Out for a sun bath
I wish I was in the Everglades right about now instead of here in extremely cold, more snow expected, Connecticut! One year ago I was the writer-in-residence in the Everglades National Park. There’s a national program that I want everyone to know about. You too can apply and who knows where you could be spending next winter.
Chances are you’ve visited a few of the National Parks Service’s network of almost 400 environmental, cultural and recreational sites but did you know that you can apply to live inside a national park as a special guest for a few weeks without paying rent? Imagine being surrounded by the sea views and dramatic cliffs in Acadia National Park in Bar Harbor, Maine or observing elk, bighorn sheep and the endangered California condor in the untamed wilderness of the Grand Canyon’s North Rim. Simply apply to be an Artist-In-Residence at one or more of the twenty-nine National Parks currently participating in the program.
Artists including writers, poets, screenwriters, photographers, painters and performers compete for positions all over the country. Each participating park must be applied to individually and has its own eligibility requirements, application guidelines, timeline and expectations (http://www.nps.gov/archive/volunteer/air.htm).
Artist-in-Residence Programs often host one artist at a time. They provide housing, accessibility to and education about the park with the hope that the artist’s experience will be expressed in future work. The artist is expected to interact with the public by offering a workshop or presentation and donating a piece of work representative of her style and reflecting her stay to the park’s permanent collection. The artist bears expenses for professional supplies and personal needs such as transportation and food.
The application process involves submitting a one or two page résumé, a one page statement of what the applicant hopes to accomplish as an artist-in-residence, a description of the proposed presentation, references from people familiar with the artist’s professional work and samples of recent work. Applications are available online by contacting the individual parks (search artist-in-residence @ http://www.nps.gov).
A few programs charge a nominal non-refundable application fee. The competition increases each year for an awesome opportunity of a lifetime. It’s definitely worth the effort. And the program is highlighted in my book, IMMERSION TRAVEL USA. There are over 200 diverse opportunities for phenomenal trips in five categories: helping, learning, working, caring and playing, and amazing opportunities you might not know about.
ImmersionTraveler 