Applications open on October 15th, 2018 and close on January 7, 2019. The successful applicant will be notified and announced in February 2019.
Applications and enquiries should be sent to: bonny.cassidy@rmit.edu.au
City Campus image courtesy of RMIT University
McCraith House image courtesy of Sophie Cunningham/nonfictionLab
The Melbourne Visiting Poets Program is a residency-based initiative coordinated out of the RMIT University’s non/fictionLab research group, in partnership with Australian Poetry, Melbourne Spoken Word and Rabbit: A Journal for Nonfiction Poetry. Previous guests of the program include Amanda Stewart, Natalie Harkin, Stuart Cooke, Lionel Fogarty, Ellen van Neerven, Andy Jackson, David Stavanger and Alison Whittaker. It connects poets with metropolitan audiences and provides time and space for developing new work.
The first 2019 residency will take place over 4 days within April. The residency activities take place primarily within the Melbourne CBD, with optional additional retreat at McCraith House, Mornington Peninsula.
Applicants can be of any age and gender, and may be at any stage in their writing careers. Applicants from WA, SA, NT and Tasmania are strongly encouraged. Particular interest will be shown to applications from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders poets. For this round, applicants should be:
- based in a regional or remote location;
- be able to present their work publicly in some form.
Shortlisted applications will be assessed by industry peers from the program’s partner organisations. The program liaises with the resident to provide the following:
- return domestic flights to Melbourne;
- 3 nights’ accommodation in Melbourne CBD;
- exclusive use of RMIT Urban Writing House as a workspace;
- an artist’s fee of $1, 450 to cover public activities within the residency period;
- promotion of the resident’s activities through the partner organisations;
- optional writing retreat at McCraith House, Dromana.
- Please note the resident will be required to personally fund transfers and per diem.
Application criteria:
- full name and contact details;
- a 200-word biographical note;
- a 1-page CV of your writing experience/education/career;
- up to 4 pages of poetry that best demonstrate your work to date (may be published or unpublished), including 1 page of URL links to audio/visual recordings if relevant;
- a 1-page proposal of 3 activities you would like to undertake as a poet while based in the city of Melbourne. Activities should be achievable within 3 nights/4 days’ residency. These might include but are not limited to: a talk or lecture; a reading; a workshop or seminar. Please provide a 100-word outline of each activity you propose.
- Applications must be sent as a single PDF.
Applicants are strongly encouraged to become Australian Poetry and Rabbit subscribers, but it is not essential. The successful applicant should be willing to participate in an interview for publication in Rabbit journal.
The Melbourne Visiting Poets Program acknowledges the Wurundjeri and Woi Wurrung people of the Eastern Kulin Nations as the traditional owners of the land on which much of this program takes place. It respectfully recognises Elders both past and present.
This project has been assisted by the Australian Government through the Australia Council for the Arts, its arts funding and advisory body. It is also made possible by in-kind support from the following partners.
The Melbourne Visiting Poets Program acknowledges the people of the Woi wurrung and Boon wurrung language groups of the eastern Kulin Nations on whose unceded lands we conduct the business of the residency.