Ox-Bow School of Art to Receive $50,000 Grant from the National Endowment for the Arts
Longform Artists-in-Residence (2023) at work in the Krehbiel Ceramics Studio. Photo by Natia Ser (Summer Fellow, 2023).
SAUGATUCK, MICHIGAN – Ox-Bow School of Art & Artists Residency is pleased to announce it has been approved by the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) for a Grants for Arts Projects award of $50,000. These funds will support Ox-Bow’s Longform Artist Residency.
This is the eleventh grant designated to Ox-Bow by the NEA and is to date the largest grant received from the institution. In total, the NEA will award 1,135 Grants for Arts, totalling to more than $37 million as part of its second round of fiscal year 2024 grants. It is through grants such as this that Ox-Bow is able to realize their mission to connect artists to a network of creative resources, people, and ideas; an energizing natural environment; and rich artistic history and vital future.
“Projects like Ox-Bow School of Art & Artists’ Residency exemplify the creativity and care with which communities are telling their stories, creating connection, and responding to challenges and opportunities in their communities—all through the arts,” said NEA Chair, Maria Rosario Jackson, PhD. “So many aspects of our communities such as cultural vitality, health and wellbeing, infrastructure, and the economy are advanced and improved through investments in art and design, and the National Endowment for the Arts is committed to ensuring people across the country benefit.”
The funded project, Longform, is a studio residency that seeks to provide an intensive, creative development experience, fostering deep connections amongst facilitators, visiting artists, and participants. One facilitator, three visiting artists, and a group of residents from any career stage, generation, and practicing any media shape the residency experience through a robust schedule of lectures, readings, studio visits, workshops, critical discussions, and studio time. In 2024 artist kg will return as the residency’s facilitator.
“Ox-Bow is so grateful to the NEA for this recognition and support,” says Executive Director, Shannon Stratton, “Ox-Bow is always looking for ways to evolve and strengthen our program to meet the needs of artists where they are at today and the NEA’s acknowledgement by way of this grant affirms that we are on the right track. We are so appreciative of this funding as it helps us to continue to establish Longform as a mainstay of our programming.”
Founded in 1910, Ox-Bow School of Art and Artists’ Residency is an arts-based nonprofit with a rich legacy of empowering and investing in artists. Their year around programming welcomes degree-seeking students, professional artists, and those new to the arts. The 115 acre campus – located alongside and protected by the dunes, forests, and waters of Saugatuck – cultivates a space that does not simply host its residents but enhances their practice. Both its facilities and faculty edify their longstanding mission: to serve as a network of creative resources, people, and ideas amidst an energizing natural environment inspired by its rich artistic history and fueled by the potential of a vital future.
Banner photo by Natia Ser (Summer Fellow, 2023).