For Immediate Release: 2/10/2025 11:14 am
WORCESTER, Mass. – The Worcester Cultural Coalition announced Monday the continuation and expansion of a three-year partnership with the College of the Holy Cross and the City of Worcester’s Cultural Development Division that will offer summer creative residencies for local Worcester artists at the College’s Prior Performing Arts Center.
After a successful first year in 2024, the HC x WCC: Creative Residencies for Worcester Artists at The Prior program will expand in 2025 with additional residency opportunities. Entering the second year of a three-year funded partnership through the College’s Scholarship in Action (SIA) initiative, the 2025 residency cycle will offer three local artists or artistic companies the physical and financial resources to develop work in progress during a paid summer residency at The Prior.
“The impact, collaboration, and dynamic engagement of our first cycle of residents encouraged our team to continue exploring opportunities to grow this program and expand our reach,” said City of Worcester Cultural Development Officer, and WCC Executive Director, Fabian Barracks. “We look forward to offering three new creative individuals or groups access to The Prior’s state of the art space to delve into their creativity and to connect with our Worcester Community.”
In its inaugural year, local artists Cyrille Vincent and Daniel Gay were selected for residencies to develop their film and musical works respectively.
“We were inspired and moved by the remarkable works of our first residents in 2024. Given the high demand we observed for those opportunities, we have decided to expand our 2025 program by an additional project to create a cohort of three artists or companies” said Kyle Frisina, Interim Director of the Prior Performing Arts Center.
A hub for academic and artistic innovation, The Prior consists of a 400-seat proscenium concert hall, a 180-seat flexible theater, and various cutting-edge studios and multi-use flexible spaces. Summer residencies—which focus on development, not performance—will allow these spaces to be activated for the creation of new work tailored to the specific needs of each artist selected.
By cultivating long-term relationships in Worcester, Scholarship in Action (SIA) faculty, student researchers, and community stakeholders can design meaningful research projects that center principles of equity, antiracism, and shared knowledge production that engage wider audiences both locally and globally. This initiative reflects the significant role that the liberal arts and the humanities play in addressing complex challenges.
Residency applications from solo artists or collaborative groups from a variety of disciplines including but not limited to theater, dance, music, media, film/video, literature, visual arts, and interdisciplinary arts will be considered. Each selected artist or company will receive a $3,000 stipend for their summer developmental residency. The program also includes additional financial support of up to $1,000 to realize the project’s technical or production needs, whether during the residency itself or at any point prior to June 30 of the following year. In summer 2025, artists must be available for 5-10 consecutive days between July 7 and Aug. 1. Specific timing will be determined by the mutual availability of the artists and The Prior.
As part of the program, participants will engage in conversations and self-reflection about their residency process and experience.
The deadline for summer 2025 applications is March 18. More information can be found on the website: https://priorperformingartscenter.holycross.edu/hcxwcc
