“With everything we need to do, there is always a starting place within, a starting place between, and a starting place for the collective.”
– adrienne maree brown, during her keynote talk for WPA’s 2023 symposium How can we gather now?
[Season Launch]
2023-2024 Season Launch BBQ
September 9, 1-4pm
WPA Project Space
[Research & Development: Show n’ Tell]
2023 Wherewithal Research Presentations
Thursday, September 21, 7–9pm
Zoom
Artists who received a 2023 Wherewithal Research Grant will share where their inquiries have been taking them over the year-long grant period. This year’s Research grantees are: Ama BE, Alina Collins Maldonado, Andy Johnson, Cecilia Kim, Stephanie Mercedes, Athena Naylor, and Anisa Olufemi & Jada Amina.
[Regional Regranting Program]
2024 Wherewithal Grants
Applications Open: Monday, September 25
Deadline: Tuesday, November 14
WPA’s Wherewithal Grant initiative annually awards $5,000–7,500 grants to 12 DC-area artists. Artists may apply for Research or Project support.
[Research & Development: Open House]
Ama BE: NGO {Palm Oil}
Saturday, September 30, 1–4pm
Corcoran School for the Arts & Design, Gallery 102 at Smith Hall of Art
WPA hosts a public Open House with Artist-in-Residence Ama BE at the Corcoran School for the Arts & Design in Gallery 102 at Smith Hall of Art. Come by to learn about her research on the agricultural practices of first generation African immigrants living in the DC area and experience the sculptural pieces that she has been making.
[Presentation & Publication: Exhibition]
Misha Ilin: meta-meta
October 14–November 18
WPA Project Space
More details here
meta-meta is an interdisciplinary project organized by DC and New York-based artist Misha Ilin comprising a book of instructions, exhibition, and series of events. The project traces the evolution of Ilin’s instruction-based practice and documents the artist’s ongoing research into modes of resistance to authority and control. Over the course of five weeks, meta-meta will be activated in the same space where Misha’s inquiry first began, as WPA’s Artist-Organizer-in-Residence in 2021 which played an integral role in the development of this project.
Program Schedule
- Saturday, October 14 | Exhibition Opening & Book Launch
- Thursday, October 26 | Workshop with Some People Press
- Thursday, November 2 | Musical Performance with Joshua Coyne
- Friday, November 17 | Discussion with Colby Chamberlain
[Research & Development: Open Call]
2023-2024 Open Call: Where should we start?
Deadline: Monday, November 6 at 11:59pm
Presentations: February & April 2024*
As we embark on our 48th season, we are excited to invite DC-area artists to imagine programs that will challenge us towards new unimagined directions for future project development in response to the question: “Where should we start?” Your program can respond to this question in any way that interests you and supports your research. The program you propose may take any form, including: film screening, workshop, conversation, performance, book presentation, and beyond. We will produce two (2) Open Call programs this season, in February and April 2024 respectively. The budget for each edition of our 2023-2024 Open Call is up to $3,500–which includes a fee of $750 for the artist-organizer (or lead artist). Programs will take place in February and April, 2024.
[Benefit Auction]
Collectors’ Night 2024
Saturday, May 4*
Location TBA
Our fabulous annual party celebrating artists and collectors. Collector’s Night marks the closing of our annual benefit auction, including over a hundred artworks by some of the most exciting artists working in the region. The event raises essential support for artists and WPA’s projects and residencies.
[Research & Development: Residency with Public Programs]
Project as Practice: R&D Summer Residency TBA
May–July*
Location TBA
Project as Practice is WPA’s three-stage residency model for supporting iterative development of artist-organized projects, with an emphasis on collaboration, experimentation, and advocacy. Each project is organized around a central question that guides all three stages of development: Research & Development (R&D); Presentation & Publication (P&P); Iteration & Expansion (I&E). During R&D Residencies, artist-organizers invite collaborators to contribute to their research and devise programs that provide additional opportunities for audiences to participate in the creative process of project development. We will announce our 2024 R&D Summer Residency artist-organizer this winter!
[Presentation & Publication: Book Launch]
How can we gather now? A Field Guide
Summer 2024
In a historical moment marked by many forms of fragmentation, political division, and social isolation, exacerbated by a global pandemic, WPA’s first-ever symposium How can we gather now? (March 2023) explored questions of community and the potential of gathering as a crucial practice in which people come to know one another, whether or not they share an ideological, cultural, religious, or professional identity. One year later, we will come together to celebrate the launch of the publication that emerged from our discoveries! How can we gather now? was directed by artist-organizers Asad Raza and Prem Krishnamurthy, and included a keynote by adrienne maree brown, plus three days of workshops, presentations, performances, and shared meals.
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[Bookstore: Staff Picks]
WPA books + editions: Project as Practice Collection
WPA Bookstore
Online Store here
This season at WPA books + editions, our in-house bookstore, we have curated a collection of books that exemplify Project as Practice, our three-stage residency model for iterative project development. Come by, peruse our shelves, hang out, and ask us what’s up!
*Dates subject to change
