23 reasons why our Digital Residency might be for you

If you are a writer or artist looking to deepen your relationship to your work, consider applying for our Digital Residency program, Narrative Shifts: a genre-agnostic writing program that includes seven sessions over seven weeks, centering specific aspects of craft that any writer, reader, or thinker could wield both on and off the page. Is our program for you? Below are 23 reasons why our past residents applied.

• Community. “I don’t know any other way to make art but in community, and TSW is so clearly rooted in that same understanding.”
• Connection. “Since graduating and moving away a year ago, I’ve found it hard to find my own community of writers. This has made writing difficult for me because I thrive when reading others’ work and talking through our stories.”
• Mentorship. “I see a space for mentorship and guidance. I look forward to the group check-ins and the chance to share my progress within a nurturing and supportive environment.”
• Accessibility. “An MFA is not accessible to me at this point in my life, and the time commitment for this residency works perfectly for me and my family.”
  
• Session topics. “‘On Permission’ and ‘To Build A World’ will give me the tools to access the inevitable challenging stories and themes that will come up as I continue to research my family history, or create narratives around lineage, love, family relationships.”
• Focused time. “I’m eager to participate in a long-term program such as TSW so I can dedicate seven weeks to my artistic development and truly build relationships with other artists.”
• Creative flow. “I am particularly interested in TSW because it is a socially engaged space and I long for a break from more traditional academic or literary spaces so I can be in the mistake-friendly creative flow mode I know I produce best inside.” 
• Practical tools. “I am excited at the opportunity to learn more about how to write cover letters, query letters, work with editors, maybe one day even put together a book proposal.”
• Engagement. “I want to know about the writing world I haven’t been exposed to before. I want to hear from the kinds of voices I might not encounter without this program.”
• Becoming. “This digital residency could be a bridge between where I am now — unmotivated and disconnected from my art and from other storytellers — and where I want to be: writing and drawing consistently, in community and making progress.”
• Belonging. “What I’m most looking for from this program is a greater sense of where my work and I belong in the context of this moment, which I expect will have a transformative effect on how I write, all on its own.” 
• Transitions. “I see this program as a workshop of the artist themselves rather than what they are creating specifically. I think I really need that deep reflection and community space right now especially as I’ve transitioned out of my job and want to focus more on my artist practice.”
• Cohort Model. “TSW’s multi-genre cohort model is the environment I need.”
• Genre-agnostic. “The genre-agnostic framing of the residency helps get at the root of who an artist is and what they care about.”
•  Supportive space. “I want to be in a non-competitive, collaborative space where I can check in about what’s coming through for me as a I create and that I can offer reciprocal support for.”
• Accountability. “I don’t currently have a strong writing community, and I want to build one. I do my best work with others.”
• Guided structure. “TSW’s thematic architecture and session prompts really attracted me to this program, as they provide an expansive space to explore form, medium and content that is still guided and porous.”
• Virtual format. “I appreciate the digital format because of financial and mobility constraints I have. Not having to budget for travel, accommodation and food is a relief.”
• Shared values. “I see something different in TSW, not only through the values it expresses but through the material offerings of its programs. I see enduring and sustainable ways to convene with other artist-mentors that truly allow us to nourish each other’s practices.”
• Creative relationships. “I’m excited by the concrete resources provided, the thoughtful facilitation, and the small cohorts gathered with an eye toward building a vast and lasting network of creative relationships.”
• Flexibility. “I feel like the structure and open-ended, generative nature of the program is perfect for where I am in my process. I have not been published, am very much in a generative phase, and eager to build a sustainable writing and researching practice.”
• Encouragement. “I hope to share my voice, perspective, and gratitude with other writers in a way that encourages them to keep writing after the residency ends.”
• Nourishing. “The residency’s mandate is attentive not just to the creative act directly, but the grounds on which that practice is grown, and evolves over time. This is a nourishing perspective for where I am situated in my own practice right now.”