A hand-painted sign at Hot Wells artist-in-residence Justin Parr’s studio compound reads “apply, apply apply.” Local artists should take heed, with applications coming due for multiple auditions, applications, and calls for proposals.
Visual artists, performance and performing artists, musicians, dancers, and theater artists of all kinds are encouraged to apply for several opportunities to have their work seen and heard in San Antonio, but deadlines are coming up quickly. Below is a rundown of six opportunities, arranged by dates applications are due:
SAT Live
Matt Evans, the arts, culture, and music specialist for the San Antonio International Airport (coded as SAT in airport lingo), is seeking applications for its relatively new live performance program SAT Live. Statistics count more than 10 million passengers arriving and departing through the airport last year, and as Evans noted in a news release announcing the chance to score an audition, “This is a traveler’s first and last impression of our beautiful city.”
Applications are due Friday addressed to Evans at matt.evans@sanantonio.gov. Applications should include a press kit, with biographical information, performance samples, website and social media links, and contact information.
But get them in quickly, as applicants will be selected for auditions to be held Saturday at the Sam Ash Music Store at Loop 410 and McCullough Avenue. Successful auditioners will be placed on a list of available performers for opportunities throughout the year.
Noted San Antonio musician Henry Brun currently participates in the SAT Live program, with a two-person version of his ensemble. Brun said that though people tend to come and go from the airport, stationing performers near the food courts invites audience engagement.
He also said the purpose of the program is to “take people’s minds off the stress they’re going through” during the strenuous travel process and to give “a piece of our culture to take with them.”
He called the airport “the first portal for travelers coming into SA and the last portal they cross,” and noted that “we have a great pool of talent here, moreso than what people can imagine.”
Brun specified that performers of all kinds, including theater artists, dancers, and musicians in all genres, are encouraged to apply.
Luminaria, Mission San José, Artist Foundation
The Luminaria Contemporary Arts Festival is handling three open calls, with opportunities to make public projects and to gain funding.
The Artist Foundation of San Antonio offers annual grants of $15,000 in each of three categories, literary arts, visual arts, and performing arts. An additional People’s Choice Award category was announced last year, with a voting period for the public to weigh in.
The awards are intended to “recognize artistic achievement, dedication to an artistic discipline and the potential for further professional development,” according to the organization’s website.
Application deadline is March 15, available at the link above.
Fresh off of receiving two major grants, of $40,000 from the Santikos Foundation and $25,000 from the National Endowment for the Arts, Luminaria is seeking applications for its 12th annual November nighttime festival of contemporary art. “Around 50 artists” will be chosen to participate with installations, performances, readings, music, and other art forms for the festival, which annually attracts crowds of 20,000 spectators.
“We want things to be as easy as possible,” in terms of the application process, said Kat Cadena, Luminaria’s administrative manager, hoping to attract as many applicants as possible.
The application deadline is also March 15, available here.
Lastly, Luminaria is seeking proposals for its new Mission San José Interpretive Arts Program, added to the Luminaria program last year. Applications are due March 15, available on the Luminaria website or directly here.
Its first selection was a performance by local classical music quartet Agarita in the Mission’s granary building. This year, Luminaria has funding of $2,500 each for two projects.
“The goal is to get more artists working with Luminaria, and interpreting San Antonio history,” Cadena said. Installations could potentially stay up at the Mission through November and December, “their heaviest tourist part of the year,” she said.
Luminaria will hold a free information session on its Mission San José and contemporary arts festival applications on March 2 in the historic Schulze House in Hemisfair.
Artist Foundation board members Leslie Chasnoff and Katy Silva, who is also marketing and advertising manager for the Rivard Report, will hold a free information session on that organization’s grants at 6 p.m. March 7 in the same location.
McNay Art Museum
Regional performance artists whose work addresses issues of gender and identity are encouraged to participate in a March 23 workshop and critique at the McNay Art Museum, in advance of the summer exhibition Transamerica/n: Gender, Identity, Appearance Today, which runs June 20 through Sept. 15.
Artists will have a chance to perform and receive feedback from the museum’s curatorial team and might be invited to become part of the exhibition.
Performers must sign up for the workshop by Mar. 15 by e-mailing lauren.thompson@mcnayart.org, with information available here.
Notably, the McNay received a major grant of $175,000 from the Henry Luce Foundation in support of the exhibition, which the museum noted in a news release will be “the country’s first broad survey of contemporary artwork from across North America to explore the spectrum of gender identity as manifest in outward appearance.”
All applications and open calls listed above are free and open to all artists.
