Franconia provides a communal residency experience where up to 18 selected artists live on-site at their 4500 sq. ft. farmhouse. Applicants should express an interest in investigating and creating work exploring intersectional impacts between public art and public health.
Proposals should address some aspect of public health in their work, including interpreting or recognizing its motifs, assumptions, and relationships to public health. Concepts may include, but are not limited to: shared identity and place; racial, structural, and economic inequities; affordable housing; food deserts and community gardens; collective trauma; art created in collaboration with the community; identity and belonging; art as spaces for collective healing; access to quality healthcare and early education; stress and anxiety; mental health and public stigma.
Franconia Sculpture Park (FSP) operates a 50-acre outdoor museum, an artist-in-residence program, robust public programming, and expansive educational initiatives. FSP is a cultural anchor to the Twin Cities with a national reach into contemporary art communities and a growing audience of nearly 200,000 visitors each year. Franconia supports sculpture and installation including land art, ceramics, contemporary craft, experimental sound/music, and performance art. The program and facilities promote a collaborative community, fosters new work and intellectual exchange, offer exhibition and presentation opportunities, and provide artists with exposure to the Twin Cities. This program encourages experimentation and knowledge-building–whether artists seek to redefine process, reflect social and cultural contexts of our time, or push conceptual or material boundaries.
