If you’ve spent any amount of time around Level Ground, you’ve likely heard about our residency program, which is now entering its fourth year. The program exists to provide resources and a platform to emerging and underrepresented artists. We provide access to mentorship, funding, and work with artists to show their work in a solo exhibition by the end of their residency year.  

In previous years, our board has made the final decision to select our cohort of residents. However, this year, we were excited to try something new and to welcome the first members of our residency selection committee. We are very grateful to this committee for taking the time to study each application thoroughly and make a lot of very difficult decisions—and we are so excited about the artists they chose for our 2020 residency.

You might be wondering what goes into the process of selecting our resident artists. To begin, the committee reviewed the applications for a variety of attributes, including the experimental nature of the applicants’ work; how the work challenged systemic privilege and the way we structure identity; the collaborative components of the work; and the skill level of the applicants. Though ranking these criteria are certainly important, I also challenged our committee to holistically evaluate the applicants, favoring equity and voices that often go unheard in the art world.

This year’s committee was comprised of:

• Ash Nichols (they/them), Cultural Arts Program Specialist at the Los Angeles LGBT Center

• Brody Albert (he/him), Assistant Professor of Art at Whittier College

• Evelyn Quijas (she/her), artist and 2019 Level Ground artist-in-residence

• Jamila Dawson, LMFT (she/her), marriage and family therapist

• Jeanne Heo (she/her), curator and Nous Tous Gallery coordinator

• Dr. Keisha McKenzie (she/they), Interim Program Officer at Auburn Seminary

• Micah Bournes (he/him), Level Ground board member, poet, and musician

Committee member Jeanne Heo expressed her appreciation for participating in the selection process: “Thank you, artists, for creating courageously and thanks Level Ground for being our champion!” She said the process gave her a lot of insight into the kind of artistic work that communities outside her own are exploring and how to best support this work.

2020 gave us our largest pool of applicants yet, with over a dozen talented and creative artists to choose from. Picking just three residents out of this bunch was no small task. As the Director of Art Residency, I want to personally thank the members of the 2020 selection committee for their excellent work. Each member gave a large amount of their insight and time to this process. I treasure that commitment they made to Level Ground’s art residency program, and I am so thankful for their willingness to be part of this process.

We’ll be introducing our three new residents in the coming weeks, but until then, if you’re interested in applying for the 2021 cycle, I encourage you to sign up for the Level Ground Collective to get involved right now and stay in the loop.

Thanks again to the committee members and to all of you for your continued support.

Regards,
Leslie Foster
he/him • Director of Art Residency