The Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Puerto Rico (MAC) and the Center for Puerto Rican Studies at Hunter College (CENTRO) have joined forces to develop the “MAC en el Barrio in NYC,” an artistic/research residency aimed at Afro-descendant Puerto Rican artists from the diaspora. Deadline: Proposals must be submitted on or before August 1, 2022 (EST) at 11:59pm. The selected proposal will be announced on October 1, 2022. [For requirements and full description, see Convocatoriamac/mac-en-el-barrio-en-nyc.]

The MAC and CENTRO call on visual artists to present proposals where their creative processes integrate documentary research, making use of the archives of the Center for Puerto Rican Studies, and community immersion methodologies that promote cultural equity and give visibility to the experience of the Puerto Rican community in New York.

MAC en el Barrio is the extramural program that the Museum of Contemporary Art has been implementing since 2014 in Puerto Rico and intends for it to extend to the Puerto Rican community in the United States in successive phases and in different locations. 

Project description: This residency is four months long, from June 2023 to September 2023. The artist will receive a stipend of $10,000.00 for the creation of an artistic project whose processes and results are anchored both in doing research in the Centro archives and in impacting the Puerto Rican diasporic community through a process of immersion in communities near Centro.

Eligibility: This call is aimed at professional artists, over 24 years of age. The artist must be a member of the Puerto Rican diaspora in the United States upon submitting a proposal for this call.

Terms:

• The artist agrees to investigate the library and archives of the Center for Puerto Rican Studies with the intention of informing the development of their art project.
• The Center for Puerto Rican Studies will provide a workspace for the artist to carry out their research and will offer preferential and personalized support to the artist.
• In the event that the artist requires a workshop space, the convening entities will make an agreement with related cultural institutions and will cover the costs of renting said space for a certain period in mutual agreement with the artist.
• The artist agrees to coordinate with local artists and area residents for conversations, panels, interviews, or other types of interaction that extends their research outside the walls of the archive and traditional sources of information.
• The artist will share periodic advances of the development of their project at the end of each month with the convening entities.
• At the end of the residency, the artist will publicly present the research process, an advance or the finished piece and will participate in one or more panels coordinated by the convening entities together.
  
  
• The selected artist will deliver a digital document with the documentation of their artistic research. The document must include a narrative of the important findings, documentation of the creative process and audiovisual material. Copies of this digital document will become part of the archives of the Center for Puerto Rican Studies and the MAC Documentation Center.
• The artist has the option of presenting their work directly in the community and can also make use of some exhibition spaces available in EL CENTRO.
• All project expenses must be covered by the amount awarded for the commission. This includes the fees of the artist, materials and equipment necessary for the execution of the work. In the event that the work is selected to integrate the MAC collection, the museum will bear the costs of packaging, transportation and insurance for its transfer to Puerto Rico. The decision as to whether the created work of art will become part of the permanent collection of the MAC rests exclusively with the MAC.

Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Puerto Rico: Founded in 1984 in Santurce, the MAC was born from the will of Puerto Rican artists and other members of the cultural community to create an alternative  model to exhibit and promote contemporary art and its themes. The MAC fosters an open vision of contemporary art from the multiple perspectives that converge in Puerto Rico: diasporic, Latin, Caribbean-regional, and Latin American cultures within a global context. It is a space for production and creation, as well as research and exhibition that encourages a constant dialogue between artists and the public, between past and present, between art practice, and theory and criticism.

The MAC en el Barrio program expands the museum’s field of action beyond its walls through active and sustained work between the museum, artists, educators, and community residents. This program of artistic commissions, cultural education programs and strategic alliances aimed at empowering the communities served breaks with static notions of what culture and identity are, critically interpreting the historical, economic, political, social and racial framework from which they emerge, our neighborhoods. With an emphasis on projects that reflect diverse ideologies, economic practices, migrations, various visions of architectural development, community activism and survival strategies, among other aspects.

CENTER for Puerto Rican Studies: The CENTER for Puerto Rican Studies (CENTRO) at Hunter College, City University of New York, is a research institute dedicated to the study and interpretation of the Puerto Rican experience in the United States by producing and disseminating relevant interdisciplinary research and collecting, preserving, and providing access to archive and library resources that document their history and culture. CENTRO seeks to link scholarship with social action and political debates, and contribute to the enrichment of Puerto Rican studies.

CENTRO is dedicated to the comprehensive collection of data, graphic arts, and library and archival resources that document the history and legacy of Puerto Ricans in the United States, to the study of critical and relevant social issues and conditions affecting this culturally diverse nation. for the purpose of promoting effective community and public sector interventions, and supporting the intellectual and educational advancement of young scholars.

CENTRO’s Puerto Rican Diaspora Archives contain more than 5,000 cubic feet of materials and include documents from artists, writers, politicians, activists, and other prominent community figures and organizations. The archives document the diversity of individuals and communities that reside in the city and have sought to focus their efforts on historically Puerto Rican enclaves such as the Lower East Side (Loisaida), East Harlem (El Barrio), the South Bronx, and Williamsburg, Brooklyn. In addition, it houses the records of the Offices of the Government of Puerto Rico in the United States, which record the migration and working conditions of Puerto Ricans from the early 1930s until the closing of their offices in the mid-1990s. and document the formation of Puerto Rican communities in neighborhoods throughout the Northeast, Chicago, and Florida, with a special concentration in New York City.

For requirements, terms, application forms, and more information go to https://form.jotform.com/convocatoriamac/mac-en-el-barrio-en-nyc