Displaced Artists Fund

The Vermont Studio Center’s Displaced Artists Fund exists to assist artists and writers displaced by natural and political disasters worldwide. By providing a creative community of refuge in Vermont, these Fellowships restore normalcy to a creative practice, ease the isolation that often accompanies displacement, and extend the “artists supporting artists” founding spirit of the Vermont Studio Center to artists and writers who need it most. While it is not possible to help all who may be in need, the fund aspires to bring relief and hope to a growing number of artists and writers each year.

The Displaced Artists Fund was conceived by VSC Trustee Marina Day to support artists whose lives and studio practices had been disrupted by California wildfires. The Studio Center has also hosted artists from New Orleans who lost their homes and studios to Hurricane Katrina and partnered with the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation to support of a number of New York artists and writers who were displaced by the events of 9/11. In 2010 VSC funded two month-long residencies for Haitian artists and writers. These awards were in honor of longtime VSC Visiting Artist and friend James McGarrell's son, Flo McGarrell, who was killed in Haiti’s recent earthquake while in the art center in Jacmel where he worked. In May of 2012 VSC will offer two Vermont Artists Week fellowships for Vermonters affected by Tropical Storm Irene: one fellowship will support a visual artist; the second will support a writer from Southern Vermont with the generous support of Write Action, a Brattleboro-based organization.

The Vermont Studio Center is pleased to offer two special fellowship opportunities: the first for a visual artist from Japan whose creative work was affected by the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami; the second for a Vermont visual artist or writer affected by Tropical Storm Irene in 2011. Both fellowships include travel and materials stipends. Nominations and applications may be made online or by email to admissions@vermontstudiocenter.org by June 15, 2012. In addition to the VSC general application, eligible applicants are asked to submit a letter of interest directly (or sent on their behalf by a nominator), which describes how a residency would be important at this time. Applicants are also asked to submit the names and contact information for two persons of reference, (one of whom could be the person nominating), who could speak about the applicant’s creative work and current circumstances. Applicants who have lost their work documentation are welcome to submit a letter of reference in lieu of work documentation.

Our thoughts are with the people of Japan and our neighbors in Vermont as they rebuild their communities. VSC will review all information received from interested artists and writers in conjunction with our June 15 fellowship review.  Awards will be made by July 15, 2012.

For more information on these fellowships and the Displaced Artists Fund in general, please contact development@vermontstudiocenter.org or 802-635-2727 ext. 2.

Michael Wyshock, Waiting in Line after Katrina, 2005, charcoal & graphite on paper

Claudel “Zaka” Chery and Ronald Bazile, 2010 fellowship recipients from Haiti