Anderson Center nurtures a vibrant artist community based at Tower View, an expansive Historic Site and natural area in Red Wing, Minnesota. Founded in 1995, the Anderson Center has renovated and restored Tower View’s historic buildings to support working artists and the creative process, including developing twenty-two active studio spaces and three galleries. A renovated barn serves as a performance and event venue, the historic main residence houses artists-in-residence, and fifteen acres support a sculpture garden.
Anderson’s signature Artist Residency Program, together with the Studio Artist Program, forms the core of the organization’s artistic community. The Residency Program provides artists, writers, musicians, and performers of exceptional promise and demonstrated accomplishment with dedicated time and space to create, advance, or complete new work. In addition to community engagement activities through the artist residency program, the organization’s additional outreach programs create connections and integrate the arts into community life through local partnerships, hosting annual arts events, and participating in other community-based initiatives.
TO APPLY
The application deadline for the 2025 Anderson Center Residency Program is Tuesday, January 14, 2025 at Noon, 12 p.m. Central Standard Time. Applications must be submitted on or before the deadline in order to be considered in the jury review period. There is a $30 fee for applying to this residency program.
Jury review will take place in late January and February. Applicants will be notified by Feb. 7 as to the status of their application. Selected artist residents, wait-list and runners-up will be notified by March 4, 2024.
ELIGIBILITY
The Anderson Residency Program is open to early career, mid-career, and established visual artists, writers, composers, choreographers, multidisciplinary artists, musicians, performance artists, scholars, and translators from across the globe. The program is interdisciplinary and the organization welcomes applications from a wide range of creative and intellectual genres, including those that don’t fit neatly into the above list.
To be considered, artists must submit an application through the Anderson Center’s online form via Submittable. Complete program details are below. Please contact the organization at 651-388-2009 or info@andersoncenter.org for any questions.
DURATION OF RESIDENCY
For the 2024 season, the Anderson Center is offering 2- or 4-week residency sessions during the months of May, July, September, and October. Preference is generally given to 4-week residencies with the goal that either the September or October cohorts would consist entirely of artists staying for 4 weeks. That said, 2-weeks sessions are welcomed, especially in May and July. There is a 48-hour turnover between residency sessions, no matter their duration, to allow time for housekeeping. Specific start and end dates are listed in the application form. Please plan your requested residency dates carefully. Provide as much detail as possible regarding your availability, as that information is incredibly helpful in assembling cohorts and organizing the waitlist.
June 2024 residencies are reserved for Anderson’s Deaf Artists Residency Program. August 2024 residencies are reserved for the organization’s Early Career Artist Residency.
2025 SCHEDULING & AVAILABILITY
Each season the Anderson Center hosts a limited number of artists through its various exchanges, fellowships, and dedicated programs that reduce the number of spots available for artists submitting materials for this General Residency program opportunity. In 2025 exterior renovations to the residence limit the residency options to the months of August and October.
Availability as of September 2024:
- August 2025 – Four 4-week spots (or eight 2-week spots); space for 4-6 artists depending on duration.
- October 2025 – Three 4-week spots (or 6 2-week spots); space for 3 – 5 artists depending on duration.
In general, for months that incorporate 2-week sessions, no fewer than four artists–and no more than six artists would be scheduled for 2-week residencies within that month.
Due to the competitiveness of the program, the organization’s goal is to be upfront and transparent about the availability for the General Residency program in 2025 in an effort to help you make a decision about whether this year is the best time to submit an application. Again, please contact us if you have any questions or need further clarification here.
LOCATION
The Anderson Center is located on the 350-acre historic Tower View campus, built by scientist & farmer Dr. Alexander Pierce Anderson between 1915 and 1921, on the western edge of Red Wing, Minnesota, and its buildings are listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The Center features a large sculpture garden, and is adjacent to the Cannon Valley Trail, a 20-mile biking and walking trail that runs from Cannon Falls to Red Wing.
The Center is approximately 45 minutes southeast of Minneapolis and St. Paul. Transportation is provided between the Center and the Twin Cities airport on the first and last day of residencies only. Artist Residents that choose to drive will have access to private parking on the property.
The community of Red Wing, Minn., (pop. 16,000) is nestled amidst the scenic bluffs of the upper Mississippi River. The town is settled on the traditional and sacred land of the Bdewakantunwan & Wahpekute bands of the Eastern Dakota people. The City of Red Wing is named after Tatanka Mani (Walking Buffalo), a leader of the Bdewakantunwan Dakota in the upper Mississippi Valley who wore a ceremonial swan’s wing dyed in brilliant red. In 1815, Tatanka Mani and his people moved their village south to a place they called Khemnichan (Hill, Wood, & Water) in present-day downtown Red Wing. Euro-American immigrants who met him as they advanced into the region in the early nineteenth century came to know him and his village as “Red Wing.”
