RESIDENCY PROGRAM FOR THE ARTS
ANNUAL RESIDENCY PROGRAM FOR THE ARTS #4 - THE SCHOOL OF 3 LIGHTS
TRAINING FOR THE MUSE
MAY 24-JUNE 1, 2024
GENERAL DESCRIPTION
The School of 3 Lights began in 2021 to receive and to train the muse of those artists who have returned for this work.
In these early years, the annual residency will guard the hidden nature of the beginning of this school. Like the first trimester of a pregnancy, it is not outwardly visible and requires tremendous inner force/focus to begin. Work will be given that will bear pressure over time like limestone inside granite. This is not a residency for big ideas nor even the history of your competence. We enter the sanctuary that has been given, designed for a few for this time. We gather in prayer, that an ancient training may return.
For those artists who are living the passion to follow a cry, a call, a slant of light from within, toward something far greater than yourself. Despite all failure, this necessity reaches toward Humanity and The Earth. And the call itself can be trained, servant to the beauty and mercy of the Divine.
The creative act ~ to participate in the majesty of Creation. What we moderns mean by artist has been severed from the sacred root of the vocation, but our longing remains. The training un-buries the fire at the heart of this longing that we may praise Her Glory.
Each artist’s training will be highly individualized, held within the container of the small group of similarly focused students. This apprenticeship will pull upon the deepest yearnings of the artist’s vocation. It will require patience, stamina, courage and above all Love. To give oneself to the current of this tradition, the Songs of Creation. To live such a grace requires mature psychological inquiry and practice. The Songs turns us toward the deep tears in the ecological and spiritual fabric of life, and the Love leads us into the wild vulnerability of life’s urgency. Such love requires that we each enter the darkness of our own forgetting.
Each artist will have her/his/their own space for working. Each one will work individually and some will work collaboratively. We will gather as one group each day for meditation and teaching. I imagine that medicine also will arrive as needed, the living transmission into the heart of the group.
The duration of this training/apprenticeship will vary with each artist. How an artist is shaped in the living hands of a tradition is a wild and precise art. Traditionally one would not imagine the focus of this work being less than 10 years, but with respect to this culture and time, Laura will speak with each participant annually regarding how the work is going, whether to enter the residency each year or not, how the training translates into the practice of your life. This apprenticeship is given into our hearts and hands from those that watch over the roots of life here on Earth. A living trust.
THE SCHEDULE
The 2024 Schedule: There will be one 9-day residential intensive in May/June 2024. This residency will happen annually. Participants in this training will be individually supported throughout the year through our other retreats, meditation groups and programs. We will find a way for each artist to be housed safely and we will work carefully with masks, air filters and social distancing as needed. There will be scheduled conversations/performances throughout the year as part of 11:57
·Summer 2024 : Friday 5/24 - Saturday 6/1
THE APPLICATION
The Application: The formal application is for new applicants. It can be downloaded here. The application is due by 5/1/2023. Please email your application to the office. If you handwrite the application, scan the document before returning it via email so that the archive of this program can be digitally stored. Every new applicant will have a one-on-one conversation with Laura before acceptance into the program. Our office will arrange time for you to meet with Laura in person or on zoom before 6/1/23. For any applicant who will need to arrange air travel, Laura will meet with you soon after receiving the application so that you may plan accordingly.
If you are reading this for the first time after the May 1st deadline, please contact us. There is always an opening for someone new to our work arriving even days before the residency begins. The application process will also clarify and focus the participant’s preparation for the residency.
Letter of Intent: This letter is for returning applicants. The letter is to be 1-3 pages long. A personal letter to Laura: where you have been inside this residency program, where you are now, and where you are focused in the coming year. In particular this letter is to address ‘the training of the muse.’ The letter is to be a statement of purpose and intent that will hold your focus for the coming year. This would include personal work as well as the your evolving understanding of this work. Our office will schedule a conversation with Laura if, after receiving your letter, she believes a conversation is necessary. Letters of Intent are due by 5/1/23.
Please email our office if you are interested in applying for this program or if you have any questions.
To download the 2024 application: 3 Lights Residency
REGISTRATION/TUITION
This year the price continues to include tuition and room and board in full. If other financial arrangements besides these are necessary, please write our office and schedule a time to speak with us. As we get nearer to the dates, we will send out logistics having to do with COVID, sleeping and working spaces, and other notes regarding this gathering.
To pay on a schedule please Email Us
2024 Total Cost: Sliding Scale based on means.
US $775 – $1350 ($86-$150/day all inclusive)
These rates include teaching, work spaces, room and board and retreat. We are seeking to keep our rates as low as possible and also continue to develop this program. We are currently designing more living/working space for artists. The School of 3 Lights received a small grant last year specifically to help with the increased costs of building spaces.
TO REGISTER Click Here