Institute for Electronic Arts receives grant from New York State Council on the Arts

ALFRED, NY – The Alfred University School of Art and Design Institute for Electronic Arts (IEA) has received a second year of grant funding from the New York State Council on the Arts to support the IEA Artists in Residency program.

The $17,580 in grant funding, for 2021, follows the IEA receiving an identical amount in 2020. The grant will allow the University to bring as many as nine artists to campus for one- or two-week residencies. The Artists in Residency program is designed to assist electronic media artists working in emerging new media technologies and discourses. The residencies—in studio settings where artists can carry out focused explorations of new ideas and techniques—support artists in their working strategies and assist them with their research.

“We are happy to see that New York State is supporting the arts during this time of many uncertainties,” said Joseph Scheer, professor of print media at Alfred University and director of the Institute for Electronic Arts. “This grant will allow artists to do research that will potentially advance their skills and careers.”

The IEA serves new and evolving communities of artists who are committed to expanding new media production and cultural literacy. The goal of the IEA Artist in Residency program is to provide artists with state of the art media arts facilities, technical support and expertise in an environment conducive to experimentation and creative production. 

Established in Alfred in 1997, the Artist in Residency program has provided over 200 residency artists the opportunity for concentrated new media research and exploration, expanding contemporary and emerging ideas and methods.

The IEA recently acquired a 4K video editing suite to complement its large array of contemporary and historical video and sound processing equipment available to resident artists that may be otherwise inaccessible due to rarity of the equipment or expense barriers. The completed works of the IEA artists are available to the public through numerous ongoing new media exhibitions and performances, locally in Alfred and in state, national, and international venues.

In the photo above, IEA artists in residence Monica Duncan and Senem Perler practice in the IEA Electronic Media Studio last October, in preparation for their virtual livestream performance, “Surface Connection.” (Photo by Rebekkah Palov, IEA research administrative specialist)