Apply Now | NYFA Immigrant Artist Mentoring Program: Detroit

December 6, 2017byAmy Aronoff

Through the support of the Ford Foundation, NYFA is pleased to announce the Immigrant Artist Mentoring Program: Detroit, presented in collaboration with Detroit local partners.

The program’s goal is to foster a local community of artists sharing the immigrant experience and provide resources through entrepreneurial training, access to other artists, arts professionals, and organizations. Conducted in an inclusive, safe-space, the Immigrant Artist Mentoring Program offers immigrant artists the opportunity to focus on their creative practice, gain support and exposure for their work, while upholding their distinct cultural identities.

This initiative will combine two of NYFA’s professional development programs: the Immigrant Artist Mentoring Program, in which NYFA provides access to artist mentors and art professionals via panels and workshops, and the Artist As Entrepreneur Boot Camps, which provides artists with the fundamental principles of sustainability in the arts. Featured topics will include strategic planning, finance, law, marketing, and fundraising.

In collaboration with Detroit-based partners, the program will have two-weekend entrepreneurial boot camps, one-on-one mentoring, an informal gathering between weekends, and individual follow-up consultations.

This is a competitive program open to artists from all disciplines (performing, literary, visual, multi-disciplinary, folk and traditional arts) based in Detroit, MI and provided free of charge to accepted participants. The program will run from March 2018 to June 2018, and will bring together Detroit artists to nurture a productive environment for collaboration.

Testimonial:

This workshop series gave me, the artist, the best frame of reference and the footing to let go of discounting my value. It also gave me a safe place to ask to artist/entrepreneur questions that were nagging at me, questions that no one else in the world would understand.- Eartha Watts Hicks, (Boot Camp ‘17)

Eligibility:

Live within the Detroit area. (Within commuting distance of Detroit)*
Either you and your parents were born outside of the United States. (This includes the United States territories i.e. Puerto Rico, Guam, and the US Virgin Islands)
Refugees are welcome to apply
Are NOT currently enrolled in a graduate or undergraduate degree program

*Priority will be given to artists living and working in Detroit; however the program is open to artists in Michigan within commuting distance of Detroit.

Mandatory Sessions:

First Weekend Boot Camp Workshop:
Saturday, March 3, 2018, 10:00 AM – 4:00 PM
Sunday, March 4, 2018, 10:00 AM – 4:00 PM

Mid-program Check-in:
April 10, 2018, 6:00 PM – 8:00 PM

Second Weekend Boot Camp Workshop:
Saturday, June 23, 2018, 10:00 AM – 4:00 PM
Sunday, June 24, 2018, 10:00 AM – 4:00 PM

Topics to be featured include strategic planning, finance, law, marketing, and fundraising. Additional material will be drawn from NYFA’s popular textbook The Profitable Artist (Allworth Press, 2011).

Location: Detroit based partners will host meetings.

Attendance is mandatory to all sessions, so please check your calendar before applying.

Application Deadline: Monday, January 29, 2018, 11:59 PM EST**

**Extended from Monday, January 22, 2018, 11:59 PM EST

Application Guidelines: For the application, we ask you to provide