CALL FOR ARTISTS
Smart Kinston City Project Foundation is issuing a “CALL FOR ARTISTS”.
Smart Kinston City Project Foundation is a nonprofit foundation which began operations in 2015 to create an Artist's Community in the Mitchelltown Arts District of Kinston, North Carolina.
The Smart Program was initiated by entrepreneur and philanthropist Stephen Hill to bring focus to the Arts and surrounding community together for a greater awareness of how the process of creativity can help to heal, further and develop the minds and efforts of a small town by encouraging a melding of the two. This “Call for Artists” is to select individuals who excel in their artistic endeavors to reside in the Arts and Cultural District of Kinston while practicing their craft and reaching out into the community to share their art.
Artists are selected based on productivity within their chosen field of art, of which there are about fifty established practices, and their desire to share these gifts with surrounding communities, including schools, arts organizations and the general public. smART Kinston works in partnership with area middle schools, the Community Council for the Arts, nearby Lenoir Community College as well as the Chamber to promote and invite tourism to the county.
Selected smARTists will be given a $1,500 material stipend as well as a $1,500 moving stipend if coming from outside a fifty mile radius of Kinston.
Smart Kinston offers subsidized rent for housing within the Arts and Cultural District located in Mitchelltown at the edge of a thriving downtown hosting restaurants, including Chef and Farmer, shops, a variety of activities, Mother Earth Brewery, upscale lodging and quick access to recreation on the Neuse River just blocks away.
Invited “smARTists” are encouraged to choose housing with a room to create until our new “smART Space” workshop building is completed which will accommodate approximately ten artists for studio space, exhibition and workshops. Just a few doors down is the newly opened Stanley's Tavern convenient to downtown and the Arts District.
smARTists gather for events, celebrations, exhibitions and presentations at the smART Gallery which opened in 2019 and is located on historic Queen St. just another block away from the District. smARTists volunteer to work the Gallery during normal operating hours as well as for special events which are ongoing.
smARTists are encouraged through many opportunities to meld with the community to show their work, give workshops, lead art sessions as well as apply for grants made available through the smART Program and the Arts Council on a local and regional basis. smARTists work with the Executive Director, Raney Rogers to gain insight for their personal needs in creative pursuits as well as connecting the smARTists to organizations or individuals who desire their talents for a number of purposes.
SmART Kinston has offered support for many of the outstanding murals throughout the town of Kinston as well as art exhibited in local schools and establishments. Art is truly everywhere in Kinston and is a reminder of how important the arts are to enlivening an environment and making it more enjoyable to wander around as opposed to merely passing through. We encourage visitors to bicycle or walk through the Arts and Cultural District and provide maps to do so. Our smARTists live in the brightly colored homes with surrounding white picket fences, which cannot be missed!
smART Kinston believes that we are all artists and that everything we do can be considered an “art form”. Kinston is striving to become a destination from all around for those wanting to see art being made, purchase art for their homes or businesses or learn directly from the artsits how they practice their craft.
Applications can be filled out using the form on our site, www.smartkinston.com. We are currently looking specifically for glass blowers, sculptors, wood workers and of course, every other medium an artist practices. We request that only artists who are interested in perfecting and pursuing their field as a career or their main stream of income apply. We want to help you to be the best artist you can be with as much support for what you do as possible.