CALL TO ARTISTS CHARLOTTE STREET STUDIO RESIDENCY PROGRAM 2025-2027 APPLICATION
DEADLINE: MARCH 21st, 2025
Charlotte Street’s call for the Studio Residency Program applications opens February 17, 2025. Visual artists, performing artists, and writers interested in its two-year-long Studio Residency Program in Kansas City, MO, are encouraged to apply. Applications are accepted until Friday, March 21st, 2025 at 11:59 PM CST. Applications are only accepted through Submittable. Charlotte Street selects an independent jury panel to select artists from the applicant pool.
The residency program provides:
• Free studio space
• Advisors
• Public programs
• Annual cohort meetings and presentations
• Studio visits
• Access to a multidisciplinary network of artist peers
DETAILS
Charlotte Street's Studio Residency Program provides free studio and rehearsal spaces to a mixed disciplinary cohort of exceptional artists for two-year-long terms. Charlotte Street encourages creative production, artistic experimentation, professional development, and community building. The program fosters Charlotte Street's values of risk-taking, openness, excellence, and collaboration by creating an environment where artists use the platforms and resources available to meet personal goals and career milestones. The 2025 Studio Residents are selected through a competitive juried portfolio process. Artists will be notified the week of May 12, 2025. The two-year term/move in begins June 22, 2025.
The Studio Residency provides:
• 24-hour accessible free studio workspace for two years in Kansas City, MO
• Access to workshop, media lab, research library, and meeting spaces
• Accessibility to engagement with an advisor, regular guest critics, curators, producers, and out-of-town visitors
• Annual Open Studios and opportunities to develop public-facing Studio Residency related programs and events
• Opportunities to develop networks, peer to peer learning, and collaboration with 30 artists
• Access to onsite programming in the Charlotte Street Gallery and Stern Theater
Visual artists, writers, and performing artists (composers/producers/musicians, choreographers/dancers, theatre artists) are eligible for a two-year-long residency, with terms beginning each June. Applications for the Studio Residency Program are accepted each Spring for available workspaces only. Artists are chosen based on a portfolio review by a jury of industry professionals. Charlotte Street provides both private studios and shared rehearsal spaces in the residency. Studio space assignment is dependent on discipline needs and rotation of available space each term. Studio Residents are expected to reside in the Kansas City metropolitan area: Jackson, Platte, Cass Counties (MO) and Johnson, Wyandotte, Douglas, Leavenworth Counties (KS) while actively utilizing the free studio over the entire two-year term.
• Currently, there are 12 studio residency spots available for the incoming 2025-27 cohort.
o 3 private visual studios
o 3 private music performance studio
o 3 private writing studios
o 3 dance/movement shared rehearsal studio spots
o 1 music/performance shared rehearsal studio spots
In each annual cycle, there are approximately 30+ artists active in the residency. Charlotte Street strives for an equal mix of emerging and established artists representing a multiplicity of disciplines. The incoming 2025 cohort of artists will join the current studio residents completing their 2nd year of the program.
ELIGIBILITY
All applicants must meet the following criteria:
• Artists do not have to currently be residing in Kansas City to apply to this program but must reside in the Greater Kansas City Metro area (Clay, Douglas, Jackson, Johnson, Platte, Wyandotte) throughout the two-year residency term. (June 2025- June 2027)
• All applicants must be at least 21 years of age by application deadline
• All applicants must not be currently enrolled in a degree-seeking program once the residency term begins (June 2025 - June 2027)
• Previous Charlotte Street/Urban Culture Project Studio Residents are not eligible
Note: Applicants DO NOT have to have a degree from any educational institution to be considered for this opportunity.
PROGRAM COMPONENTS
Participating artists are expected to commit to:
• Actively utilize the studio space over the two-year term
• Advance their artistic practices and professional development
• Build a sense of community with fellow studio artists
• Leverage their residencies toward future opportunities
PROGRAM FEATURES
Cohort gatherings/meetings —
Over the course of the residency year, all studio resident artists are expected to attend the four regular scheduled Monday night meetings. These meetings are intended as opportunities to network and connect and plan the annual Open Studios event.
9/15/2025, 3/16/2026, 4/20/2026, 5/18/2026.
Advisors —
Each studio resident is paired with a volunteer advisor for the duration of their residency term. These advisors are established artists or arts professionals from the broader Kansas City area who generously provide resident artists with feedback, support, encouragement, and connections to other individuals and resources in the broader community. The artist and advisor meet periodically over the course of the term. Each artist completes a goal-setting worksheet at the onset of their residency. Charlotte Street selects and invites the advisors based on the artist's responses and goals in the worksheet and one-on-one interview. The resident's goal worksheet is shared with their advisor to help guide the objectives along the way.
