MISSION

CORSICANA ARTIST & WRITER RESIDENCY supports the creation and presentation of art and literature with generous provisions and historic space. Founded in 2012 at 100 West, and organized in 2017 as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit.

Artists and writers are hosted for two-month, funded studio residencies to produce career-shifting work in rare scale and focus, with generous support and immersive space, in an historic setting fifty miles south of Dallas, Texas. Residents are hosted at 100 West – a vast, three-story former Odd Fellows lodge, virtually unaltered since its 1890s construction. Studio work is prioritized and complemented by introductions to professional networks and world-class institutions in North Texas.

This residency takes place in downtown Corsicana - the birthplace of the Texas oil industry and the intersection of this country’s cultural and geographic South and West. Oil booms in the 1890s and 1920s produced an exuberant setting, which declined in care and use by the late 20th century before reviving in the last decade. The complex story of rural and small-town America contributes generative context to this residency experience and consequentially enriches contemporary art and literature.

179 artists and writers from across the United States and 18 countries have been granted residencies since 2012. In this immersive environment, residents generate new sculpture, painting, film, installation, textile, performance, poetry, fiction and non, translation, composition, experimentation, to list several practices – work that ultimately exhibits, publishes, screens and performs in centers like New York, Caracas, Berlin, Seoul, Reykjavík, and Dallas. And, work that gestates across years into quieter and unexpected realms of deep development. Of shared importance is our investment in the cultural health of rural America, and to demonstrate that these places contribute significantly to today’s creative movements.

Our programs take place within a collection of sites: 100 West (studio and living space), Bookstore (residents’ published work and selections), Anteroom (exhibitions), and Dallas-area universities (education programs).

SUPPORTERS

Our Generous Donors.

Corsicana Visitors’ Bureau: underwrites documentation of resident work.

The Eugene McDermott Foundation: underwrites facility expenses for residents’ use of 100 West.

Perry Graham Charitable Trust, Bank of America, N.A., Trustee: grants funds for operating expenses.

J N & Macie Edens Foundation, Bank of America, N.A., Trustee: grants funds for operating expenses.

E. M. Sheppard Foundation: grants funds for operating expenses.

PARTNERS

Corsicana Art League: supports resident studio practices.

Deep Vellum Publishing: publishes English translations of literature by international writer residents.

G. W. Jackson Multicultural Society: supports studio practices of African American residents in the pedagogical spirit of the acclaimed G. W. Jackson High School.

Navarro Council of the Arts: connects residents with school students through presentations and studio field trips.

Southern Methodist University, Meadows School of the Arts: hosts residents for master student studio visits and presentations