[Joe Admin]

Posted By: Joe Admin

Keymaster

Mineral School is an artists residency located in a former 1947 elementary school near Mt. Rainier, in Mineral, Washington. During 2019, we’re offering four two-week residency periods to screenwriters, poetry and prose writers, and visual artists, providing accepted applicants with space and time to create new work without the interruptions of normal life and with the bonus of healthy meals prepared by culinary volunteers using locally-grown organic food whenever possible. The May 2019 residency is screenwriter-specific, in partnership with the Rainier Independent Film Festival. During September 2019, we’ll offer one one-week residency to 4 writers or artists who are parents of children under 18, through support from the Sustainable Arts Foundation. All other sessions are mixed-resident.

Each resident will live in an 800-square foot former classroom that offers peekaboo views of Mineral Lake and Mt. Rainier, and that will double as their writing studio, with desk and chair, lighting, bookcase, and lots of chalkboards. Visual artist residents will be offered space to work outside of their classrooms (unless they wish or want work in their medium in the room where they sleep). The school building has shared bathrooms with showers. Residents are served all meals daily (plus 24/7 access to a snack fridge and coffee/tea station), and will have the opportunity to share work with the public. Mineral features a swimmable fishing lake, boat rentals, a bar, a B&B, a general store, churches, a post office, and many deer. It’s a 25-minute drive to Mt. Rainier National Park.

Visiting authors and artists: During each two-week residency, special guests will visit and present work. During May, Seattle-based screenwriter, film critic, and film festival curator Warren Etheredgewill talk craft with screenwriters. During other sessions, alumni presenters will visit and bring with them a special guest artist they’ve chosen to introduce to Mineral.

Resident presentations: If they wish, residents can share with one another and the public at our monthly residents’ “show and tell” held during residency. These presentations are held after dinner in our library/multi-purpose room and are casual dessert potlucks.

We are accepting applications from December 15, 2018, through February 15, 2019 (Midnight, PST) for 2019 residencies. Notification will be given at least two months before the residency period for which you’ve applied. 

2019 RESIDENCY DATES

Residency sessions are held during the following time periods.

Two-week residency periods:

May 5-May 19, 2019: Screenwriters Residency (screenwriters only)

June 16-June 30, 2019: Mixed-genre Residency

July 14-July 28, 2019: Mixed-genre Residency

August 18-September 1, 2019: Mixed-genre Residency

One-week parents’ residency:

September 14-September 22, 2019: Mixed-genre Residency (parents only)

FELLOWSHIP OPTIONS

Mineral School offers a mix of paid and funded residency spots. Our fellowships are competitive and we try to keep our paid spots inexpensive and accessible. If you’d like to pursue a fellowship, please know that on your fellowship application you can choose whether or not to remain in consideration for a paid spot should we be unable to grant you a funded one. We designed applications this way so you pay only one fee to apply but are juried as broadly as desired. (In other words, don’t apply for both a fellowship and a paid spot —  just apply for the fellowship and mark that you’d remain in consideration for a paid spot should you not receive a fellowship.)

We’re pleased to offer a total of 10 fellowships in 2019.

June Dodge Writing Fellows (3 total) attend a mixed-genre summe residency session for free and receive travel assistance from any point in or between Portland, OR, and Seattle, WA, in addition to room and board, visits by presenting authors, and opportunities to share work publicly. Fellowships are open to writers from the Pacific Northwest (AK, ID, MT, OR, WA) and Western Canada (British Columbia, Alberta, Yukon).

The RIFF Fellow (May 2019) attends the screenwriters’ session for free and receives travel assistance (from any point in or between Portland, OR, and Seattle, WA), room and board, special access to the Rainier Independent Film Festival in Ashford, WA from May 17 to May 19, and the opportunity to share work publicly. This fellowship is open to screenwriters who identify as women of color and/or as LGBTQ and who have either completed one feature-length screen play or produced a short film.

The Erin Donovan Writing Fellow (August 2019) is for an emerging woman writer of poetry or prose living in Massachusetts, New York, Oregon, or Washington, who is 40 or older, and whose writing expresses both wit and compassion. This fellowship covers the residency fee (room and board, guest presenters, options to present) and includes travel reimbursement up to $175 (for OR/WA residents) or up to $400 (for MA/NY residents). This fellowship is supported by loved ones of Erin Donovan, an Oregon fiction writer, teacher, and outdoors woman who died in 2015.

The Mona Lisa Roberts Visual Arts Fellowship supports a visual artist (graphic novelist/comics artist, painter, photographer, fabric artist, paper artist, etc.) who self-identifies as LGBTQ and lives in the Pacific Northwest (Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Washington) or the provinces of western Canada (British Columbia, Alberta, Yukon). This fellowship funds a two-week residency during summer (June, July, or August) and transit from Seattle, Portland, or points between. Depending on the medium and artist’s preference, they can work in the studio room where they sleep, spread out in the gym, or improvise outdoors. Feel free to contact us about space needs before applying.

SAF Parent Fellowships (September 2019) support four parent artists from anywhere in North America. Accepted artists attend for free and receive travel assistance from any point in or between Portland, OR, and Seattle, WA (including from those cities’ airports, and Amtrak or Bolt bus stops), in addition to room and board, visits by presenting artists, and opportunities to share work.

PAID RESIDENCY OPTIONS

We’re pleased to offer 10 nominally-priced residencies in 2019.

Two-week residencies for screenwriters (May) cost $550 and include room, board, opportunities for public presentation, a craft seminar with Warren Etheredge, all-access tickets to the 3-day Rainier Independent Film Festival in nearby Ashford, and local rides between RIFF and Mineral as needed. Travel to Mineral isn’t included; travel from points between Portland, OR, and Seattle, WA (aka, along the I-5 corridor) to Mineral may be arranged for a small fee ($20-30/each way).

Two-week residencies for poets and writers cost $425 and include room, board, presentations by guest writer and artists, opportunities for public presentation, and lots of love. Travel isn’t included; travel from points between Portland, OR, and Seattle, WA (aka, along the I-5 corridor) to Mineral may be arranged for a small fee ($20-30/each way).

Two-week residencies for visual artists (painters, illustrators, graphic novelists, makers, photographers, fabric artists, paper artists, and other media) cost $425 and include room, board, presentations by guest writers/artists, opportunities for public presentation, and lots of love. Visual artists bring their own materials and may use as studio space their room, the school’s grounds, covered patio, the gym stage, or plein air sites of their choice; we have ample tables and space which can be configured around your needs. If in doubt about whether you can accomplish your medium in our space, write to us before applying at [email protected]. Travel is not included; travel from points between Portland, OR, and Seattle, WA, to Mineral may be arranged ($20-30/each way).