Lechleiter Visiting Indiana Artist-in-Residence Program

The Children’s Museum of Indianapolis has provided transformative learning experiences across the arts, sciences and humanities for decades for the guests who walk through its doors. Everyone from toddlers to great-grandparents benefit from our immersive hands-on activities and exhibits.  Now, to add to those extraordinary experiences, the museum is implementing its first Visiting Artist-in-Residence Program because of the extraordinary philanthropy provided by the Sarah and John Lechleiter family.

The museum is recruiting exceptional artists with ties to Indiana who have demonstrated interest and/or experience in exhibiting, presenting and teaching about their art.

The goals of the Visiting Artist-in-Residence Program are:

• To recruit and feature extraordinary artists with Indiana ties to teach, interact with and inspire children, families and school groups through exhibitions and displays of their work accompanied by public presentations about their work.
• To impart an understanding of the artists’ own career path, focus of their work, storylines, inspiration, process, and/or the variety of mediums used.
  To demonstrate an understanding of the hard work, dedication and study/practice that artists undertake.
• To help the Museum reach an anticipated 390,000 children and families (including school groups and preschoolers) each year.
• To inspire children to pursue learning in and through the arts including, but not limited to, art making, art history, art criticism and aesthetics.

The museum anticipates multiple visits each year by 1-2 artists with ties to Indiana who will present and teach in specific locations throughout the Museum as determined by the individual artist(s) subject matter and technique, and agreed upon by Museum staff.

About The Children’s Museum of Indianapolis

The Children’s Museum of Indianapolis is the world’s largest children’s museum, and is committed to creating extraordinary family learning experiences across the arts, sciences, and humanities that have the power to transform the lives of children and families.

Statistics

• The Museum is comprised of 17 major galleries spread over 482,950 square-feet, and also features The Riley Children’s Health Sports Legends Experience, a 7.5 acre outdoor experience dedicated to Indiana sports legends and family fitness.
• Annual Museum attendance is more than 1.2 million guests.
• The Museum houses over 130,000 artifacts and specimens of all shapes and sizes.
• Over 100,000 students visit each year on school field trips.

Eligibility

One or two artists may be selected annually to be the Visiting-Artist-in-Residence by a museum Advisory Committee.  Criteria to be used in consideration for artist selection will include:

1. A record of strong artistic impact as noted through the artist’s body of work, current and past exhibitions and public engagements.
2. A strong tie to Indiana (i.e., lives/lived in Indiana, attended school in Indiana, produced work in Indiana, etc.).
3. A willingness and passion for engaging with and teaching children, their families and school groups.
4. Subject matter that is family-friendly.

Application Details

The annual deadline to submit an application is March 17, 2019. Selected artist(s) will be notified by April 28, 2019 for residency beginning in Spring/Summer, 2019.

The successful applicant(s) will receive an honorarium and reimbursement for reasonable expenses to be paid at set intervals throughout the residence agreeable to the Museum and the artist(s).

A single PDF document should accompany the online application, which should include a CV, an artist statement, a description of teaching experience with children and the general public, ten images of the applicant’s artwork, and contact details for three references who can attest to the applicant’s work and teaching experience. Please apply on their website.

Contact Information

Jennifer Pace Robinson
Vice President, Experience Development and Family Learning
3000 N. Meridian St.
Indianapolis, IN 46208 United States
Tel: (317) 334-3834
Email: lwesley@childrensmuseum.org
www.childrensmuseum.org