Kiyooka Ohe Arts Centre AiR Call for Submissions Spring/Summer 2025
Closing Date of Opportunity: March 30, 2025
Name or Organization: Kiyooka Ohe Arts Centre
Contact Email: community@koartscentre.org
Post Content: About the Artist in Residency Program
KOAC was established as a passion project for artists Harry Kiyooka and Katie Ohe and officially received charitable status in 2007.
We officially launched our Artist in Residence program in 2020, hosting our first group of resident artists, featuring both sculptors and painters. These artists came seeking personal artistic growth and to be surrounded by the inspirational works of their peers in the beautiful natural setting of our twenty-acre outdoor sculpture park/nature reserve.
KOAC’s Artist in Residence program is a creation of our co-founder, Katie Ohe and inspired by her personal experience of growth as an artist. Having gained opportunities to expand her own art practice through artist residencies, Ohe recognizes the need for “concentrated spaces and time to resolve artistic ideas in a creative environment.” This Artist in Residence program allows artists of all levels and backgrounds to invest uninterrupted time in contemplation, research, exploration and discovery.
Objectives:
This program recognizes that physical spaces, time and the financial resources needed to create art are scarce, and these limitations constrain artists, preventing their work from reaching its full agentive potential. Situated near Calgary, with stunning views of the Rocky Mountains, the KOAC Residency Program aims to support a diverse range of artists each year to move their practice forward by providing a dedicated studio space for new exploration, inspiration, ideation and creation. Our Artist in Residence program cultivates a research and process-focused experience, facilitating artist work that otherwise may not have been realized. Artists in residence will work in spacious, functional studio spaces, having opportunities to create, exhibit and document new works. Public engagement is a requirement of this residency, and artists applying will be expected to provide a plan for public engagement with their application.
What to Expect:
KOAC’s Artist in Residence Program provides artists at all levels access to studio space within our 20 acre art centre for research, art production, experimentation. The Program length is flexible and is designed through close conversation with each Resident Artist, and generally lasts 4-12 weeks, depending on the Artist’s availability. Resident Artists are supported to share their art with the public and engage with the local community through artist talks, workshops, and other public events, and to connect with KOAC’s decades long community of art supporters.
Artists will be paid a $520 artist fee in accordance to the 2025 CARFAC National fee schedule for their artist talk.