Without a doubt, artistic production has served as a major means by which individuals and communities have presented their cultural worlds, critiqued those worlds, and worked to enhance and improve those worlds. Houston serves as a major location for this type of activity. Motivated by the rich social-cultural geography that is this city, Houston is a hub of important artistic work that speaks directly to some of the important concerns that define CERCL. Mindful of this CERCL has collaborated with local artists and has brought to Houston and Rice outstanding and important contributors to the artistic traditions defining the United States.
The Artist-in-Residence Program is meant to further enhance CERCL's collaboration with and presentation of the arts. The goal is to represent the manner in which the arts serve as tools for and representations of critical thinking on pressing concerns, effective communications strategies for expressing those concerns, and platforms for engaging those concerns. We expect to build a relationship with our Artist-in-Residence that will allow collaboration on creative projects in the future.
Each residency entails a yearlong relationship with CERCL during which the artist will create original projects that take into consideration the mission of CERCL and Artist-in-Residence initiative.