Since its settlement and eventual incorporation in 1857, Red Wing established itself as a center for agriculture, industry, tourism, medical care, technology, and the arts. The Red Wing Shoe Company and its iconic brands, in particular, continue to have a significant impact on the community’s economic, business, and community development climates. Natural resources abound with Red Wing’s riverfront, winding paths through the majestic bluffs, bike trails, and 35 city parks. The Prairie Island Indian Community is located northwest of the city. Frontenac State Park is to the southeast on Lake Pepin. Minnesota State College Southeast Technical’s Red Wing campus is known for its string and brass instrument repair programs. The MN Dept. of Corrections also operates a large juvenile residential facility in Red Wing.
Other amenities include a destination bakery, a chocolate shop, coffee shops, restaurants, the flagship Red Wing Shoe Company store, Goodhue County Historical Society Museum, the Red Wing Stoneware & Pottery store, the Pottery Museum of Red Wing, a Duluth Trading store, the Red Wing Marine Museum, a Target, several pharmacies, a plant nursery & garden center, a Mayo Health System Hospital, a small independent bookstore, and a public library.
Other key community stakeholders include the historic Sheldon Theatre, the Red Wing Arts Association, Red Wing YMCA, Rise Up Red Wing, Hispanic Outreach of Goodhue County, Red Wing Area Friends of Immigrants, Red Wing Area Women’s Network, Live Healthy Red Wing, Artreach, Red Wing Artisan Collective, Evening Start Quilt Guild, the Artist Sanctuary, Pier 55 Red Wing Area Seniors, Big Turn Music Festival, Red Wing AAUW, Red Wing Environmental Learning Center, Red Wing Area Girl Scouts, Red Wing Public Schools, Tower View Alternative High School, and Universal Music Center, as well as several City boards, commissions, and departments (such as the Human Rights Commission and the Arts & Culture Commission).
APPLICATION
A completed application form includes a brief artist statement, a work plan, a community engagement statement, work samples, and a resume or CV. Incomplete or late applications will not be reviewed by the panel. You may begin your application, leave and return as many times as necessary to complete the form PRIOR to clicking the submit button at the bottom of the completed form. Important: do not submit your application form until you are completely finished editing as your application will be finalized at that time. If you are a prior resident of the Anderson Center, you must wait one year from the time of your residency to apply again.
The Artist Statement, provides an opportunity for you to share, in 100 words or less, a brief statement or summary about your past and current work.
The Resume, CV, or Biographical Statement is a Word or PDF document that shows education, work experience, publications, awards, and previous residency experience. 3 pages maximum.
The Work Plan is a one-page Word or PDF document that clearly and concisely describes what you are working on and what you’d like to accomplish at the Anderson Center. Successful applicants address how the timing, location, and cohort-based model of the residency would benefit their practice. Artists may also mention how specific amenities or resources at the Anderson Center (such as the surrounding natural environment, specific studio spaces or equipment) would advance their work. The statement can be single-spaced.
Community Engagement Statement is a chance for you to address, in 200 words or less, any interests, goals, or connections that may help staff in developing your engagement activity with community members in Red Wing. What sort of mutually beneficial exchange would both advance your practice and be meaningful for local participants? We are not asking for any concrete plans here, just some general ideas for us to consider.
Work Samples should be of recent work and should include:
- For composers and musicians: 3 to 5 recordings
- For visual artists: At least 5 images of work (300 dpi or larger)
- For nonfiction and fiction writers: 10 pages of double-spaced prose
- For playwrights & screenwriters: 10-page excerpt (does not need to be from the beginning)
- For poets: 10 pages of poetry
- For translators: 10 pages of translation and original text
- For performance artists: 3 short video excerpts of performances (no videos longer than 5 minutes)
- For filmmakers: at least 3 short film clips (no videos longer than 5 minutes)
- For Scholars: 10 pages of work, including research abstracts and relevant diagrams
If you are an interdisciplinary or multi-disciplinary artist, you may “split the difference” on the work sample guidelines above at your own discretion. For example, including 5 pages of writing and 3 images, etc.
Likewise you may also choose to simply submit a PDF or Word Doc with hyperlinks to work samples that meet the guidelines outlined above.
Regarding work samples, please put yourself in the shoes of a jury panel member. Make it easy for them to review your best work first. Yes, give the jury various ways to go deeper or experience more if they are motivated but focus first on presenting only your strongest work samples in the most compelling way possible. Please contact staff if you have questions about work samples, but reflecting on the jury and the many applications they have to review & score can serve as a helpful guide in deciding what to include, how much to share, how long it can be, and how to present it.
