Please note: Playa is not accepting applications at this time for 2013 Fellowship Residencies.
Please see the January, 2013 Update on Playa’s Home page and subscribe to News for future updates.
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On the edge of the Great Basin, Playa offers creative individuals the space, the solitude, and the community to reflect and to engage their work.
Purpose
Playa is a retreat for creative individuals who are committed and passionate about their work and who will benefit from time spent in Playa’s remote location. Playa offers seclusion and quiet in a natural landscape and the opportunity for interaction, if desired, with a cohort of residents and the local rural community. Playa provides the time and space to create substantive work or to research and reflect upon the creative and scientific processes. Away from the urgencies of daily life, residents can focus on their work, immerse in a desert expanse, and explore a landscape of basin and rangeland.
Playa's south cabins, sunrise in winter.
Residencies
Fellowship Residencies offer private housing with a kitchen, and food for all meals is provisioned for individual or group preparation. The comfortably furnished and fully equipped cabins and studios all have open vistas in Playa’s expansive landscape. Living spaces are free of telephone, television, and Internet. Private work studios and research spaces, adjacent or separate from the cabins, are available to residents who require them.
Proposal and Residency Information
Playa is open to artists, writers, natural scientists, naturalists, and others engaged in creative or interdisciplinary work that resonates with Playa’s values.
Individuals are assessed and accepted based on their dedication and commitment to their field and the promise of their work or their demonstrated contributions to their field. Individuals propose for residencies, addressing Playa’s purpose (see above) and their ability to thrive in a remote, isolated community and be self-directed in their work. All residents’ work must be compatible with Playa’s available working studio spaces, facilities, and resources and be able to benefit from Playa’s setting and community. Age, ethnicity, gender, or religious association is not considered when reviewing applications. Residents may re-apply three years after completion of a fellowship residency.
Disciplines. Individuals in an array of disciplines are encouraged to propose including: natural scientists and naturalists; writers; visual, media, generative, and performance artists; anthropologists; philosophers; and others in creative or inter- or cross-disciplinary endeavors.
Collaboration. Playa is open to collaborations. To propose as a collaborative team of two or more, each member of the collaboration must submit an individual proposal referencing the collaborative project. Each applicant should indicate whether she/he is willing to be accepted as an individual, or as a team only. Work samples may be the work of the individual or examples of past collaborations. In their proposal, collaborative teams should indicate their lodging and workspace preferences.
Admission. A rotating panel of artists, writers, scientists, and professionals in related fields review the proposals and recommend individuals for residencies. Final awards of residencies are at the discretion of Playa.
Fees. No fees are charged for a Playa Fellowship Residency. A $25 non-refundable fee must accompany each proposal. A $100 deposit, refundable upon arrival, is required for those awarded residencies. There is no requirement for a financial contribution; however, as a nonprofit organization, Playa relies on donations and encourages those who have the ability to contribute to do so. Donations may be made via the Support tab on the Playa website, or mailed to Playa.
Proposal Deadline. To submit a proposal, click on the Residency tab on the Playa website and scroll down to Proposal, or go to http://playa.submishmash.com/submit. We are currently not accepting proposals for fellowship residencies in spring 2013.
Calendar. See Playa Home Page for 2013 Update.
Duration. Residencies are for one month. Longer residencies may be considered in exceptional circumstances. Residents arrive on a Monday and depart on a Friday. Each cohort will consist of seven to nine residents, with some overlap due to variations in the length of residencies.
Location. Playa sits at the base of Winter Ridge, which rises to 7,200 feet at the northwestern edge of the Great Basin in south-central Oregon. Directly east of Playa lies Summer Lake, at an elevation of 4,200 feet. The lake is about 20 miles long and five miles wide. It is a playa: a desert lake that is shallow in the winter and usually evaporates by late summer. The Summer Lake basin, abundant with both desert and forest flora and fauna, is cradled between the open sagebrush steppe of eastern Oregon and the rocky, forested mountains of the Fremont-Winema National Forest.
