Tough Art Artist Residency Program sponsored by the Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh is currently accepting applications for the summer of 2012. This program created in 2007 seeks to connect artists from across the spectrum of all the arts to the resources and visitors at the Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh. Selected artists will have time to generate and implement interactive, immersive and/or collaborative projects and connect the art making process to the larger museum context and the museum visitor. Artists will create an entirely new piece to be incorporated into the museum with direct impact on the visitor experience. Throughout the residency, artists prototype and evaluate their process to achieve the desired outcome. Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh is a very public place and art within a children’s museum occupies a unique niche of public art. This type of experimentation and art process has remained largely tangential to the main course of the art world. Children’s Museum embraces the opportunity that this type of art-making affords. It fits in with the values of the Children’s Museum in presenting new ideas to family audiences. Artists with demonstrated capabilities for working on immersive, collaborative, interactive, and/or performance art works are encouraged to apply. The program is intended to support emerging artists in their development, although mid-career and established artists are eligible. Artists have full access to the museum and the exhibit fabrication workshop. Other features of the Tough Art Program include honorarium tailored to the individual artist project; a materials and equipment fund; museum; staff support to identify and secure materials; skilled and unskilled labor support during the fabrication and installation process as needed; marketing and publicity; documentation; an opening reception. Out-of-town residents also receive air / ground transportation to and from Pittsburgh and housing. The residency (which includes orientation, working on the museum floor, project development, prototyping, evaluating, and creating the final piece) occurs from June through mid-September. An exhibition of the works resulting from the program opens in September and runs through early January 2013. Deadline for submission of application materials is March 16, 2012. Contact Anne Fullenkamp, Exhibits Designer, Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh, 10 Children’s Way, Pittsburgh, PA 15212 afullenkamp@pittsburghkids.org for a complete prospectus.