Alliance History 

In 1990, The MacArthur Foundation selected 18 organizations for a one-time project entitled "Special Initiative on Artists’ Colonies, Communities, and Residencies." The project was under the direction of Ken Hope and the MacArthur Fellows Program, and distributed over $2.5 Million to the 18 organizations: Alternative Worksite (now the Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts), Atlantic Center for the Arts, Capp Street Project, Centrum, Djerassi Resident Artists Program, Fine Arts Work Center, Headlands Center for the Arts, the Institute of Contemporary Art (now PS1), Jacob’s Pillow, The MacDowell Colony, Mattress Factory, the Millay Colony, Palenville Interarts Colony, Ragdale Foundation, Sculpture Space, Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, Yaddo, and Yellow Springs Institute.

The participants first met in February 1991 at Atlantic Center for the Arts (New Smyrna Beach, FL). The organizations agreed to pool some money from their MacArthur grants to form a national consortium of artists’ communities, with the mission to "cooperate to improve the environment in which we support the creative process."

The consortium’s first part-time staff was hired in San Francisco in 1992, and the organization become known as the Alliance of Artists Communities. The Alliance moved to Portland, Oregon, in 1996 and then to Providence, Rhode Island, in 2002.

Accomplishments

Programs

• Annual Conference: Now in its 17th year, the conference convenes leaders in the field from around the country, as well as artists, funders, media and others
• National symposia: "American Creativity at Risk," held in Providence in 1996, and "The Future of Creativity" in Chicago in 2001, expanded the membership and earned the Alliance national recognition within the arts world
• Leadership Institute: A biennial retreat for emerging and established arts leaders in developing their personal leadership skills
• Emerging Program Institute: A biennial training program for individuals who are developing new residency programs

Membership

• The Alliance membership now includes more than 250 organizations and individuals, in 43 states and 17 countries
• Emerging Program Members: first formed as a unique membership category in 2002, there are now more than 50 emerging residency programs in the Alliance membership 

Publications

• The popular Artists Communities directory, now in its third edition
• The Ultimate Residency Resource Guide, a 600+ page manual for residencies
• Two books in the Lessons Learned series addressing a variety of residency models
• Additional reseasrch reports and data sets have also been published

Funding Partnerships

• "Visions from the New California," a partnership The James Irvine Foundation, funds six residency programs in California and awards under-served, under-recognized diverse visual artists in California with residencies and financial support
• "Midwestern Voices and Visions," a partnership The Joyce Foundation, funds seven residency programs in the Midwest and awards under-served, under-recognized artists of color in the Midwest with residencies and financial support
• "Beyond Katrina," a partnership with The Ford Foundation to fund residency programs in New Orleans, supports efforts to build capacity and community post-Hurricane Katrina
• "Creative Renewal," a partnership with The James Irvine Foundation in 2006, provided emergency relief residencies at six California residency programs to Gulf Coasts Artists
• A partnership with The Ford Foundation supported the Alliance in its international participation and funded residencies around the world for artists of the 2006 Dakar Biennial

Advocacy

• National Endowment for the Arts: The Alliance’s advocacy work on behalf of the field led the NEA to create a separate selection panel for residencies, resulting in a 48% increase in NEA funding to residencies
• "Be Our Guest," a series of public programs on residencies, reaches artists from around the country each year 
• Artists Communities online: a new website launched in 2008 providing a searchable database of residencies and other resources for artists