Creative Capsule Residency

The team behind Inkstick Media and Bombshelltoe Policy x Arts Collective is leading a virtual eight-month residency for journalists, artists, and international security experts.

The Creative Capsule Residency encourages participants to cultivate and share their work beyond traditional frameworks so that they can experiment with new modes of storytelling, take provocative risks, and create unique projects that interweave policy, research, and creativity.

For year two of this program, this residency will accept up to five participants whose final work product will focus on global security issues (see eligibility below).

During this residency, selected participants will carry a project proposal from concept to actualization.

Successful proposals will:

• Present foreign policy histories and analyses that also champion creative expression (going beyond the traditional analytical formats found in the peace and security fields);
• Integrate a community-centered approach in research practices;
• Include entrepreneurial thinking.

These and other themes will be supported through workshops during the residency. Residents will benefit from peer-to-peer craft and critique workshops, monthly co-hort sessions, and the guidance of a multidisciplinary panel of advisors.

By the end of the program, residents will share their projects to be published online via Inkstick and its associated channels, and/or presented in physical form or events. Residents will receive a $6,000 stipend for their time distributed incrementally as the project progresses, along with a $600 travel stipend and $1000 production stipend, to be used toward research, design and creation of a final work product.

Residency Timeline:

Class Two (August 2023 – April 2024):

• Application closes July 21, 2023
• Residents selected by August 4, 2023
• Residency runs from August 30, 2023, to April 30, 2024

Eligibility:

For the second residency class, the Creative Capsule Residency will accept applications from individuals working on global security issues at the local, regional, or global level. We welcome applicants from all career levels, from recent graduates entering the field, to mid-career professionals figuring out next steps, to senior-level experts needing a breath of fresh air. At whatever career stage, we’re looking for residents who are ready and eager to learn, develop and grow through the process.

We are especially excited to bring in candidates who can articulate their interest in merging their research with other urgent topics today, including (but not limited to): environment and climate change; intersectionality; food and health; and sustainability and resilience.

We encourage applications with project ideas at any stage of work — from a pitch idea or rough outline, all the way to an almost-final draft that needs resources to pilot or execute. We will select residents based on the quality and relevance of their project pitch, their demonstrated commitment to actively participating in the process of the residency, and the promise of their work.

Application Requirements:

• Project Proposal (no more than 1 page): Tell us what you want to work on! Please provide a synopsis of your project, and what you would like to accomplish during the residency. Be sure to provide specifics (eg: currently in outline form and need expert advice on how to get started; would like to have a draft or published by the end of residency; need to find artistic collaborators, etc.).
• Cover Letter: Tell us more about yourself, your professional and creative aspirations, what inspired your project idea, and what you anticipate will be the impact of your project once it is complete. This can be short (no more than 400 words). Or, if you’d like, you can send us a quick video! (5mins or less.)
• Work sample: Please share one sample of your work. This could be anything you’ve produced in the past, published or unpublished, that will give us a sense of how you think and the work you might produce during the residency.
• Resume: We will accept any format.

Application Deadline: Please submit applications by July 21, 2023!