GWYN Artists for 2022/23 are: Katie Mills-Yatsko and Lu Donovan with collaborator Mikah Lockman-Fine.
Get What You Need a.k.a GWYN is an 8-month-long artist-led support residency for movement artists working toward a public sharing of some kind. A public sharing is a performance, ritual, online event, gathering, or anything else you can envision that relates and engages people with your artistic process.
Through monthly meetings with the GWYN consortium, public showings shared accountability, and a large support system, two artists based in and around Philadelphia will be chosen to participate in GWYN.
What is Get What You Need, a.k.a. GWYN?
The GWYN mentors are a consortium of artist professionals, creatives, and collaborative partnerships based in Philadelphia. Currently, the consortium of mentors includes Zornitsa Stoyanova (Artistic Director of BodyMeld), Keila Cordova, Janna Meiring, and Kenwyn Samuel.
- GWYN is a Philadelphia-centered modular residency designed to support movement performance makers.
- GWYN is an artist-led residency, where resources are shared. The goal is to fill the artists’ current need for making and presenting performances.
- We support new work from all contemporary dance forms, as long as they’re working towards public engagement – which could be a performance, a virtual happening, or something completely new and unheard of before.
- We specialize in a multi-genre approach to performance, but if you have any questions in terms if we are a good fit, please don’t hesitate to send us a quick email.
- GWYN artists develop their work by showing or sharing it monthly through virtual means and in person with only consortium mentors or publicly. For one session, they can collectively invite an outside artist mentor as a cohort guide to support their process. Previously we’ve invited artists Thomas F. DeFrantz, Annie Wilson, Amy Smith, Silvana Cardel, and others.
- The two GWYN artists function as a cohort and are required to be present for each other’s monthly meetings/showings – 2 to 3 hours each – always on a Saturday or Sunday morning starting at 10:30 AM.
- Residency spans from November 2022 to June 2023 and will culminate in a public showing.
- A one-time stipend of $200 for each artist, will be provided, which can either be paid once at the end of the residency or in two installments.
Dates for residency meetings that will be finalized with the chosen artists:
1st Artist Meeting – December 11
2nd Artist Meeting – January 21 or 22
3rd Artist Meeting – February 18 or 19
4th Artist Meeting – March 18 or 19
5th Artist Meeting – April 22 or 23
6th Artist Meeting – May 20/21 or 13/14
7th Artist Meeting – June 10 or 11
GWYN artists have access to the following resources:
- Professionals in the field contributing their knowledge, experience, and expertise in contemporary dance, theatre, somatic/movement, and performance art forms.
- Support to find rehearsal/studio space in the Philadelphia area.
- Facilitation and coaching through process and development stages.
- Support in performance praxis, creating and placing work in a social context.
- Technical guidance in set, costume, makeup, and other design elements.
- Sound, video, and editing tools.
- Administration, accounting, legal and self-producing tools, and practices.
- Basic website tools and accessibility.
- Direct access to the consortium and all their combined resources.
Full list of all of our shared resources you can find here.
Eligibility:
Artists need to have lived and presented work in the Philadelphia area for at least one year. Students are not eligible to apply.
Artists can apply at any stage of their careers. Two Residents will be chosen from the applicants. Residents will be chosen based on the clarity of the research proposed, commitment to all monthly meetings, and compatibility of artistic needs with our current resources.
Application review panel: Kenwyn Samuel, Janna Meiring, Keila Cordova, Zornitsa Stoyanova, and potentially other local artists.
This platform is completely FREE of charge to the artist residents. It is made possible by a multitude of small individual donations from all over the world.
Any questions, please contact zornitsa(at)bodymeld.org
Previous artists supported through the Get What You Need residency are: Mira Treatman and Janna Meiring (19/20), Miryam Coppersmith, Caitlin Green and Maddie Hopfield (20/21), Julia Bryck and Lindsey Huster (21/22), Lu Donovan with collaborator Mikah and Katherine Mills-Yatsko (22/23).
We accept donations of any kind through PayPal. We believe that everyone involved should be paid fairly for their work and we raise money for this program over the whole year. To donate click here.
You don’t live in Philly, but want a GWYN?
Maybe you could start one yourself in your city? Zornitsa is available as a mentor and is willing to travel virtually or physically to help you make this happen. Are you in Europe? (First, congratulations, that’s awesome) Don’t worry we are not too far. Zornitsa is presently living between Philadelphia, US and Sofia, Bulgaria. (yes crazy time to be doing that during a pandemic) Contact her at zornitsa(at)bodymeld.org.
GWYN Residency program is entirely created by individual donations of money, time and expertise. Please consider donating to the program. We greatly appreciate it. DONATE HERE.