The mission of the Roman J. Witt Residency Program is to support the production of new work in collaboration with the University of Michigan community. For the Stamps School community to witness and partake in the creation of a defined work from concept to completion is the centerpiece of the residency. This visibility of the creative process is intended as an exemplary teaching tool for the school as a whole. The residency is expected to culminate in the realization of the proposed work, as well as its presentation.
How To Apply
Applicants to the Witt Residency Program submit application materials and portfolios online through SlideRoom.
START YOUR APPLICATION
Application Instructions
The Witt Residency Program’s application process is conducted using SlideRoom, an online portfolio review system.
APPLY HERE: https://um.slideroom.com/#/login/program/64941/gJUKo8FyS4
After registering, applicants will:
Complete application forms, including resume/CV and references.
Upload media — this may include video, audio, and pdf files.
Submit the processing fee
The SlideRoom application offers complete instructions for submitting work. Technical assistance is available at help.liaisonedu.com.
SlideRoom requires a nominal $15 application fee to offset the cost of media uploads and storage at the time of submission. The fee is paid by the applicant using a secure system via SlideRoom online as the final step in submitting the application. All funds go directly to SlideRoom and not the Witt Residency.
Application Schedule
Proposals Due – February 20, 2022
All applications must be submitted by this deadline.
Selection Committee Review – March/April, 2022
The Stamps Selection Committee reviews materials and selects finalists to interview. Applicants will receive email notification, so please be sure to include your correct email address in your proposal.
Interviews – April/May, 2022
Notification – June 1, 2022
Eligibility
The Witt Residency is open to both established and emerging artists/designers. The Witt residency provides students an alternative learning opportunity to engage with practicing artists who can make use of resources across campus, therefore the ideal candidate must value collaboration, have good social and communication skills and be interested in generating creative partnerships across disciplines. It is the goal of the Witt Residency to foster an atmosphere of inventive creative activity that extends throughout the University community.
Honorarium
Witt Residents receive an honorarium of $20,000 for up to twelve weeks in residence served over an academic year. In addition to the honorarium, residents will be provided with housing, studio space, and up to $5,000 funding support for project materials. The School encourages applications from individuals as well as from creative teams however, please be advised that the resources listed above are finite, including the travel budget. If teams apply the expectation is that the award will be shared between its members.
About the Stamps School of Art & Design
The undergraduate and graduate programs in the Stamps School of Art & Design at the University of Michigan each offer a non-media specific degree at the intersection of art and design. Free of traditional concentrations, the undergraduate program challenges students to define their own pathways and undertake robust, self-defined culminating projects in their final year. Our dynamic two year MFA program integrates creative production with rigorous academic studies, international study with regional community engagement, and theoretical grounding with skills development. It is structured to expand the intellectual reach of creative work and utilize a comprehensive process for bringing creative work into the world. Our MDes in Integrative Design aligns graduate education with the best in emerging professional practice. A program rooted in collaboration, our two year MDes program brings together a small cohort to focus on addressing one “wicked problem” through design.
Stamps has a current enrollment of 700 undergraduate and 24 graduate students. Forty-one full-time faculty, a cohort of part-time faculty, and a strong administrative and technical staff to support the School’s programs. Additional information about the School and its programs is available at stamps.umich.edu.
Facilities
Stamps School of Art & Design facilities are located in Ann Arbor, MI. The main facility is located on U‑M’s picturesque North Campus in the Art & Architecture Building. This facility has well-equipped media studios for drawing, painting, printmaking (lithography and intaglio), clay, wood, fiber arts (sewing, weaving, dye, and screen-printing), hot metals (welding, casting, brazing), cold metals (machine tools), video, and digital photography (large and small format printers). A state-of-the-art animation lab lets students explore multiple animation workflows with animation desks, multiplane cameras, a stop motion table, and Dragonframe workstations. The digital fabrication studios house 3D printers, laser cutters, and a CNC machine. There is also a digital work commons that encourages teamwork and digital creativity and includes a 2‑color Risograph and UV printer.
Studio space for faculty and graduate students is near the main building at 1919 Green Road in Ann Arbor. This 33,000 square foot facility features private studios for tenure-stream faculty and MFA graduate students, as well as a 3000 square foot MDes collaboration and prototyping space. The building has maker spaces, plus areas designed for creating with materials such as wood and metal, several multi-purpose shops, a documentation studio, and a digital media studio.
The School’s main exhibition space, Stamps Gallery, is located in the heart of downtown Ann Arbor at 201 South Division Street. A non-collecting institution, this 8,000 sq. ft. facility is a community focal point featuring innovative and scholarly exhibitions, publications and public programs that foster vibrant and inclusive platforms for presentation and discussion. Stamps Gallery is an incubator and lab for contemporary artists and designers to explore ideas and projects that catalyze positive social change.
The University of Michigan is one of the world’s foremost public research institutions and the top-ranked U. S. public university according to QS World University. More than 50,000 graduate and undergraduate students are enrolled at U‑M for the fall 2021 semester. Additional information about the U‑M is available at http://www.umich.edu/.
Location
Ann Arbor, located 40 miles west of Detroit on the Huron River, is an intellectually and culturally rich community, with a current population of 117,082. Additional information about Ann Arbor is available at http://www.annarbor.org/.
Contact Information
Mailing Address
Penny W. Stamps School of Art & Design at the University of Michigan
2000 Bonisteel Boulevard
Ann Arbor, MI 48109 – 2069
Witt Residency Application Portal
https://um.slideroom.com/#/permalink/program/64941/gJUKo8FyS4
