AIRS STUDIO RESIDENCIES
Each year, the AIRS program offers studio residencies in multiple Vancouver elementary schools for local, professional or emerging artists. These residencies are situated at the intersection between arts education and community-engaged practice. Artists are invited to develop a residency that invites diverse communities of students into the art-making process. The program should consist of age-appropriate, process-based visual or interdisciplinary arts projects directed to the learning and well-being of students in and for diverse, inclusive, justice-oriented communities. The residency takes place one day a week in a dedicated 'studio' space in the school.
Projects can be conceived as individual or collaborative, permanent or ephemeral, whole school or class specific and can encompass a range of visual media depending on the expertise of the artist and the predetermined budgetary limits of the residency. The residency concludes with an exhibition, installation or performance that not only celebrates but also makes visible to the whole community the value of student art and expression for the school and the wider community. At the end of the school year, artists curate a selection of student work and documentation for an AIRS group exhibition at the Vancouver School Board to showcase the breadth of creative engagement and learning across the district through AIRS.
Artists have shared how the opportunity to work as a long-term artist in a school through AIRS has been transformative for their own practice and provided a relevant and meaningful context for art making.
AIRS Residency OPPORTUNITIES
Full or Partial Studio Residencies
For 2026/7 school year, AIRS is offering studio residencies in 18 public elementary schools in the Vancouver School District. These residencies are either full year (one day a week for up to 24 weeks over the course of a year) facilitated by one artist or a combination of several partial residencies (6-12 weeks) shared by 2 artists or more. Artists are carefully matched with a school and work in consultation with teachers to design an overarching vision and program that invites students into an experience of art through individual and collaborative art making processes and concepts. The program is emergent in that it is an encounter between the artists' own practice and expertise, the space of the studio and the diverse needs and creative energies of the community. The full residency is typically divided into sub residencies of 6 week intervals, allowing the artist to work with 3 separate classes at a time to develop more focused and age appropriate project explorations. The residency includes a final exhibition, collaborative installation or performance for the students and wider school community that celebrates and makes visible the culmination of creative process and learning, and that values both the unique and collective voice of students.
"As an emerging artist invested in developing a community-engaged and collaborative practice, the opportunity to be an artist in residence at an elementary school for the year provided an immense learning opportunity. Ultimately, I grew a lot throughout my time as artist in residence with the AiRS Program. I grew a new-found respect for teachers and a deeper admiration for the artists committed to working in classrooms. I expanded my own artistic and material practice through the research and activities created for the students, and I now have a first-hand understanding of the benefits an arts-based program like this can have on students." Jaymie Johnson
Image below : Collaborative Weaving, Jaymie Johnson, Inaugural ECUAD AIRS Residency artist, 2019/20
AIRS Mentorship Program
The mentorship program is an incredible opportunity for artists to gain experience working in the context of a public elementary school. Successful applicants work with an experienced community-engaged teaching artist to develop and execute a 5 session project one day a week over five weeks, with 2-3 classes. The project includes a final exhibition/installation or performance on the last day. The residency includes an orientation session, multiple studio visits, and the chance to workshop their concept design with their mentor artist to fit an elementary school context. There are several mentorship opportunities available each year.
Previous mentee artists have included Sadie Couture, Jack Kenna, Alex Ramirez, Reed Jackson, Nura Ali, Yeonoo Parks, Nellie Gossen, Monica Cheema, Grace Yin, Nova Weipert, Aibhlin Fowlie, Shamina Senaratne, Fiana Kawane, Erin Ross, Han Pham, Allison Chow, Kathy Aldous-Schleindl, Marzieh Mosavarzadeh, Jocelyn Gossling, Vanessa Mercedes Figueroa and Niloufar Samadi.
Selected mentee artists for 2026/27 are:
Willoughby Arevalo and Marcela j Villaca
"The mentorship residency was amazing and it felt so meaningful. A pivotal moment for me was realizing I could bring my art practice into the space rather than an artificial program manufactured for students. Working with the students clarified the importance of community based engagement in my own work, situating my practice in a non-initiated space to expand the idea of what fashion is. " Nellie Gossen
Image: from Forest of Memories, Alex Ramirez, mentorship residency, 2020
KPU Sponsored Mentorship Residency
This year we are happy to award a mentorship residency sponsored by Kwantlyn Polytechnic University to a distinguished alumni.
This year's recipient is Vin Cuadra, Vin is a Filipino-Canadian neurodivergent and queer interdisciplinary artist, curator, and self-identified anthropologist based on unceded Coast Salish territories (Surrey, B.C.). Holding a BFA from Kwantlen Polytechnic University, his practice spans photo-based media, new media, text, installation, and papermaking, blurring art objects, anthropological artifacts, and archival palimpsests to explore material histories and diasporic experiences.
Learning our Legacies: The embodiment of truth & sound
For the 2026–27 school year, AIRS has received a Communities and Artists Shifting Culture (CASC) Grant from the City of Vancouver to support Learning our Legacies: The embodiment of truth & sound. Learning our Legacies is an innovative multi-artist residency taking place at Waverley Elementary from October 2026-May 2027. The project is led by spoken word poet fanny kearse with guest collaborator Adonis Critter King. Together, they will create an immersive experience for Waverley intermediate students that explores the witnessing power of expressive and collaborative performance through poetry, improvised movement and sound.
AIRS & City of Vancouver Community Engagement Residency at Henderson Elementary
For the past four years, AiRS has partnered with the City of Vancouver Green Infrastructure Department to create a community engagement residency in local schools. In this program, students explore the theme of water, inspired by a green infrastructure project from the City of Vancouver. This year, the residency will take place at Henderson Elementary, focusing on the Sunset Rain Garden Stewardship Project. The project will be guided by artists Laura Cisneros and Fiana Kawane
Residencies for the 2026/7 school year
- Sir Graham Bruce Elementary with Vanesa Mercedes Figueroa and Yunuen Perez Vertti
- Cunningham Elementary with Rebecca Heyl and Han Pham
- Sir James Douglas Elementary with Tami Murray and Monica Cheema
- Grandview Elementary with Tami Murray
- John Henderson Elementary with Laura Cisneros and Fiana Kawane
- Maquinna Elementary with Isabelle Kirouac and Kat Wadel
- Walter Moberly Elementary with Amanda Wood
- Mount Pleasant Elementary with Julie McIntyre and Wen Wen (Cherry) Lu
- Florence Nightingale Elementary with Evaly Carvalho, Alison Maddaugh and Kelsie Grazier
- Nootka Elementary with Maggie Milne Martens
- Queen Alexandra Elementary with Erin Ross
- Admiral Seymour Elementary with Christine Mackenzie
- Strathcona Elementary with Yunuen Perez Vertti
- Tecumseh Elementary with Aibhlin Fowlie and Yasaman Moussavi
- Thunderbird šxʷəxʷaʔəs Elementary with Christine Mackenzie
- Pierre Elliot Trudeau Elementary with Sholeh Mahlouji
- Waverly Elementary with Julie McIntyre and fanny kearse
- Wək̓ʷan̓əs tə syaqʷəm Elementary with Rebecca Heyl, Niloufar Samadi and Liz Oakley