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:

  1. Akin Omotoso | Film | South Africa
  2. Ebele Okoye | Nigeria | Film
  3. Gabeba Baderoon | Literature | South Africa
  4. Helen Moffett | Literature | South Africa
  5. Juliane Okot Bitek | Literature |Uganda
  6. Kwame Dawes | Literature | Ghana
  7. Olalekan Jeyifous | Visual Arts | Nigeria
  8. Philip Miller | Composer | South Africa
  9. Raimi Olakunle Gbadamosi | Visual Arts | South Africa
  10. Salem Mekuria | Film | Ethiopia
  11. Victoria-Idongesit Udonian | Visual Arts | Nigeria
  12. Wangui wa Goro | Literature | Kenya
  13. 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:

  1. Abel Tilahun | Visual Art | Ethiopia
  2. Chibuike Uzoma | Visual Art | Nigeria
  3. Christian Van Eeden | Visual Art | South Africa
  4. Donna Coco Nsofor | Literature  | Nigeria
  5. Ed Young | Visual Art | South Africa
  6. Gerald Ralph Tawanda Machona | Visual Art | South Africa
  7. Heran Abate | Literature | Ethiopia
  8. Ifeatu Nnaobi | Visual Art | Nigeria
  9. Ivy Chemutai Ng’ok | Visual Art | Kenya
  10. Jared Onyango | Performance Art | Kenya
  11. Joseph Kaifala | Literature | Sierra Leone
  12. Kantarama Gahigiri | Film | Rwanda
  13. Kitso Lynn Lelliott | Visual Art | Botswana
  14. Lindokuhle Nkosi | Literature | South Africa
  15. Malebo Sephodi | Literature | South Africa
  16. Mbithi Masya | Film | Kenya
  17. Nengi Omuku | Visual Art | Nigeria
  18. Omar Ba | Visual Art | Senegal
  19. Timothy Kimutai | Literature | Kenya
  20. Verashni Pillay | Literature | South Africa
  21. Younes Baba – Ali | Visual + Sound Art | Morocco

The winners for the General and Bellagio Calls will be announced in February and April respectively.

Brittle Paper congratulates the shortlisted artists.