THE EASTMAN PROJECT
“What I am trying to achieve is to be what I am to the fullest... Black to the fullest, a musician to the fullest, a homosexual to the fullest.”
- Julius Eastman, in a 1976 interview
ABOUT
In our first two years of operation, Looking Glass Arts anchored the summer seasons with projects in honor of Composer, Julius Eastman. For the third iteration of the Eastman Project, LGA will invite a Black, Queer musician/composer to utilize Looking Glass as an incubation space for a new project. This will be a two-pronged residency that occurs over the course of the Summer 2023 and 2024 seasons.
For the Summer 2023 session, the artist will spend a week at Looking Glass Arts writing, rehearsing, and dreaming solo or with up to two collaborators. This is an artist-driven retreat, you are welcome to use this time as you wish.
For the Summer 2024 session, the artist will be invited back to LGA to record the project in the barn.
SESSION SCHEDULE
August 6-12, 2023*
*Schedule for the recording session in Summer 2024 to be determined
APPLICATION INFORMATION*
APPLICATION DEADLINE: April 30th, 2023 at 6pm
NOTIFICATION: Last week of May 2023
*If you have trouble accessing the application form, please email us and we'll send you an application directly.
WRITING SPACE
You will have a writing desk in your room. In addition, there is a choice of additional spaces to work -- the barn or the mudroom, the front porch, backyard or the milk house. The Farm House has high speed fiber optic internet in and there is an old spinet piano in the front room. The outer studios are offline.
HOSPITALITY
The 2023 summer session will occur August 6-12, 2023, inclusive of arrival and departure days. The Eastman Project artist will be provided with a private bedroom in the Farm House (with a shared bathroom), three meals a day prepared by the host, and self-directed time in the Farmhouse or alternative work spaces in the barn. Please indicate in your application whether you plan to attend on your own, or if you would like to be joined by up to two collaborators. There is high speed fiber optic internet in the Farm House. The barn has no wi-fi or cell reception.
HONORARIUM
The Eastman Project artist is offered a $500 honorarium.
TRAVEL
Musicians will be reimbursed for round trip train/bus travel to and from the New York/Tri-state area up to $100. This will be offered for up to three people. If you drive your own car, you will be reimbursed at a rate up to $100 for gas and tolls.
A NOTE ON SUBMISSIONS
Looking Glass Arts prioritizes applications from Black and Brown people. Additionally, we highly encourage those of all sexual orientations, gender expressions and gender identities to apply.
For inquiries and questions, please write to theland718@gmail.com.
In 2022, Looking Glass Arts anchored the summer season with a project specifically documenting the work of a black, queer musician or composer. Joshua Banbury and collaborator, Kevin Sherwin, wrote and recorded ‘The Deification Suite’ over the course of Summer 2022 at LGA. In 2021 season, LGA partnered with the Center for the Art of Performance at UCLA to film Julius Eastman’s “The Holy Presence of Joan d’Arc” (1980) for 10 cellos (under the Musical Direction of Seth Parker Woods) and the Prelude for Solo Baritone (performed by Davóne Tines) in the hundred-year-old dairy barn adapted for use as a rustic recording space.
