Interns work in studio once a week for 2-4 hours. The internship lasts approximately 4 months. Interns work directly on studio projects, shows and events and learns hands on how an independent artist studio functions and grows its business.
Studies include work in painting, sculpting, photography and body art.
There is no cost to apply or participate but there is also no monetary compensation for being an intern. The objective is not to teach you technique and mentor you in becoming a functioning and successful artist in your future.
Artist interviews can be obtained by sending examples of your work and a brief bio of your art background to: GCSARTNO@AOL.COM
We will contact you via email to set up your interview. You may also use the email above for questions or comments.
Please note that we are only able to take two interns per season, so don't delay in setting up your interview!
A LITTLE BACKGROUND HISTORY
You could call the LGBT Emerging Artists Conservatory both a dream and a reality.
In my minds eye it is a great school that focuses on teaching those in the LGBT community who have the desire and basic talent to make visual arts a permanent part of their lives. It is a beautiful school that focuses not so much on the fundamentals of teaching as it does on the mentoring and life skills needed to make it in the art world. It see to the needed resources in supplies and space that emerging artists are often so in need of.
Its hallways are broad and the sunlight streams through large windows to highlight works by students that line the walls. It is filled with music and laughter and a willing spirit to do whatever it takes to become an artist.
That's the dream. Here is the reality.
The space is small and it is filled with bric-a-brac that artists so love to collect. Its supplies are sparse but always seem to be just enough. Its students are few, only 2 each season. But they learn and they grow and they experiment. They get a chance to see the world they'd like to be a part of and decide if its really what they want to become. Its gritty at times. The harsh reality of an artists life is never easy but that is part of the experience. It removes the glamour that new students to the arts sometimes think the art world is about and shows them the hard facts that life as an artist isn't always easy.
This is my reality and this my tiny school for LGBT emerging artists in the New Orleans. Its students range from young LGBT youth who have just had to the courage to come out, to older students who found that life lacked meaning...until now. It includes minorities and transgender students who find that in the arts there is complete acceptance of who they are without judgement because ultimately the judgement lies in what they create.
There is no staff, only one old artist who has a deep need to pass on what he's learned about art to others. There are few frills, but just like the dream, there is still music and laughter and that willing spirit.
I'm sometimes asked why I would even bother. What am I getting from it? I'm never quite sure how to answer that because what I am getting back through helping these artists to achieve is not something that can be put into words. Its the joy of seeing how they react when they learn something totally new. Its watching them put working knowledge together with their own ideas to begin creating their own works. Its so many things that can never really be described.
Sometimes my gut clenches though when I think about the lack of resources to help these folks. So I've set up a donation scholarship fund to help keep this facility alive and assisting LGBT students. If you cannot donate, please pass the link along. Make this organization flourish
No comments:
Post a Comment