American Patchwork Quartet Residency

Artist-Centered Program Design Project

Fall 2025

This project focused on designing an artist-centered residency for American Patchwork Quartet (APQ) at Skidmore College’s Zankel Music Center. Rather than centering logistics alone, the project asked how institutions can create conditions that genuinely support artists’ creative, emotional, and cultural labor. APQ’s genre-blending practice and commitment to storytelling, migration narratives, and cultural hybridity made them an ideal partner for a residency grounded in care, access, and interdisciplinary engagement.

The proposal included a four-day residency with a public performance, workshop, and optional academic engagements, all structured around humane scheduling, fair compensation, and clear communication. Every element—from travel and lodging to technical needs and hospitality—was designed to prioritize rest, agency, and transparency while remaining operationally feasible within institutional constraints.

This process reshaped how I understand artist-centered work. Designing the residency required balancing care with practicality, redistributing power through co-design, and treating clarity as a form of respect. The project reinforced that artist-centered practice is not abstract or symbolic—it is operational, intentional, and embedded in the everyday decisions that shape how artists experience institutional spaces.