Residencies
Writing Residencies
Sherley Anne Williams Writing Residency
Sherley Anne Williams, the noted novelist, poet and essayist, was a professor at UCSD in the Literature Department from 1973-1999 until her premature death. BSP sponsors an annual residency in her honor that brings a prominent Black writer to campus for a public talk and series of writing workshops with campus faculty, undergraduate and graduate students. During the week of the residency, a literary scholar will also lead a workshop examining Professor Williams work. The program’s inaugural year is 2022-2023.
The Sherley Anne Williams Writing Residency is a collaboration between the Black Studies Project, the UCSD Literature Department’s New Writing Series, and Muir College. This program is also supported in part by a co-sponsorship from the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion. Any views or opinions expressed in this program are solely those of the speaker(s) and/or program creators and do not necessarily represent those of the Office of the Vice Chancellor.
More about Professor Williams’ legacy can be found here:
Social Justice Residencies
BSP Social Justice Fellows reside in Southern California and are working as artists, organizers, or advocates with/in communities of African descent. Social Justice Fellows receive a stipend, office space, library access, and other necessary resources to produce critical or creative work related to questions of social justice that demonstrates a clear focus on Black Studies and/or Black communities in the African Diaspora.
During their tenure, Social Justice Fellows pursue collaboration(s) with UCSD faculty and/or students. Such collaborations may include workshops, white papers, research initiatives, grant proposals, performance pieces, or other collaborative creative works. The goal of this fellowship is to build mutually-sustaining networks of collaboration between UCSD scholars and students and community stakeholders in pursuit of social and racial justice, and to reinvigorate historically vital connections between cultural and community workers and Black Studies.
Activist-in-Residence
BSP annually collaborates with a local organizer in our effort to build and sustain relationships that advance mutual care, justice, and vital community life. The residency establishes a node of support and connection where local organizers can advance a key project at an intersection between community commitments, scholarship, and students’ experiences in and beyond campus that function across social groups and throughout the region. Residencies typically run for one academic quarter (10-weeks).
Artist-in-Residence
BSP annually collaborates with a regionally-based artist whose work engages themes relevant to Black Studies. The residency prioritizes community practice and intellectual collaboration. Residents may work across a variety of media, and residencies may focus on completing a proposed project, workshopping an emergent idea or practice, and/or curating a local exhibition.
This residency also collaborates with BSP’s community partner Art Produce, a nonprofit gallery, performance, food and community space in North Park, San Diego CA. Art Produce connects artists, cultural organizations, schools, urban farmers and businesses. More information can be found here: https://www.artproduce.org/