Glossary
Artist-in-residence
A program that embeds an artist in a community, institution, or city department for a set period, supporting new work made in and about that place.
A residency differs from a commission in what it buys: a commission purchases an artwork, a residency purchases a relationship. The artist gets time, access, and pay; the host gets work shaped by genuine familiarity with the place, and often a changed view of its own systems, which is why some cities now embed artists in water departments, transit agencies, and archives rather than only in galleries.