social Scientist), Rich Hallett (Research Ecologist), Michelle Johnson (Research Ecologist) Forest Service research scientists bring expertise in social and biophysical science to studying cities as social-ecological systems and supporting urban natural resources stewardship. Our research foci include:

Stewardship science and civic engagement – including The Stewardship Mapping and Assessment Project (STEW-MAP) is a national Forest Service research program that answers the question: Who takes care of our environment?
Forest ecology and management – including forest health, Healthy Trees, Healthy Cities, and urban silviculture research and development.
Resilience and disturbance – understanding stewardship and social-ecological systems in the context of multiple forms of acute and chronic disturbance (hurricanes, tornadoes, climate change, COVID-19, economic disinvestment)

The mission of NYC Parks is to plan resilient and sustainable parks, public spaces, and recreational amenities, build a park system for present and future generations, and care for parks and public spaces. As stewards of nearly 14 percent of New York City’s land (over 30,000 acres), NYC Parks improves people’s lives, providing outlets for creative expression, opportunities for healthy recreation, and exposure to the restorative beauty of the natural world. NYC Parks also develops, fosters, and promotes collaborations with hundreds of local organizations involved in urban stewardship of these valuable biophysical and social resources.
The mission of the Forestry, Horticulture, and Natural Resources Division is to protect, restore, expand, and manage New York City’s green spaces and natural areas to maximize their benefits for environmental and community health and resilience. We manage and care for over 12,000 acres of forests, grasslands, and wetlands; over 600,000 street trees and 150,000 park trees; and over 2,000 green streets. We work with scientists to conduct research and monitoring, train and work with thousands of volunteer stewards to care for natural areas, design and construct green infrastructure, produce hundreds of thousands of plants for natural areas restoration, formalize trails, and plant tens of thousands of trees, shrubs, and herbaceous plants each year.
For over 50 years, NYC Parks’ Art in the Parks program has brought contemporary public artworks to the city’s parks, making New York City one of the world’s largest open-air galleries. The agency has consistently fostered the creation and installation of temporary public art in parks throughout the five boroughs. Since 1967, NYC Parks has collaborated with arts organizations and artists to produce over 2,000 public artworks by 1,300 notable and emerging artists in over 200 parks. For more information about the program visit www.nyc.gov/parks/art.
The Public Programs division strives to lead New York City in providing free and low-cost recreational and educational opportunities by creating innovative programs, developing strong partnerships, engaging the local community and contributing to a sense of place and experience at NYC Parks. We offer a wide variety of programming through four units: Recreation, Media Education, Education & Wildlife, and Aquatics. Our offerings range from instructional sports to competitive leagues, yoga to swimming, stargazing to painting, nature hikes to canoeing, concerts to lectures, roller skating to advanced Adobe design software certification training, and many more opportunities for engagement for people of all ages.

All rights to any artwork created by a resident artist (including copyright and intellectual property) are fully retained by the artist.
All intellectual property rights of the work of teams is held by the teams.
Submissions will not be considered if they: (a) arrive in completed form after the deadline; (b) do not use the official format.
All fees and taxes that result from prize money and its transfer to an artist is the responsibility of the artist; this includes bank transfer fees.
The organizers reserve the right to accept fewer or more artists into the program than originally announced.
All decisions by the organizers concerning the administration and rules of the program, including the selection of artists, are final.
USDA is an equal opportunity provider and employer.

Call for Artists: Baltimore, MD, 2022

We invite artists to apply for a one-year virtual residency in Baltimore, MD as part of the Urban Field Station Collaborative Arts Program.

The Urban Field Station Collaborative Arts Program is a virtual artistic residency created by the USDA Forest Service, The Nature of Cities, and partners. Selected artists engage with land managers and researchers to explore integrated and collaborative “ways of knowing” and to better understand, represent, and communicate about urban social-ecological systems through works of art and imagination. Applications are due by 7 March 2022 (applications after this date may not get a complete review), applicants will be notified in early April, and residencies will begin late April/early May 2022. The program’s mission is to encourage new acts of collaborative imagination and promote understanding of and engagement with urban ecology through art. This year’s call for artists in the Baltimore program focuses on the theme of urban forest patches.

The Program engages with science and/or land management teams across our core partners and locations. Over the course of the residency, artists will be brought “under the hood” of the work of these teams, which may include going out in the field, having access to datasets or priority research/management questions, or connecting with a broader network. See more about the program here.

This year, the Baltimore-based residency is aimed at co-producing an artistic exploration of the social and ecological benefits of urban forest patches. This might include, but is not limited to, the ways in which urban forest patches and natural areas can yield community and ecological benefits such as social cohesion, physical, mental, and spiritual health, climate resilience, improved environmental justice, biodiversity, youth and family engagement, workforce development and/or jobs, and more. All interested applicants are encouraged to explore the current work underway at the Baltimore Field Station via the website and specifically these resources related to forest patches:

Participants in the Collaborative Arts Program will each receive:

An honorarium to the artist of $3,000, paid in two installments.
Support from the Collaborative Arts Program administrative team, including networking and project support.
Featured content on The Nature of Cities website.
Pairing with a Participating Agency Team, self-selected by the artist from the provided list.
Interaction with a global group of 10 artists in residence, all part of the 2022 cohort of the Urban Field Station Collaborative Arts Program.

