Artist as Instigator Residency Program

The National Public Housing Museum’s Artist as Instigator Residency leverages arts and culture to make creative public policy interventions around housing and related issues. The annual residency supports artists, activists, and cultural workers to incubate ideas and produce new work in conjunction with social justice organizing and equitable development initiatives.

MEET Current ARTIST AS INSTIGATOR
DR. SHADAWN “BOOBIE” BATTLE

Dr. ShaDawn “Boobie” Battle was selected from a competitive pool of 86 national applicants. A multidisciplinary artist, researcher, activist, and educator whose work spans mediums including documentary films, performances, and public talks, her creative practice is rooted in transformative justice and creating platforms for the most marginalized communities to engage in truth-telling practices.

Battle says, “The denial of public and affordable housing, and the dispossession of space, seen all over the world today—especially in Chicago—continues to strip marginalized groups of their humanity, a true sense of freedom in this land, and an ability to self-actualize. The National Public Housing Museum's cultural, historical, and public-policy-oriented approach to this work is what draws me as an artist-activist to this collaborative opportunity.”

As the museum’s fifth Artist as Instigator, Battle will leverage the residency to develop, and create a new work, “Place, Space, and Werkz” (working title), a multi-dimensional project that weaves together oral histories and scholarship about the evolution of Chicago Footwork dance through workshops, creative placemaking, and performances that examine the art form in relation to oppressive systems, practices, and structures.

ShaDawn is currently directing and producing a docuseries titled “Footwork Saved My Life: The Evolution of Chicago Footwork.” Through this work, ShaDawn has amassed nearly 200 oral history interviews, offering rich insight into the stories, histories, memories, and community activities that represent the Chicago Footwork dance scene that will inform her new work “Place, Space, and Werkz” (working title) during the residency. 

A South Side of Chicago native, Battle now splits her time between Cincinnati and Chicago. She is an Assistant Professor of Critical Ethnic and Black Studies at Xavier University and serves on the Board of Trustees for the Justice Renewal Initiative, a Chicago-based nonprofit that tackles racial inequality in the Criminal Justice system. Battle earned her PhD in literature from the University of Cincinnati in 2017 and her research interests include African-American Literature, Postcolonial Studies, Black Feminist and Hip Hop Studies, and Critical Race Epistemology. Her latest course for Xavier University, “Giving “Whiteness” a U.T.I.,” seeks to understand, theorize, and interrogate the myth of white supremacy, to impede its efficacy within various national social bodies. ShaDawn’s most recent scholarly research examines the inexpressibility of Black girls’ pain, and the relationship between Black male killings by the hand of police, and epistemic injustice.

Past Artists as Instigators

Learn more about previous Artists as Instigators William Estrada (2019), Jen Delos Reyes (2020), Tonika Lewis Johnson (2021), and Marisa Morán Jahn (2022/2023) who continue to collaborate with the National Public Housing Museum and our partners in making creative public policy interventions that lead to more equitable communities.

For more information contact Tiff Beatty, tbeatty@nphm.org.

Application Information

The next Artist as Instigator will work with us from Fall 2023 to Summer 2024 and will be announced this October. Applications are now closed and instructions for next Artist as Instigator will be announced in Summer 2024.

Instructions for Prior Applicants
Please contact Associate Director Tiff Beatty at tbeatty@nphm.org by Date TBD for 2024-2025 Artist as Instigator, to express your interest in reapplying. We will review your previous application and work with you to determine whether or not you need to resubmit an application for this year or not.

Instructions for First-Time Applicants
Interested artists must complete the application form (via written and/or video submission) by 11:59 p.m. on Date TBD for 2024-2025 Artist as Instigator. For those completing a written application, we recommend using a separate document to write out your answers to the questions and then copy/paste responses into the application form. It is not possible to save and return to the form. If you prefer to complete this application via video submission, please use the form to respond to each of the first (13-14) questions prior to the video submission section, then upload a video of yourself answering the remaining questions. Please also include timestamps for each question, as requested. You may also choose to submit your application via both (written and video) formats to give reviewers the option to review their preferred format. Estimated application completion time: ~3 hours

 

Frequently Asked Questions

  • Our unique Artist as Instigator Residency leverages arts and culture to spur creative public policy interventions related to housing, equity, and justice. Through our work with compelling artists, we aim to educate, enlighten, and rally people to unleash our radical imaginations in pursuit of social justice, in housing and related issues.

  • Applicants do not need to live in Chicago to apply. Projects supported by the residency may take place anywhere within the United States, including Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands.

  • Yes! The residency is open to all art forms and media!

  • No, not in the traditional sense. Chicago-based artists may have limited access to the National Public Housing Museum’s indoor and outdoor spaces.

  • Yes! We’re especially interested in working with people who have meaningful connections to public housing.

  • Please contact Associate Director Tiff Beatty at tbeatty@nphm.org to express your interest in reapplying by Date TBD. We will review your previous application and work with you to determine whether or not you need to resubmit an application for this year or not.

  • Interested artists must complete the application form (via written and/or video submission) by 11:59 p.m. on Date TBD. For those completing a written application, we recommend using a separate document to write out your answers to the questions and then copy/paste responses into the application form. It is not possible to save and return to the form. If you prefer to complete this application via video submission, please use the form to respond to each of the first (13-14) questions prior to the video submission section, then upload a video of yourself answering the remaining questions. Please also include timestamps for each question, as requested. You may also choose to submit your application via both (written and video) formats to give reviewers the option to review their preferred format. Estimated application completion time: ~3 hours

  • Our review process includes a committee of National Public Housing Museum staff and board members, as well as public housing residents, artists, activists, and cultural workers from across the country. With input from this diverse group of stakeholders, the Museum invites an artist to become the next Artist as Instigator.

The National Public Housing Museum's Artist as Instigator Residency receives lead support from the Mellon Foundation, with additional funding from the City of Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events City Arts Grant and Illinois Arts Council Agency.