Selection Process, Criteria and Rationale

The Documenting Engagement Institute has been developed to bring together artists from a variety of disciplines, artistic traditions and parts of the country to engage in an exploration and exchange about how they are pursuing community engagement in their practices.

In addition to this exchange, these artists will also be provided with a hands-on opportunity to create digital videos about their work. Experienced video artists will assist participants to create original documentaries.

The Institute's goal is to help individual artists develop skills that will enable them to document their work in effective ways and imaginative ways. We also imagine that these videos, taken together, will constitute a series that conveys the nature and significance of community art practice to a wider audience.

There are more artists pursuing forms of community arts practice than will be able to participate in this Institute. Therefore a selection process will be necessary and some qualified and deserving artists will not be able to participate. The selection criteria will be based on meeting the objectives of the institute.

Selection Criteria will include:

• artistic merit based on documentation of previous work,
• demonstrated exploration of community engagement as part of the artists practice,
• raw documentary materials available to the artist to utilize in making a coherent video about a previous project or practice.

Final selection will also be based on balancing the composition of the entire participant group, including (but not limited to) the need for a diverse representation including:

• geographic locations,
• artistic disciplines,
• artistic traditions,
• methodologies of engagement.

The selection criteria will be applied to the applications received. A peer review process will be followed and will include input from the Senior Artist/Academics, the Media Artist Mentors, the Institute Management Team (composed of artists and academics), and other professionals working in this field. It will be a multi-stage selection process.