The ITC artist residency application form is now closed. Thank you to everyone who submitted applications! We will be in touch with applicants in the second half of March 2025 to inform them of the selection panel’s decisions. If you have questions about the residency, please send an email to itc@cactusplus.org.
The structure of this residency can involve moving from place to place. We have a number of community partners (see below) that have varied resources for your use. While Cactus Club (CC) can be a hub for you during your stay, these community partners are located in different parts of Milwaukee, some several miles from CC.
The residency is primarily self-directed and the outcome can be self-determined in consultation with residency coordinators.
Travel will be easiest with a personal vehicle, but possible using bus, rideshare services, micro-mobility like scooters, or cycling.
While Cactus Club will be more wheelchair-accessible after the installation of the ramp (June 2025), the bathrooms will not yet be accessible to wheelchair users. The apartment and office at Cactus Club is located up a long set of stairs with no elevator or chairlift option. Read more about accessibility at Cactus Club here: cactusclubmilwaukee.com/accessibility/
Given the range of mediums represented by the residency’s partnerships, the residency would be a good fit for interdisciplinary artists and/or artists who are looking to expand their practice and explore new creative territories.
The in-person residency will begin August 2025.
No, there is no application fee.
No, there is no thematic requirement for your creative work.
Yes. The stipend is $3,000. If income restrictions are a concern for stipend disbursements, we will work out a payment method to best suit your needs.
It will be up to you how you spend your stipend. This could include residency related travel expenses, living expenses, materials, fees for facilities/equipment use.
ITC residencies will be six weeks but remain flexible to account for each individual, their creative practice, and their time-dependent needs. If you need to extend your residency stay to finish your work or alternatively take a break, we are happy to work out an appropriate timeline with you. No additional stipend will be provided for extended residency stays.
There will be two ITC artists-in-residence simultaneously. We encourage the two residents to engage with one another and connect about each other’s practice.
The AiRs will be responsible for scheduling their own housing during their residencies.
The apartment at Cactus Club will be available as an option free of charge on nights that it is not rented by touring artists. We will provide Cactus Club lodging availability one month prior to the start of the residency.
An additional lodging option will be available through a Cactus Plus off-site guest room in the Silver City neighborhood. This housing will also be free of charge. This housing is not wheelchair accessible.
AirBnB and local hotels are other options that AiRs would be responsible for paying.
You will have weekly informal check-ins with the residency coordinator on Tuesdays or Thursdays, depending on what is ideal for your schedule. These will be low pressure check-ins meant to give you a form of connection and communication while you are at the residency. You can use these check-ins to address questions or as a form of progress reporting.
Cactus Club can be considered a sort of headquarters for the AiR, a place to work on your practice, connect with the other AiR, a place to have a studio visit with our partnering artists, or just relax, unwind, and have some down-time.
On-site you will have access to: the main room, the 600 sq ft room which hosts our live music and community events, to use as a workspace when the room is not in use (typically anytime before 5pm on weekdays) or as a performance space; the driveway and backyard for projects that might require outdoor ventilation; the upstairs (not wheelchair accessible) offers access to a Mac desktop computer and deskspace in a shared office. The kitchen (stove, oven, microwave, refrigerator) and green room is also available for you to make a snack or relax in.
While we are primarily a music venue, we have equipment and tools available for your use:
The AiR will also have access to a risograph printer that BearBear print studio hosts at Cactus Club. Guidance for the risograph process will be available.
If the AiR’s practice requires use of artist facilities and equipment, or if the AiR is simply interested in exploring new equipment or tools, our community partners have offered their facilities for the AiR to use, some at discounted rates or expedited membership process. Guidance for equipment and facilities use can be available from the community partner liaisons. All community partners are located in Milwaukee within several miles of CC. The AiR will be required to find transportation to these places. The ITC residency coordinator will help you connect with community partners.
ITC Community Partners include:
Yes. ITC will be hosting one other resident artist during your in-person artist residence. You and the other resident artist will have access to the same spaces and equipment at Cactus Club and opportunities to work together and connect about your work.