ACCOMMODATIONS
Each resident is provided room, board, and workspace for the length of the residency period in the historic Tower View residence. Visual artists will be provided a 15′ x 26′ studio and are responsible for supplying their own materials. Other workspaces on-site include a dark room and a print studio for professional printmakers (with a Vandercook 219 letterpress and a Charles Brand-like etching press). Practice space is also available for dancers, choreographers, and musicians. Composers are provided with access to a 1904 Steinway piano and a Royale grand piano.
Dinners are prepared and presented by the Anderson Center chef Monday through Friday. This chef also shops for groceries for artists-in-residence. Residents are responsible for preparing their own breakfasts and lunches, and meals over the weekends. There are also housekeepers who clean and maintain the historic facilities.
Residents have access to the many walking trails on campus and to the Cannon Valley Trail, which goes through the Anderson Center’s property. Bicycles are also provided. Residents have responded to many different aspects of the gorgeous Tower View campus through their work, including composers sampling natural sounds and visual artists harvesting plant materials to create site-specific natural inks.
COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT
The program is set-up to minimize distractions and other obligations so that artists have every opportunity to fully focus on their work. However, the Anderson Center was one of the first artist residency programs in the country to require that residents give back to the local community and connect with area residents & organizations through community engagement activities.
Staff work with artists to facilitate and customize at least one hour of mutually beneficial exchange with the Red Wing community that helps foster connection and greater a sense of place.
Within the last few years, Anderson Center residents have connected with schools in five area communities (ranging from elementary through college), senior centers, correctional or detention facilities, community organizations serving children and families, and community organizations serving adults. Residents have also engaged individuals from all walks of life through public workshops, events, discussions, and artful interventions — both at the Anderson Center or in the community of Red Wing.
PROGRAM MISSION & VALUES
“This stay is particularly suitable for artists who want to devote themselves intensively to the realization of a concept. Here you can devote yourself to artistic work undisturbed and far away from everyday worries.” – Eva Möseneder, 2012 resident
Anderson Center’s goal is for connections participating artists make with one another, as well as connections made with other creatives and community members, to outlast the duration of their residency visit. The organization believes that the environment and resources of Tower View, along with an exchange of ideas across disciplines, can serve as a catalyst for new inspiration and innovative directions for the work artists create while in residence.
As an interdisciplinary arts organization, the Anderson Center embraces artists who are diverse in every way. Since its inception, the organization has intentionally worked with artists representing a wide range of disciplines, with the belief that the exchange of ideas is generative. The residency program supports artists from around the world, representing a wide range of cultures, races, sexual identities and genders. The Center strives to bring people and ideas together and operates with a spirit of welcome for all.
VACCINATION POLICY
Prior to arrival, all artists are sent a revised Residency Handbook outline many items related to daily life for artists-in-residence, including the most current safety policies and protocols. The organization’s goal is to balance standard pandemic policies and clear expectations while also highlighting areas where communication or flexibility within each cohort might be beneficial or needed.
Again, the Anderson Center Residency Program trusts that artists know what they need most to advance their individual practices and how best to use their time to benefit their own work and reach their own goals. Likewise, artists are empowered to collectively make changes where appropriate and ultimately build the artist community they’d like to see.
At the same time, and as is outlined in the Residency Handbook, the Anderson Center is committed to supporting artists by creating a safe space for their residency experience. As such, for the 2024 season, the organization requires all participating artists to provide proof of up-to-date COVID-19 vaccination prior to arrival.
Of course even with all of these precautions, by simply participating in an artist residency program, there is an inherent risk of exposure, even for vaccinated persons, that is beyond the ability of the Anderson Center to control entirely. By applying to this program you are communicating that you are comfortable with that risk and that you are also up-to-date on your COVID vaccinations (or will be prior to arrival).
SELECTION TIMELINE
January 14, 2025 (12:00 p.m. Noon CST) – application deadline
February 7, 2025 – Jury has selected Round 2 applications. All artists are notified of the status of their status.
March 5, 2025 – Final notification to selected artists, wait-list and runners-up
SELECTION CRITERIA Selection criteria include (in order of importance):
1) Artistic excellence as demonstrated by work samples, resume and artist statement
2) Potential benefit and impact on career as demonstrated by work plan
3) Balance of artistic disciplines, identity, geography, etc within selected cohort
EQUAL OPPORTUNITY
The Anderson Center provides equal opportunity for all people to participate in and benefit from the activities of the Center, regardless of race, national origin, color, age, religion, sexual orientation, disability, in admission, access, or employment. The Anderson Center staff is willing to do what they can to accommodate residents with disabilities. Please call before applying to discuss special needs.
Website link: https://theandersoncenter.submittable.com/submit/
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