Kwame Dawes, Zoe Wicomb, Gabeba Baderoon, Juliane Okot Bitek Lead 2019 Artists In Residency Shortlists

January 12, 2019

Thirty-four writers, filmmakers, visual artists, and musicians have been shortlisted for the 2019 Artists In Residency (AIR) programme, including Africa Poetry Book Fund (APBF) and Prairie Schooner editor-in-chief Kwame Dawes, South African novelist Zoe Wicomb, South African poet and APBF editor Gabeba Baderoon, Ugandan Glenna Luschei Prize-winning poet Juliane Okot Bitek, South African editor Helen Moffett, and Kenyan Brittle Paper Award for Fiction finalist Timothy Kiprop Kimutai.

The Africa Centre’s Artists In Residency Program (AIR) works “with residency partners across the world to provide socially engaged, innovative African artists with residency opportunities on three different continents.”

Here is part of their press release:

Our call for applications is divided into two parts: the Bellagio Center Call and the General Call. The Rockefeller Foundation Bellagio Center call is distinct, as it is exclusively for late career, highly accomplished artists. Whereas our General Call is for a much broader community of qualified artists at five different residencies. We are proud to present our 7th annual AIR shortlists.

The Rockefeller Foundation Bellagio Center Shortlist is:

Akin Omotoso | Film | South Africa
Ebele Okoye | Nigeria | Film
Gabeba Baderoon | Literature | South Africa
Helen Moffett | Literature | South Africa
Juliane Okot Bitek | Literature |Uganda
Kwame Dawes | Literature | Ghana
Olalekan Jeyifous | Visual Arts | Nigeria
Philip Miller | Composer | South Africa
Raimi Olakunle Gbadamosi | Visual Arts | South Africa
Salem Mekuria | Film | Ethiopia
Victoria-Idongesit Udonian | Visual Arts | Nigeria
Wangui wa Goro | Literature | Kenya
Zoe Wicomb | Literature | South Africa

The AIR’s General Competition awards residencies at Bundanon Trust (Australia); Fountainhead Residency (USA); Instituto Sacatar (Brazil); and the International Studio and Curatorial Program (USA). The Djerassi Resident Artist Program is a new addition. Djerassi is located in a spectacular rural setting in the Santa Cruz Mountains overlooking the Pacific Ocean in California. They are offering a month long residency specifically for writers.

The shortlist for these five residencies includes: