News

Call for Proposals - RBC Residencies at la Maison d'Ariane

2024-02-22
The International Garden Festival is pleased to launch its fourth call for proposals for the RBC Residencies at La Maison d'Ariane, in the picturesque village of Métis-sur-Mer. This call is part of the Royal Bank of Canada's Emerging Artists Project, which helps artists bridge the gap from emerging to established and supports organizations that provide the best opportunities to advance artists’ careers.
 
This call for proposals is open to Canadian artists evolving within the visual or literary arts’ fields with up to 10 years of generative experience. 
 
To reflect the cultural, sexual, identity and linguistic diversity of Quebec and Canada, we encourage people from traditionally under-represented or marginalized groups to apply.
 
Four (4) emerging artists will be selected to pursue a four (4) week research-creation residency from August 11 to September 8 or from September 9 to October 7, 2024. Each residency will bring together two (2) artists.
 
Proposals can address the Festival’s 2024 theme, The Ecology of Possibility, which emits the hypothesis that the future of the garden is a united one – and thus based on a relational, cross-disciplinary approach.

LA MAISON D’ARIANE
The mission of La Maison d’Ariane is to welcome architects, landscape architects and artists of all artistic and cultural disciplines from here and from abroad for residencies outside of an urban context. It aims to establish itself as a laboratory for experimentation and research that stimulates the creation, invention and imagination of the artists it welcomes and connects. The main drivers that guide its actions, both for the creators and for the communities and organizations it serves, are dialogue and exchanges, meetings and sharing.

Located a stone's throw from the St. Lawrence River, in the heart of the bucolic village of Métis-sur-Mer, La Maison d'Ariane offers all the comforts of a large historic summer residence. On the second floor, it has five bedrooms, two bathrooms and a powder room with laundry facilities. The common rooms are all located on the ground floor: kitchen and adjoining living room, dining room, living room and screened-in porch. A small garden offers outdoor venues for work and relaxation. Cultural mediation activities and small exhibitions can be held in one or more of the rooms.
 
THE INTERNATIONAL GARDEN FESTIVAL
The International Garden Festival is recognized as one of the most important events of its kind in North America and one of the leading annual garden festivals in the world. Since its inception in 2000, more than 180 contemporary gardens have been exhibited at Grand-Métis and as extra-mural projects in Canada and around the world. Presented at Les Jardins de Métis / Reford Gardens, at the gateway to the Gaspé Peninsula, the Festival is held on a site adjacent to the historic gardens created by Elsie Reford, thereby establishing a bridge between history and modernity, and a dialogue between conservation, tradition and innovation. Each year the Festival exhibits over twenty conceptual gardens created by more than seventy architects, landscape architects and designers from various disciplines. The event acknowledges the support of the Canada Council for the Arts, Canadian Heritage, Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec, as well as of friends of the Festival and donors.
 
THE REFORD GARDENS
A National Historic Site of Canada and a Quebec heritage site, Les Jardins de Métis / Reford Gardens is a must-see stop for anyone visiting the Gaspé and the Lower St. Lawrence. A cultural space and tourist destination for 60 years, the gardens are an iconic landscape that offers visitors experiences for all of the senses and opportunities to connect to nature. Located at the confluence of the St. Lawrence and Mitis rivers, they were designed by the adventurous horticulturist Elsie Reford from 1926 to 1958 and are recognized as one of the top gardens of America and rank among the great gardens of the world. Close to 60,000 people visited the Gardens in 2023. Hydro-Québec has been the lead sponsor of Les Jardins de Métis / Reford Gardens since 1999.

EMERGING ARTISTS’ RESIDENCIES
What we offer to artists

  • A private room with a workspace adapted to the needs of the artistic discipline.
  • A $2,000 research-creation stipend.
  • A fee of $250 paid for a mediation activity offered to the community.
  • Living expenses of $350 per week.
  • Travel expenses up to $500.
  • Creative and/or production costs, up to $2,000.
  • Access to the Reford Gardens and its International Garden Festival, including to their facilities, workshops, and equipment.
What we expect from each artist
  • Be present during the entire residency period.
  • Be responsible for the preparation of their own meals, the maintenance of their bedroom and of common areas.
  • Be autonomous and carry out the residency project in accordance with the proposal submitted.
  • Present their research or creative process and engage with the public once, either in Métis-sur-Mer or at the Reford Gardens.
COMPOSITION OF THE APPLICATION FORM
The application package (maximum 5 MB) includes two (2) PDF files.
  • Completed Identification Form named LastName-FirstName_Form_RBC_2024. 
  • Description of the residence project named LastName-FirstName_Project_RBC_2024, with, in this order:
    • Personal presentation (1 page).
    • Description of the research-creation project (maximum 3 pages) including:
      • Coherence with your artistic approach.
      • Importance of residency in the development of your career.
      • Cultural mediation experience offered to the community.
      • Technical and material resource requirements (if applicable).
    • Curriculum vitae (maximum 2 pages).
    • Portfolio of previous achievements (maximum of 5 pages).
 Deadline for applications:  Thursday, March 28, 2024, at 23:59 HNE
 Send applications and direct all questions to:  maisonariane@jardinsdemetis.com
 Disclosure of selected artists:   End of May 2024
 
EVALUATION CRITERIA AND JURY
A peer jury will evaluate each application according to the following criteria:
  • Overall quality of the project.
  • Ongoing artistic research and past achievements.
  • Consistence of the project with La Maison d’Ariane’s mandate, and contribution to the International Garden Festival’s artistic vision.
Incomplete, non-eligible and late applications won’t be submitted to members of the jury.
 
Submissions will be acknowledged upon receipt. 
 
Support for marginalized artists: If you wish to submit a proposal in a format other than written, please contact us at maisonariane@jardinsdemetis.com or at 418-775-2222, extension 232.
 
Source :         Ève De Garie-Lamanque
Artistic Director  
International Garden Festival | Maison d’Ariane
maisonariane@jardinsdemetis.com

THE RBC EMERGING ARTISTS PROJECT
RBC Emerging Artists provides funding to registered charities and non-profits to support artists across different disciplines (i.e. visual arts, music, theatre, performance, literature and film) who are in the early stages of their career in their chosen artistic discipline; demonstrate a commitment to devoting more time to their artistic activity; make a financial commitment to their practice and seek their primary income from their artistic work. Learn more at rbc.com/emergingartists. 

Past RBC Residents at La Maison d’Ariane are: naakita feldman-kiss, Pardiss Amerian, Antoine Desjardins, Juliana Léveillé-Trudel, Julie Bellavance, Maude Boutin St-Pierre, Camille Paré-Poirier, Geneviève Marois-Lefebvre, Brigitte Léveillé, Claire Moeder, Ann Karine Bourdeau Leduc et Penélope Desjardins.
Ariane Riou donated this historic summer home to the International Garden Festival in 2019 to house the artist-in-residence program.
La Maison d’Ariane acknowledges the support of the RBC Emerging Artists Project and of the Fondation Ariane Riou et Réal Plourde.