2022 Wrangell Mountains Center Residency—McCarthy, Alaska

The Wrangell Mountains Center (WMC) is a nonprofit organization inviting visual artists of all genres, performers, and writers to apply for two-week residencies at its campus in McCarthy, Alaska during summer 2022. The organization's mission is connecting people with wildlands through art, science, and education. Residency participants will receive unrestricted work time and space, with the opportunity to engage with the local ecology, community, or history.

The residency program combines rugged Alaskan small town life with access to one of North America's most dynamic natural landscapes. McCarthy is located approximately 300 miles east of Anchorage at the end of a 60-mile dirt road, with a year-round population of 107 residents. The area features ice-capped mountains, the Kennicott River, McCarthy Creek, and the Kennicott Glacier terminus. The town was established during the copper mining period in the early 20th century and is now on the National Register of Historic Places. The WMC campus includes the Old Hardware Store (built 1911) and Porphyry Place homestead, which models off-the-grid technologies and practices. Residents will have furnished live/work spaces, access to common areas, and staff-prepared vegetarian meals. Limited wi-fi internet is available but unreliable; electronic device charging depends on solar power availability. McCarthy has no electrical grid and no flush toilets.

Four residencies are planned for July 13-27 and August 15-29, 2022. The entry fee is $25.00. Selection criteria include artistic merit, importance of the Wrangell-St. Elias/McCarthy experience to the artist's work, need or benefit to the artist, the artist's proposed plan to engage with the community, and feasibility of plans. Selections will be made by mid-April 2022. Applicants must submit a resume (1-2 pages), statement of purpose (2000 character limit), community engagement proposal (2000 character limit), workspace needs description (1000 character limit), experience with remote living statement (1000 character limit), and work samples appropriate to their discipline. Visual artists should submit 6-10 images; performers, video, dance, and music artists should submit online links (approximately 15 minutes); writers should upload up to 10 pages.