Studio Visits —
Visiting artists, gallerists, curators, writers, publishers, collectors, patrons, and classes are scheduled for studio visits with residents over the two-year term. Visits are arranged both by Charlotte Street and by residents themselves. These visits provide new connections to the artists' feedback, experience, opportunities, and unknown resources.
Guest speakers are scheduled throughout the term for special presentations, typically sharing their projects, experiences, and advice with the residents. Guest speakers are determined based on the overall responses to the artist goal worksheets.
Open Studios —
The annual Spring Open Studios (Saturday, April 25th, 2026) provides opportunities for residents to meet and share their work with the broader community. The public is invited to visit the residency studios, meet artists, see new and in-process artwork, experience live performances, hear artist talks, writer's readings, and more.
Public Programs —
Each resident is required to participate in the annual Slide Slam evening presentation at the beginning of each term in June. TUESDAY, JUNE 17th. Artists create and rapidly share examples of their portfolio with fellow cohorts as a public gathering/orientation.
RESIDENT ARTIST RESOURCES
Studio Lounge- Situated on Level 3 adjacent to the visual studios, residents have access to the well-lit open space dedicated to relaxing, meeting, eating, reading, and daydreaming.
Features include • a modern kitchen (refrigerator, dishwasher, microwave, coffee maker, storage) • seating (couch and chairs, tall tables and counter with stools) • Wi-Fi
Media Lab- Situated on Level 1, the production studio is built and equipped for video, photo and podcast audio production. Soundproofed walls and ceilings, durable vinyl floor, multi backdrop screens, and LED lighting/stands. Adjacent is a windowed, soundproofed, editing suite/sound booth equipped with Black Magic switcher/editor, 6K BM video camera, ZOOM digital 8 track podcast mixer/recorder/streaming, Shure studio microphones, and Mac Studio with A/V editing software, Adobe suite, Davinci Resolve, Final Cut Pro, and Ableton.
Workshop- located in a separate building in the campus courtyard. The shop features a vented walk-in spray booth, a four-color silkscreen printing station, and an exposure unit/rinse/darkroom. Residents have access to powered bench tools (table saw, chop saw, drill press, sander/grinder, air compressor/ tools, cordless powered tools (drills, CNC hand router, palm sanders), three-bay sink, restroom, workbenches, and tables. All residents are required to be certified by the Charlotte Street shop manager prior to using the workshop.
Library- Level 1 multi-use room hosting art reference book collections, programming archives, research resources, WIFI, magazine subscriptions, conference table with access to laptop/projector/large television monitor/audio sound system. The library has regular visitor hours and is available for private meetings, events, and gatherings.
Conference Room- A private casual meeting room located on Level 1. The intimate carpeted space features include a flatscreen display for presentations with WIFI, a sofa, and armchairs. Room reservation required.
CAMPUS FEATURES
Charlotte Street staff offices and board room
Charlotte Street Gallery- curated exhibitions and programs
Stern Theater- black box space with free monthly series, performances, and programs
Parking lots (2) and courtyard drive for loading access with security cameras
Large item load-in access with freight elevator to each level of the building
Green spaces, resting areas with seating, orchard, and a community garden
TO VIEW APPLICATION DETAILS AND TO APPLY CLICK HERE
STATEMENT ON OPPORTUNITY EQUITY
Charlotte Street values an equitable, diverse, and inclusive art community, which we interpret as all artists having fair access to the tools and resources they need to realize their artistic endeavors. We acknowledge structural inequities that have excluded individuals and communities from opportunity based on race, gender, disability, sexual orientation, class, age, and geography, and strive to counter those inequities in our work. We encourage panelists and selection committees to actively consider and seek to recommend a diverse pool of applicants as finalists and recipients of these awards and all Charlotte Street programs.
ABOUT CHARLOTTE STREET
Charlotte Street centers Kansas City's most forward-thinking visual artists, writers, and performers— acting as the primary incubator, provocateur, and connector for the region's contemporary arts community and its leading advocate on the national stage. Since 1997, Charlotte Street has distributed over $2 million in awards and grants to artists and their innovative projects and connected individual artists to each other and to the greater Kansas City community. For more information about Charlotte Street, its awards, programs, and initiatives, visit www.charlottestreet.org.
CALL TO ARTISTS
CHARLOTTE STREET CULTURAL PRODUCER GRANT PROGRAM
APPLICATION DEADLINE: APRIL 18, 2025
Charlotte Street is excited to announce the 5th year of the Cultural Producer Grant Program, with $30,000 in total funds for low-budget grassroots arts organizations and artist-run projects in Kansas City.
