Media Arts Residency Program

Media Arts Residency Award

The application for the Media Arts Residency will open in early 2023. 

Kala Art Institute provides Media Arts Fellows with up to a 6-month residency with 24/7 access to Kala’s facilities, along with the opportunity to produce work in collaboration with Kala programs, a culminating exhibition in the Kala gallery, and in-house expertise for the duration of the residency. Artists working in and across video, sound, performance cinema, and installation will continue this program into its sixth year, coming to Kala for a creative residency to create multi-media projects that culminate in Kala programming.

Awarded artists will have 24/7 access to both Kala’s digital lab and print studio throughout their residency and will be able to reserve a small project spaces for one-month as well. Kala’s digital lab provides computer suites loaded with software for image, video, and sound editing, cameras, projectors, zoom sound recorders, high-quality scanners, and large-scale printers.

How to Apply
The application is closed for the 2022/23 cycle. We will open application for the 2023/24 cycle in early 2023. Below is an example of what will be included in the application process.

The 2022 Application Included:
-Completed Application Form, you can apply on Slideroom.
-Statement of Interest in working at Kala Art Institute and how a Fellowship Award will affect a specific future project and/or how it will impact your overall practice.
-Artist CV
-Documentation of recent work: Provide 1-15 items. Allowed Media Types: Images (up to 5MB each), Video (up to 250MB each), Audio (up to 30MB each), PDFs (up to 10MB each), 3D Models, External media from YouTube, Vimeo and SoundCloud
-Two References
-$20 Application Fee

2022 Jury
The 2022/23 Media Award competition was chaired by Kala’s Artist Residency Manager Meg Pohlod. The jury included  Kala’s Artistic Director Mayumi Hamanaka,  Media Award alumni artist Alexa Burrell, and invited Bay Area arts professional, Gilbert Guerrero, Co-Director of Shapeshifters Cinema in Oakland, CA.

Program Period
The 2022-2023 Media Award residency period is August 1, 2022 through June 30, 2023. The next program period is tentatively Aug 2023 – June 2024. Artists must be able to schedule a residency during that time. The group exhibition schedule is to be determined.

Please note:
– For Bay Area artists, this award is a studio residency only with 24/7 access to Kala’s art-making facilities; For awarded artists outside of this area one-month of housing  at the Higby (Kala’s housing unit across the street from the studios)  is included, scheduling for Kala’s housing unit is on a first come, first serve basis. Upon receipt of award, artists will be notified and are encouraged to schedule soon housing soon after.
– Students who will be enrolled in a degree granting program during the program period are not eligible for the award.

For questions about this program, e-mail kalaair@kala.org

2022-2023 Media Arts Residency Awardees:

Meghana Bisineer (Oakland, CA)
Nasim Moghadam (Palo Alto, CA)
Rosa Park (San Francisco, CA)
Trina Robinson (San Francisco, CA)

2021-2022 Media Arts Residency Awardees:

Esy Casey (Diemen, Netherlands/Beacon, NY)
Cherrie Yu (Chicago, IL)
Ai Iwane (Tokyo, Japan) – Instagram: @ai_iwane
Jamal Ademola (Los Angeles, CA) – Instagram: @jamalademola

Honorary AIR Awardees:
Rosa Park (San Francisco, CA)
Miguel Aragon (Staten Island, NY)

2020-2021 Media Arts Residency Awardees:

Pegah Pasalar (Chicago, IL)
Alexa Burrell (Oakland, CA)
Naomi van Niekerk (Johannesburg, South Africa)

Honorary AIR Awardees:
Richard-Jonathan Nelson (San Francisco, CA)
Cuyler Ballenger (Houston, TX)
Annie Albagli (San Francisco, CA)

2019-2020 Media Arts Residency Awardees:
Zulfikar Ali Bhutto (San Francisco, CA)
Nkiruka Oparah (Oakland, CA)
Azin Seraj (Alameda, CA)
Naomi van Niekerk (Johannesburg, South Africa)

Honorary AIR Awardees:
Lacey Johnson (Oakland, CA)
Haejin Kim (Bloomfield Hills, MI)

2018-2019 Media Arts Residency Awardees:
Kevin Brophy (Tampa, FL)
Veronica Graham (Alameda, CA)
Tess Martin (Rotterdam, The Netherlands)
Nicky Tavares (Alameda, CA)
Minoosh Zomorodinia (Albany, CA)

2017-2018 Media Arts Residency Awardees:
Zhiwan Cheung (Pittsburgh, PA)
Lydia Greer (Alameda, CA)
Sarah Klein and David Kwan (San Francisco, CA)
Christoph Steger (Oakland, CA)

Honorary AIR Awardees:
Shaghayegh Cyrous (Walnut Creek, CA)
Motoko Honda (Oakland, CA)
Wioleta Kaminska (San Francisco, CA)
Kate Rhoades (Oakland, CA)