Baby's First Artist Residency

Circling HomeWork #15

In August, I spent two weeks at ChaNorth Artist Residency in Pine Plains, NY as part of the inaugural Paradice Palase Fellowship. Space and quiet to work and rest was exactly what I needed, and came at just the right time. This was my first time participating in a residency, and for today’s HomeWork, I’m reflecting on some of the practical (of course!) things that made it possible.

Time off

A lot of other residency programs are one to four months long — too long to take off work if you have a traditional 9-to-5 job, and too short to justify quitting that job if it’s a good one. A big appeal of the two-week residency for me was being able to use PTO (10 days) and participate on a break from my day job. 

This year, based on my tenure, I get an additional week of paid leave at work. Previously I had 21 days per year but as of 2024, I have 26. (Sick days are allocated separately.) Those extra days made taking this time not just possible but pretty painless. I’ve still been able to schedule time to visit with family, friends, and to take a trip with my partner. I have also worked a lot of hours this year, and so have been able to take some days here and there as comp time rather than utilizing vacation days.

Ten days is the longest I’ve ever taken off work since I first started working full time. I didn’t even take this many days for our wedding and honeymoon! I requested the time off early (in mid-April, four months out), blocked the days on my Outlook calendar and added them to my team’s, and reminded colleagues multiple times in the leadup that I would be away and doing my best to be offline from work.