Kansas City has long enjoyed a thriving and diverse ecology of small artist-run spaces, collectives, groups and organizations, which have sometimes suffered from lack of support needed to establish sustainability. While each may be small, the collective impact both to our arts community and to our city have been enormous. Whether permanent or temporary, these groups nurture and grow artists creatively and become powerful engines of community. Financial backing for these organizations often goes “under the radar” for larger institutional support. These new Cultural Producer Grants aim to both draw attention to these critical elements of our arts ecosystem as well as direct some much needed support their way.
GOALS:
- To encourage a rich, flourishing, and diverse ecosystem of arts and culture in Kansas City
- To contribute to the sustainability of low-budget artist-run organizations, collectives, groups, projects, and initiatives
- To provide support for small arts and culture grassroots organizations and artist-organizers building larger scale projects that have an important impact on Kansas City’s arts and culture scene, despite smaller budgets and less access to capital
CRITERIA:
For applicants applying as an organization:
- This opportunity is open to: Artist-run initiatives and arts and culture operations, or fiscally sponsored artist collaboratives, collectives, or companies (can include art spaces, festivals, LLCs, nonprofits, ongoing operations, or one-off events)
- Applicants must have at least 24 months of operating history if applying as a collective, organization, or company.
- Organization cannot have an annual operating budget over $50K or own assets worth over $50K
For applicants applying as an individual with a proposed project:
- Unaffiliated artist-organizers may be eligible if pitching projects that have been in operation for at least 24 months and provide opportunities for a number of artists beyond the primary organizers of the project.
- The budget for the project cannot be over $50k annually
For ALL applicants:
- Primary contacts must be an artist of any discipline and over 21 years of age as of the application deadline (April 18, 2025).
- Primary contacts cannot be currently enrolled in a degree-seeking program, and must have completed their studies at least 1 year prior to application deadline (on or before April 18, 2024).
This opportunity is open to:
- Applicants located in the 5-county region of the Kansas City metro (Jackson, Platte, and Clay counties in Missouri and Johnson and Wyandotte counties in Kansas)
- The following disciplines: visual art, film, dance, theatre, spoken word/performative poetry, multidisciplinary, new media, new/experimental music, social practice, arts publications/arts writing, conceptual or social design projects
- This opportunity is not open to current Charlotte Street Startup Residents, Rocket Grantees who have not completed final report, or to directly support programming on Charlotte Street’s campus.
- Funding requests are annual. Applicants can be funded for up to 2 years in a row but then must sit out a year before applying again.
PROCESS:
All applicants should prepare a concise, multipage PDF (up to 3 pages) to be uploaded to Submittable (https://charlottestreet.submittable.com/submit) that addresses the following areas:
Project narrative
Mission
Project or program history (size, how long, employed or volunteer staff/contributors)
Attach CV demonstrating prior history if individual artist-organizer
DEI&A (Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, & Accessibility)
Partners and collaborators
Participating artists
Logistics
Calendar
Operating budget (if organization) OR Project Budget (if individual)
Portfolio documentation/project images
SELECTION PROCESS
- Eligible applications assessed by RISK/COLLABORATION/OPENNESS/EXCELLENCE
- Jurors review and rank priority for funding via Submittable jury review process
- 100% of funds will be awarded in support of organizations whose mission and leadership will positively impact the advancement of BIPOC, LGBTQIA, or Disabled communities, in recognition of the oppression of those communities in the art sector and the gap that has created particularly in the Kansas City art scene.
- 5-10 grant recipients will receive grants of $5 or $10k as established by the jury. A total of $30,000 in grants is available in the granting pool for 2025.
- Submittable ranks applications automatically once jury review complete, and jury meets for one call to discuss applications and create a list of finalists for interviews.
- Finalists are given the opportunity to present in 20-minute interview/question-answer sessions with the jury panel on May 16.
- Jurors make final decisions about chosen applications and funding amounts.
- Applicants are notified of status by end of day on Monday, May 19, 2025.
ABOUT CHARLOTTE STREET
Charlotte Street centers Kansas City’s most forward-thinking visual artists, writers, and performers—acting as the primary incubator, provocateur, and connector for the region’s contemporary arts community, and its leading advocate on the national stage. Since 1997, Charlotte Street has distributed over $2.5 million in awards and grants to artists and their innovative projects, and has hosted countless exhibitions, performances, convenings and conversations connecting and challenging Kansas City’s contemporary art ecosystem. For more information about Charlotte Street, its awards, programs, and initiatives, visit www.charlottestreet.org.