St Patrick’s College Flanagan Artist in Residence Prize 2019
Purpose: To welcome professional and/or emerging artists into the St Patrick’s College community, working collaboratively with our students and staff to further expand knowledge and appreciation of fine art while simultaneously enhancing Ballarat’s reputation as a centre for arts excellence.
Context: From 2008-2017 St Patrick’s College successfully organised and hosted the Flanagan Art Exhibition, named in honour of Old Collegian and former curator of the Australian War Memorial Noel Flanagan. Artists from across Australia were invited to enter the competition with a $5000 prize on offer for the most outstanding artwork, while smaller cash prizes were offered for the Best Emerging Artist and for the Best Affordable Artwork. The Flanagan Art Exhibition was an acquisitive competition, allowing the College to develop a fine collection of winning artworks, which are now on permanent display in the College administration building known as Kennedy House. The main aim of the exhibition was to provide the opportunity for the College’s 1400 male students to become exposed to and acquire a greater appreciation of fine art while also broadening the College’s reputation as a school invested in the visual arts. After a decade of successful exhibitions featuring hundreds of artists from across Australia and attracting thousands of visitors, the College has opted to alter its approach in 2019. Rather than conducting a major exhibition, the College is now offering an artist-in-residence opportunity for one worthy recipient.
Artist-in-residence overview: Remaining consistent with the thinking behind the Flanagan Exhibition, St Patrick’s College, in 2019, is offering professional and emerging artists the opportunity to win a $5000 artist-in-residence opportunity with the College. Interested artists must apply for the opportunity to spend between two and four weeks (subject to negotiation) working at St Patrick’s College to produce an artwork for the College to acquire. In return, the artist will be paid $5000. The successful artist will be expected to spend substantial time on site producing the artwork, while also being available to work closely with current staff and students in a classroom environment.
Application process: Artists must apply tby completing the questions on the following page. A selection panel of Ballarat art experts will be convened by St Patrick’s College to identify the successful short list. The College will then conduct interviews to determine the winner. The College will work closely with the successful artist to arrange suitable times and venues for the residence program to be implemented, ideally in August 2019. Entry is free.
2019 theme: In 2019, bidding artists will be asked to centre their proposed entry around the theme of “Art to engage”.