In partnership with the New York State Canal Corporation (Canals), the Erie Canal Museum is seeking three (3) Artists in Residence for a period of one (1) year. The Erie Canal Museum is committed to building a diverse and inclusive workforce. We strongly encourage members of traditionally underrepresented communities to apply.

The Residencies will focus on a year-long lens-based study of the Erie Canal, contemplating its current condition, activating the landscape and public spaces, and considering its potential future. These Residencies are for Artists who wish to engage with the Canal and adjacent Erie Canalway Trail, Canals and Museum staff, Canal facilities, New York’s Canal communities, and Canal visitors.
The 2024 Residencies will be dedicated to lens-based projects that reflect upon the Canal’s physical, environmental, and social condition and history; materiality; and context. We will select an Artist and project to represent each of the three (3) geographic sections of the Canal system.

Applicants shall propose a specific lens-based project for their Residency. Projects may be journalistic, documentary, or conceptual, and may include and/or be accompanied by text/writing. The subject of the project shall be identified by the applicant, but proposals must be a creative inquiry of the Canal and consider a fuller, more complete account of the Canal’s past and present than what has traditionally been told. The applicant shall identify their target audience(s) and how their project will be shared with that audience and with the public-at-large.

Artist Stipend: The total funding for each Artist for the one-year Residency is $10,000, which will be paid in (4) equal quarterly payments.

Residency Structure: Three (3) Artists will be selected for Residencies in 2024, one for each geographic section of the Canal (see map). Each Artist will be assigned a sponsor who will facilitate introductions and connections to Canals staff and access to Canal facilities as needed.Artists must engage with the public. The three (3) selected Artists will participate in one (1) joint panel discussing their work, and then must individually develop at least one (1) additional public-facing event during the course of the Residency for the public to engage with and understand the Artist’s process.

Each Artist’s project should be lens-based. Artists may incorporate text and other media into their work. It is intended that final products from the Residencies will be used to develop a joint exhibition and catalog in 2025, as well as add to the Erie Canal Museum collection.