MFT’s Fiore Art Center Announces 2020 Residencies & Jury Panel

Applications for the 2020 residencies at Maine Farmland Trust’s Joseph A. Fiore Art Center opened December 31st, 2019 and close March 1st, 2020. Next summer the Center will host six visual art residencies: most residency placements will go to Maine artists, a couple will go to out-of-state and international artists, and one is reserved for a Native American artist living in Maine. In addition, the Center will offer one performance/interdisciplinary arts residency and one literary arts residency (for Maine writers), as well as an academic writing residency open to applicants from New England. The Fiore Art Center residencies are competitive– in 2019, 75 artists applied to the residency program and nine applicants were awarded a residency.

The residencies take place in July, August and September and span one month each. Residents receive a stipend, a private room, and a studio. Artists at any career stage may apply; arts applicants are selected based on the quality of their work samples, their artist statement, and demonstration that their work has a relevant connection to the environment at large, or rural Maine and agriculture specifically.

Applicants to the academic writing residency should be in the writing stages of an academic paper or dissertation focusing on subject matter related to Maine Farmland Trust’s mission (e.g. farmland protection, access, and transfer; farm viability; food systems; agro-ecology; soil health; climate change and agriculture).

The Fiore Art Center also offers a 5-month seasonal position for a resident gardener with an affinity for the arts. (For more information on this position, visit https://www.mainefarmlandtrust.org/job-opportunities/)

This will be the fifth summer that the Fiore Art Center has offered the residency program. Director Anna Witholt Abaldo is excited to be working with the most expansive jury panel yet. “We chose essay and non-fiction as our focus for the literary arts residency this year,” she explains, “and are thrilled to have Maine’s celebrated author Jane Brox as our 2020 juror for this category. For our visual arts panel, we are fortunate to have noteworthy Maine realist artist, Linden Frederick, alongside interdisciplinary artist and CMCA associate curator Bethany Engstrom. Together this duo brings a depth in painting, drawing, installation and video which is a terrific fit for our multi-disciplinary residency” she added. Heather Lyon rounds out the ranks as the performing and interdisciplinary arts juror. “Not only is Heather Lyon a rising star in Maine’s contemporary art scene, as an alum of our residency program, she naturally brings a keen understanding of what kind of artist might get the most out of this residency experience on a conserved farm – and who might offer a unique contribution.” The fifth jury member on the 2020 panel is Ellen Stern Griswold, Maine Farmland Trust’s Policy and Research Director, who will be jurying the academic writing residency.