ABOUT THE PROGRAM
Fresh Arts, formerly “Spacetaker,” has grown from being a space for Houston artists to promote their work into a multifaceted organization dedicated to empowering artists and connecting communities.
Launched in the Spring of 2021, The Space Taking Artist Residency, calls back to the organization’s roots proudly serving as a launch pad for artists to “take over” a space for the purposes of developing and executing a creative project and hosting a series of public programs. This residency, powered by Fresh Arts, is a six-week opportunity for traditionally underrepresented local artists to experiment and “take over” a public space in new and out-of-the box ways.
Through this program, Fresh Arts strives to showcase a diverse range of creative programming designed to provide artists with a flexible showcase space, marketing and project support, and serve as an income generating opportunity. In a time when experimental art spaces and project funding for artists are disappearing, Fresh Arts sees this as an innovative way to address these critical issues while nurturing a collaborative art community.
For the first and second rounds of the residency, artists were provided with a gallery space within the Sawyer Yards creative campus, access to peer mentorship, project support and resources, and a stipend to seed their ideas. Each residency project hosts open hours as well as host a series of socially distanced public and virtual events and activations during their time in the space. In line with its mission to provide professional development opportunities for artists, Fresh Arts regularly dedicates time and resources to mentoring each selected project through the process of presenting and executing a public program, including marketing, project budgeting, presentation techniques, and more.
