Getting an invitation to work at the Hermitage isn’t easy – intentionally so. As artist communities go, we’re about average size, but that size is small. We issue between 40-60 new invitations each summer. Each invitation awards an artist a “bank” of 6 weeks time at the Hermitage, and two years to spend that time in weekly increments of his or her choosing. Further limiting is the fact that we support many disciplines; writers, painters, poets, playwrights, choreographers, videographers, composers, sculptors, and endless combinations of the above.Therefore, invitations go out to about 10 visual artists, 10 composers, 10 writers, etc. In all, not very many people in each discipline given the vast numbers of worthy artists practicing their art in each.
Our admission policies were formed in 2005 when we decided to curate all our residencies – that is, to make them by invitation only. That decision came from playing with the question “how do we increase the significance of a Hermitage residency?” Well one answer was, make it the “coolest place you can’t get into.” If it’s hard to get into, when you do receive an invitation, it’s more meaningful. A second answer to the question of increasing the importance of a residency is to have the people issuing the invitations be significant people in each field we support. So if our invitation comes from someone with recognized importance in your field, it’s more meaningful. It means you’ve been recognized – and not just by your mother, or boyfriend, or wife, but by someone who knows.
So the first decision we made was to not have any application process. You can’t apply to work here. You have to be invited. The second decision was to constitute an advisory committee to issue the invitations, a committee of the most respected people in each of the disciplines we support. You can see the current National Artist Advisory Committee here.
To many artists, this is very frustrating. We hear it all the time. And frustrating artists was never our goal in creating the Hermitage. BUT it was our goal to make it special. Important. Exciting. And that means, we’ve learned, many people will not be happy with us. And those who receive an invitation are thrilled. And that’s good enough for us.