Artist residency programs: The present and future

Since its inception in 1974, the Quad City Arts has celebrated its impact on over two million children and adults residing in Rock Island, Henry, and Mercer counties in Illinois and Scott, Clinton, and Muscatine counties in Iowa through its highly revered “Visiting Artist Series” program. Funded through the National Endowment of the Arts, the local Festival of Trees, and operating grants from the Iowa Arts Council and the Illinois Arts Council, the Visiting Artist Series hosts national artists for one to two week residencies with the aim to “expose and educate residents by broadening their understanding of arts through interaction with artists from various cultural and educational backgrounds” (www.quadcityarts.com). Residencies typically consist of a forty-five minute lecture or demonstration, performed usually three times a day and concluding with a professional public performance at a low to zero cost. Outreach for this program encompasses senior homes and juvenile centers, but the resident artist devotes seventy percent of his or her time in schools throughout the community. This evaluative report concentrates on the most impressionable audience experiencing these artists’ work: children in the Quad Cities. Although the Quad City Arts fulfills its commitment to expose residents to arts derived from various cultural and artistic backgrounds, I seek to discover the lasting influence of these resident artists and explore the active measures in which participating schools engage to insure the nourishment of students’ interest post-residency