What to Expect at Playa
Occupancy. Playa gives residents an opportunity to pursue personal creative work and share in a community of creative individuals. In this spirit, residents commit to residing at Playa for the entire residency period awarded. (Note: If your residency’s purpose or specific project requires overnight excursions off-site, these must be described and justified in your proposal. If your proposal is accepted, you are responsible for transportation, accommodations, food, supplies, and any other needs during off-site time.) During the three-night interval between cohorts, residents who have two-month residencies may go off-site if they wish, or they may choose to stay at Playa.
Couples & Visitors. Couples may propose individually for concurrent residencies, with the understanding that one might be accepted and the other not. Playa’s Residency Program is unable to accommodate family members or have visitors accompany residents.
Privacy. Residents are free to choose privacy during their stay or to enjoy interaction with peers and the community, as desired. If the resident chooses, Playa will facilitate outreach to the local communities and surrounding area by arranging a talk, lecture, reading, performance, or classroom activity. Residents are welcomed to others’ cabins or studios only by invitation.
Transportation. Residents are responsible for their transportation to and from Playa, and for their local travel needs during their residency (either in their own car, or by getting a ride with another resident). Residents who will be at Playa in the cold months (November through March) should be sure their vehicles are equipped with snow tires and/or carry chains and note that AAA does not service this area. A shuttle from the Bend-Redmond airport area is available: Green Energy Transport.
Meals and Food. Playa supplies residents with food for all meals. Each resident may prepare meals in her/his cabin or in the Commons, individually or with a group. A list of supplies and provisions will be provided before residencies and during each week of a resident’s stay. Some special dietary considerations can be accommodated. Each resident is encouraged to attend a weekly group dinner prepared by staff.
Internet. Internet service is available only through a computer in the main building (the Commons) that is dedicated for use by residents and available 24 hours a day. The satellite connection is not fast, can be uneven due to cloud cover, and has limited capacity for uploading and downloading data. Playa does not at this time offer wireless and will provide updates as connectivity changes. Cell-phone reception is sporadic. There is a telephone landline in the Commons that has free, unlimited long-distance calling within the U.S. for residents.
Materials and Self-Reliance. Residents provide all their own creative materials, supplies, tools, and equipment, unless specifically listed as provided by Playa. Residents also furnish their own health and hygiene products and their outdoor clothing and gear. Playa will provide checklists to aid in preparations for residencies. UPS, FedEx, and postal service are available at Playa’s highway address. Post offices are located in Paisley (19 miles south) and the Summer Lake store (10 miles north).
Pets. Playa is unable to accommodate pets.
Non-smoking. Playa’s grounds and buildings are smoke-free.
Hours. Studios are open 24 hours. Quiet hours are from 10 p.m. to 7 a.m.
Local Community. Although no services are expected of residents during their stay, interaction with the local community is welcome and graciously supported. After acceptance, if you would like to participate in some form of community outreach or present an activity at Playa, you may propose a presentation or activity, which Playa staff will try to help you carry out.
Weather. Summer Lake is subject to storms and often has high wind. In the summer months, the temperature ranges from close to 90 during the day to 50 at night. In winter, the highs are in the low 40s and the lows dip into the low 20s. Variations and exceptions to these norms are possible and to be expected. Winter residents should bring adequate warm clothing and boots. To check the current weather at Summer Lake, visit http://tinyurl.com/3uwj8r8 To view the average monthly temperatures and precipitation levels, go to the U.S Climate Data site for Summer Lake.
Contact
For information about Fellowship Residencies, email Cecelia Hagen, Administrative Manager, cecelia@playasummerlake.org
If you have questions about Playa’s facilities, would like information about the Contributing Residencies Playa offers during the summer, or want to be added to the Playa e-newsletter list, email playa@playasummerlake.org