Muña Application

Muña Art Writing Residency 2024 Application 

Muña is a six-month residency that provides a framework for eight writers to engage with art writing strategies, exercises, conversations, and peer-editing. This residency works as a writing support group for writers to co-develop their practices through cohort-led workshops and planned activities. Muña is a program collaboration between Sixty Inches From Center and Chuquimarca.

Muña 2024 application is closed. Below is left up for reference.

2024 Program Changes 
Applicant eligibility and program structure has significantly changed from 2023. Please review updated qualifications and structure appropriately.

Important Dates

Application Opens: March 28, 2024
Information Session: April 18, 2024 at 6:30-7:30 p.m. CT
Application Closes: April 28, 2024 at 11:59 p.m. CT
Notification By:  May 10, 2024
Start Date: Week of June 3, 2024
End Date: Week of November 18, 2024

Quick Details
  • 8 writers accepted
  • 6 month residency from June to November
  • 2 sessions a week, every 3 weeks
  • 16 sessions total
  • 2.5 hours each session
  • Virtual program (closed captioning available)
  • Open to writers in the Mississippi River Basin or the Great Lakes Basin regions
Information Session

Join us on April 18, 2024 at 6:30-7:30 p.m. CT  to learn and ask questions about the program’s framework and application. Information sessions will be recorded but not posted online. If you are interested in joining the information session but can not attend please reach out to info@chuquimarca.com for a copy of the recording or with any questions. 

Register for Zoom Information Session here: https://tinyurl.com/yshwhzb8

Closed captioning available

Qualifications

Eligibility

  • Applicants must identify as a writer, curator, journalist, critic, editor, archivist, or art worker with a writing practice
  • Applicants must be based within the areas of the Mississippi River Basin or the Great Lakes Basin regions

Not Eligible

  • Applicants in academic programs are not eligible
  • Applicants in fellowships, residencies, or any other writing program are not eligible
  • Applicants outside the Mississippi River Basin or the Great Lakes Basin areas are not eligible
  • Visual artists are not eligible
    • Visual artists with a writing practice interested in applying must demonstrate a writing history on subject matters that are not about their own practice. Meaning, this residency is not intended to teach visual artists how to write better about their own visual art practice

Considerations

  • English-as-second-language writers are encouraged to apply (program is conducted in English)
  • Writers who work with cinema, architecture, performance, food, poetry, and other art writing disciplines are encouraged to apply (program leans towards contemporary visual art discourses)
  • Applicant who previously published with Sixty Inches From Center are able to apply but this is not a requirement nor consideration 
Application
  • No application fee
  • Application is submitted through a Google Form
  • Requested Information:
    • Full name
    • Online presence (website/instagram)
    • Biography (200 word limit max)
    • CV (1 page max)
    • 2 writing samples
      • 2 pages max each sample.
      • Acceptable samples are: curatorial essays, exhibition texts, published articles, creative writing pieces, thesis research paper, and press releases
      • Excerpts of longer text are also acceptable
    • What city, state are you based out of?
    • Is English your second language?
    • Have you previously applied to Muña?
    • However you feel comfortable, please self-identify or omit if preferred (e.g., pronouns, ethnicity, nationality, gender, cultural background, etc.)
  • 3 Prompts (200 word limit max each)
    • Tell us about one art writing piece that excites you and one piece that does not excite you.
    • What writing piece(s) are you currently working on?
    • What conversations or workshops do you want to have within the program?

Acceptance to the residency is based on the cohort’s dynamic and considers writers whose subject matters are in proximity to Sixty Inches From Center and Chuquimarca programs. “Cohort’s dynamic” means diverse disciplines, career stages, and/or writing styles. The residency hopes to produce a healthy culture of respect, curiosity, support, and criticality within the group.  

Applications will be juried by previous Muña cohort writers Rachel Dukes and Sofía Sánchez Borboa, along with Sixty’s Christina Nafziger and Chuquimarca’s John H. Guevara.

What To Expect

Muña braids the self-directed and collective learning format of Chuquimarca’s Tanda program with guest visits and additional activities. The residency is a commitment of six months divided between Cohort-Led Sessions and Planned Sessions. 

Cohort-Led Sessions

Cohort-Led sessions are led by the accepted writers. Using the Tanda format, each writer will have scheduled one hour time to conduct a workshop of their choice. These workshops can be writing exercises, topic discussions, or skill shares. A list of writing activities will be available as a resource to choose from if needed. Allotted peer-review times are cohort-led. Expect to plan, facilitate, and lead a workshop session.

Planned Sessions

Planned sessions include activities such as guests visits, studio visits, and pitch-table sit-ins. Invited guests will be professional editors, journalists, or curators. They will be prompted to share best practices (e.g., how to pitch to publications) and to allot Q&A time with the cohort. Invited guests will be based on the cohort’s feedback and interest.

Please email info@chuquimarca.com with any questions