Additionally, you will have the opportunity to connect with our partnering artists for studio visits, touchpoints, and mentorship opportunities. The residency coordinator will help you connect with partnering artists. Our partnering artists’ fields of expertise include film/video, painting, ceramics, writing/poetry, publishing, design, sculpture, audio production and music/songwriting.
ITC will provide digital access to audiences through Cactus Club’s social media channels (Instagram, TikTok, Vimeo, Youtube) and opportunities for installation and exhibition. The residency coordinator will assist you in gathering images, videos, or written materials for posts on these platforms. Additionally, you will have an opportunity to exhibit your work publicly at Cactus Club if you wish.
Towards the end of each residency, the AiR is expected to participate in a recorded conversational interview to reflect on their perspectives on the experience. This is one way that we plan to document the AiR experience. This video is meant to be public-facing so that others can learn about you, the residency, and Cactus+ programming.
There is a Whirlpool WPPRO2000B Whispure True Hepa Air Purifier in the live room. Depending on time of day, AiRs may have the space to themselves or share the building with administrative and bar staff. For events, organizers can make the terms that they desire for masking and staff will do their best to ensure attendees honor that. Some staff routinely wear masks, while others don’t wear them routinely. Cactus Plus and Cactus Club staff are receptive and desire to make residents as safe and comfortable as possible. During weekdays, artists can largely have the live room to themselves. There are two exterior doors on that room and doors can be propped open to maximize airflow. The backyard and driveway are also spaces that can be utilized. There’s a floor plan on this page for context: cactusclubmilwaukee.com/accessibility/
No, there is no application fee.
No, there is no thematic requirement for your creative work.
The virtual residency will make the most sense for someone whose practice format allows CC’s internet presence to showcase the AiR’s creative work, welcoming engagement, circulating disabled, chronically ill, and neurodivergent practices, and elevating their place in cultural history. From the AiR’s space(s) of creative practice, the work will be hosted via our TikTok, Youtube, Vimeo and/or Instagram platforms, as collaboratively determined.
The virtual residency might also be a good option for someone who prefers digital environments, lives with chronic illness and/or mobility limitations, and/or sensory sensitivities that might make the in-person residency experience challenging or impossible.
The virtual residency will begin in May 2025.
Yes. The virtual resident will receive a $3000 stipend. It will be up to you how you spend your stipend. This could include living expenses, materials, fees for facilities/equipment use, and residency related travel expenses.
If income restrictions are a concern for stipend disbursements, we will work out a payment method to best suit your needs.
The virtual residency will be six weeks but remain flexible to account for each individual, their creative practice, and their time-dependent needs. If you need to extend your residency stay to finish your work or alternatively take a break, we are happy to work an appropriate timeframe out with you. No additional stipend will be provided for extended residency stays.
The virtual resident is required to have internet access, which the AiR stipend can help obtain, and a means to document and share their practice or works-in-progress online (phone camera will work just fine, but other methods are welcome too!).
You will have weekly informal check-ins with the residency coordinator on Tuesdays or Thursdays, depending on what is ideal for your schedule. These will be low pressure check-ins meant to give you a form of connection and communication while you are at the residency. You can use these check-ins to address questions or as a form of progress reporting.
There will be one virtual resident who will have opportunities to connect with our ramp mosaic resident, whose residency time will overlap with the virtual residency.
ITC offers the option of a closing event featuring the artist’s work to be hosted virtually or in-person by CC or local partners, but there is no exhibition or output requirement of completed work.
Yes! With the help of the residency coordinator, the virtual resident will have the chance to connect with our partnering artists for virtual studio visits, touchpoints, and mentorship opportunities. Our partnering artists’ fields of expertise include film/video, painting, ceramics, writing/poetry, design, sculpture, audio production and music/songwriting.
The virtual AiR is welcome to spend some of their residency time in-person to access the facilities, equipment, or tools that our community partners offer. If spending a week in Milwaukee checking out one of the community partners or connecting with our partnering artists in person would be beneficial to you, you’re welcome to consider that as an option. The residency coordinator will be your point-of-contact for making these connections for you to make arrangements with.