2024 SHIFT Resident, Sonja John working in her studio. Photography by Clarissa Passarinho

SHIFT RESIDENCY 2025 OPEN CALL

EFA Project Space is pleased to announce the 2025 Open Call for SHIFT: A Residency for Arts Workers.

Since its inception in 2010, SHIFT residency has been providing peer support, mentoring, and studio space for over ninety artists who work in arts organizations in New York (as administrators, educators, accessibility consultants, etc.), to advance the artists’ creative practices in balance with their careers. The SHIFT residency honors these artists’ commitment to the arts community with a supportive and collaborative environment.

Each year six New York-based artists receive a shared studio space, artist honoraria and production fee, career development opportunities, group catalog production, as well as monthly peer critiques and guest studio visits. The residency period starts from January 2025, and ends in July 2025, culminating in a curated group exhibition at EFA Project Space. 

SHIFT has hosted artists working in a range of media, from sound and installation to painting, performance, and social practice. In addition to its role as a support network, SHIFT promotes advocacy for arts workers and seeks to increase equity and representation within the field.

  • *Application opens June 4, 2024

    *Application deadline: July 31, 2024

    *Selected applicants notified in Fall 2024

    *Residency period: January - July, 2025

    *End-of-Residency Exhibition: June-July, 2025

  • *Anyone who works in the arts and still maintains an art practice is welcomed to apply. In the past we’ve hosted art educators, administrators, freelancers, museum security guards, accessibility professionals, and more from various non-profit as well as for-profit institutions. We support arts workers who feel like a shift is needed in their practice

    *Applicants must be employed and working at least 32 hours a week as an arts worker at a NYC-based arts entity (non-profit/for-profit institutions, galleries, education, freelance, etc.)

    *Applicants must be based in New York and are able to commit to be in-person over the course of the residency

    *Applicants must be able to commit to a once-a-week meeting throughout the duration of the residency, on Wednesday evenings from 6:30-8:30 PM, and occasional weekends and evening events

    *Applicants must be able to commit to participate in the final exhibition scheduled for June-July 2025, at EFA Project Space

    *Applicants should also commit to participating in the exhibition’s public programming

    *Applicants must not be enrolled in an academic program during the residency period

  • *Shared studio space at The Elizabeth Foundation for the Arts

    *Artist honoraria and production fee

    *Career development opportunities

    *Monthly peer critiques

    *Guest studio visits

    *A curated group exhibition at EFA Project Space

    *Exhibition catalog

  • EFA Project Space staff is committed to supporting accessibility needs.

    EFA Project Space is located on the second floor of 323 West 39th Street. It is accessible via an elevator (its door width is 32” and car width is 65”), or two flights of stairs. At the building’s ground-level front desk, you will be asked to sign in with your name but not to provide ID.

    Studios are wheelchair accessible. Studios will be shared, with individual desks, shelves, and chairs for each resident. The studios have windows and AC.

    About the exhibition space:

    The exhibitions and projects are free. Chairs with backs are available for guests upon request. There are two non-gender-segregated single-stall bathrooms on the building’s third floor, accessible via the elevators, one floor above the gallery. One bathroom is wide and long enough to accommodate a wheelchair; the other cannot. Neither bathroom has grab bars.

    ASL interpreters are available upon request. Please contact us at least three weeks in advance to request ASL Interpretation for exhibitions’ public programs.

    EFA Project Space is committed to nurturing an intergenerational environment and we encourage visitors of all ages to join.

  • Can international artists apply to the SHIFT residency?

    International artists may apply, as long as they have permission to work in the USA during the residency period. EFA Project Space is unable to sponsor visas

  • APPLY NOW!

Please contact projectspace@efanyc.org for any questions.