Participating artists are expected to, over the course of one year:

Work with the Baltimore Field Station team throughout the artistic process and meet occasionally with a point person from this team as needed.
Check in periodically with Collaborative Arts Program organizers to facilitate the work.
Create a piece of virtual content for The Nature of Cities exploring the ideas embedded in the artistic work and how they are supported by collaboration with non-artists
Participate in an exhibition/presentation of work with other resident artists at quarterly, virtual All-Hands meetings.
Engage with the cohort of 2022 residents, who will be approximately 10 artists from four countries. Such engagement will be at least during the quarterly all hand meetings, but beyond if the artist finds it useful.
Note that the artists are not expected to create new work as part of this residency. Although new work is welcome, our intention is to support a process of collaborative discovery and support artists wherever they are along this journey.

Priority will be given to projects that:

Seek to develop an artistic exploration of the social and ecological benefits of urban forest patches.
Demonstrate artistic merit.
Align with the Collaborative Arts Program goal of creating new knowledge and perspectives about urban social-ecological systems and natural resources management.
Reveal new possibilities for collaboration between artists, scientists, and land managers.
Support our diversity goals; see diversity, equity, and inclusion fact sheet.
Are residents of the city of Baltimore, MD.

Eligibility

We invite artists from any discipline.
We invite applicants from anywhere in the world but preference will be given to applicants from Baltimore, MD.
Applicants must be 18 years of age or older.

Disclaimer: The Urban Field Station Collaborative Arts Program reserves the right to change the number of applicants accepted into the program, and all decisions made by the committee are final.

Background

USDA Forest Service Baltimore Field Station: The Baltimore Field Station is part of the Urban Field Station Network. This Network exists as a collaborative of sites supported by the USDA Forest Service together with municipal, state, nonprofit, and academic partners across the United States. Forest Service research scientists bring expertise in social and biophysical science to studying cities as social-ecological systems and supporting urban natural resources stewardship. Baltimore Field Station scientists are studying the ecological manifestations of racial segregation and environmental injustices to inform change toward a more equitable and just urban future. This includes understanding historical and present-day distributions of tree canopy and forest cover in the city. The Baltimore Field Station also engages with partner organizations like Baltimore Green Space to understand and improve the ecological functions, stewardship values, and public health benefits of forest patches in the community.

All rights to any artwork created by a resident artist (including copyright and intellectual property) are fully retained by the artist.
All intellectual property rights of the work of teams is held by the teams.
Submissions will not be considered if they: (a) arrive in completed form after the deadline; (b) do not use the official format.
All fees and taxes that result from prize money and its transfer to an artist is the responsibility of the artist; this includes bank transfer fees.
The organizers reserve the right to accept fewer or more artists into the program than originally announced.
All decisions by the organizers concerning the administration and rules of the program, including the selection of artists, are final.
USDA is an equal opportunity provider and employer.

Call for Artists: International Programs, 2022

We invite artists to apply for a one-year virtual residency called the Urban Field Station Collaborative Arts Program.

The Urban Field Station Collaborative Arts Program is a virtual artistic residency created by the USDA Forest Service, The Nature of Cities, and partners. Selected artists engage with land managers and researchers to explore integrated and collaborative “ways of knowing”, and to better understand, represent, and communicate about urban social-ecological systems through works of art and imagination. Applications are due by 7 March 2022 (applications after this date may not get a complete review), applicants will be notified in early April, and residencies will begin late April/early May 2022. The program’s mission is to encourage new acts of collaborative imagination, and promote understanding of and engagement with urban ecology through art. This year’s call for artists focuses on the theme of resourcefulness and resilience.

Participants in the Collaborative Arts Program will each receive:

An honorarium to the artist, paid in two installments, the price of which is to be negotiated directly with USFS-IP.
Support from the Collaborative Arts Program administrative team, including networking and project support.
Featured content on The Nature of Cities website.
Pairing with a Participating Agency Team, self-selected by the artist from the provided list.
Interaction with a global group of 10 artists in residence, all part of the 2022 cohort of the Urban Field Station Collaborative Arts Program.

Participating artists are expected to, over the course of one year:

Work with an agency team throughout the artistic process and meet occasionally with a point person from this team as needed.
Check in periodically with Collaborative Arts Program organizers to facilitate the work.
Create a piece of virtual content for The Nature of Cities exploring the ideas embedded in the artistic work and how they are supported by collaboration with non-artists.
Participate in an exhibition/presentation of work with other resident artists at quarterly, virtual All-Hands meetings.
Engage with the cohort of 2022 residents, who will be approximately 10 artists from four countries. Such engagement will be at least during the quarterly all hand meetings, but beyond if the artist finds it useful.
Note that this residency is not a commission of new artwork. Although new work is welcome, our intention is to support a process of collaborative discovery and support artists wherever they are along this journey.

Priority will be given to projects that:

Demonstrate artistic merit.
Align with the Collaborative Arts Program goal of creating new knowledge and perspectives about urban social-ecological systems and natural resources management.
Reveal new possibilities for collaboration between artists, scientists, and land managers.
Support our diversity goals; see diversity, equity, and inclusion fact sheet.
Propose an innovative perspective on the theme of resourcefulness and resilience.

Eligibility

We invite artists from any discipline.
We invite applicants from anywhere in the world.
Applicants must be 18 years of age or older.

All rights to any artwork created by a resident artist (including copyright and intellectual property) are fully retained by the artist.
All intellectual property rights of the work of teams is held by the teams.
Submissions will not be considered if they: (a) arrive in completed form after the deadline; (b) do not use the official format.
All fees and taxes that result from prize money and its transfer to an artist is the responsibility of the artist; this includes bank transfer fees.
The organizers reserve the right to accept fewer or more artists into the program than originally announced.
All decisions by the organizers concerning the administration and rules of the program, including the selection of artists, are final.
USDA is an equal opportunity provider and employer.